Off The Trail

I've been thinking about "should's" and "ought's" lately.  You know, the things we tell ourselves about what we should or ought to be doing or thinking or feeling.  They always have some truth behind them; it's just that it's not the WHOLE truth.  I've been thinking about these things while reading, studying and praying the Psalms.  Is it really o.k. to voice all the doubts, fears, and accusations found in the Psalms?  Should I really be praying from the dark part of my heart where hatred, jealously and anger dwell?  After all, a Christian shouldn't talk like that.  A Christian ought to be positive and full of joy.  Ah, there it is . . . the should's and ought's that try to keep us lined up and living right. 

The problem is that should's and ought's never have kept anyone on the straight and narrow.  They don't change a person's heart, thoughts or attitudes no matter how hard we try to use them to do this.  On the other hand, what if we took the prayers of Psalms seriously?  Instead of pretending and ignoring, we put full voice to our negative thoughts, feelings, attitudes and doubts.  And we voiced them, not to our best friend or our therapist (although in many situations that might be a healthy thing to do), rather, we voiced them out loud to God. 

My guess is that God would use that prayer to help us work through whatever the issues might be.  That is why so many of the angry, depressed, searching, lament type psalms (like Psalm 22), end up in praise.  The psalmists don't "should" themselves into change, they don't "ought" themselves to a deeper faith; instead they put honest words to real pain.  And, most importantly, they use those words in addressing God.  By doing so they are giving God some room to teach them something about himself.  And in the process they learn something about themselves, and in the midst of it all, somehow, God creates newness! 

Star Gazing

Psalm 8 is a work of art.  It begins big, "Lord, our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth."  It then moves inward into deep reflection where we contemplate our position as mortal creatures in the vast universe.  Finally it repeats the first verse with renewed meaning.  My goal this morning was to help us pray the psalm as a congregation. To help us as individuals reflect on what it means to be human in the light of God's creative glory and to praise him as the united people of God.

The beauty of praying the psalms is that they connect our head and heart as we pray.  They are not simply emotional outbursts (although that may be a part of some psalms).  Likewise, they are not abstract points of doctrine disconnected from our everyday lives.  Rather, the psalms give depth to our understanding of God while at the same time, give us words to express the deep feelings of our hearts. 

Reflecting on the service as a whole today, I especially enjoyed watching children of all ages taking flowers to their mothers.  The smiles were contagious!  It was also a great joy to see Casen Bury baptized today.  What a unique mother's day gift that was.  Most of Casen's growing up years have been as the only child of a single mom.  What a joy for Kelly to witness her husband, Kevin baptizing her son Casen into Christ.  Kevin was baptized just last year and when I asked Casen whom he would like to baptize him he mentioned that he had been present for Kevin's baptism and that if Kevin could baptism him that would be extra special. 

Help Me Lord!

Before preaching this morning I brought faces to mind of those in the pews who knew they were in trouble.  I thought of the couple I spoke to not long ago contemplating divorce, another person recently diagnosed with cancer, another person unemployed for months, and another person facing eviction.  Are their troubles of their own making?  Are they simply victims of circumstance?  Or, are they suffering for no known reason?  The Psalms we surveyed today were written by people suffering for many reasons.  Psalm 6 is one of seven Psalms in the Psalter first prayed by people suffering consequences of their own sin.  What Psalms 3-7 have in common is that they were all written/prayed/sung by people well acquainted with trouble.

I was encouraged by the people who said they would take me up on the challenge to pray one Psalm a day.  If you do that, by next Sunday you will be on Psalm 8 which is (finally) a hymn of praise.  After praying a week of "trouble Psalms" it will be good to focus our attention on the Holy One whose name is majestic in all the earth.  But before we get to the hymn of praise, we must deal with life as it is . . . and life in this world is trouble.  But, as Jesus said, take heart, "I have overcome the world!"