April 26, 2009

This week, I met with each of our youth candidates to check in on the confirmation process and to access their readiness and desire to be presented to the bishop next Sunday.  In the course of their “interrogation,” I asked them what part of the worship service did they like best.  One forward thinking young lady responded, “the sermons.”  She realized that six years from now, she’ll need recommendations for her college applications.  Another young man appreciates the readings.  He likes connecting with our ancient faith history.  Another likes the peace best as it provides the opportunity to get out of the pew and move around.  I was encouraged that no one responded, “the dismissal.” 

I also asked which part of the liturgy is least engaging for you and was intrigued when a fine fellow answered, the psalm.  His family alternates between the 8:30 service where we read the psalm, and the 10:30 service where the choir and congregation chant the verses responsively.  The singing leaves him unmoved.  It may not change his reaction or anyone else who shares that view, but I thought some consideration might be helpful. 

In our Holy Scripture, there are 150 psalms.  They are among the oldest writings of the Bible.  They were originally composed to be sung.  Their melodies are long ago lost, so we have no idea how they were meant to sound.  What we do know is that the Hebrew people living in a new land knew the words and tunes well.  Many of the psalms were as familiar and beloved to them as the Christmas carols are to us.  The psalms have three purposes.  Some were written to be sung in worship services as hymns of praise.  They speak to God’s power and glory.  They acknowledge his work in creation and give thanks for his protection and the blessings he bestows upon his people.  Other psalms were written to be sung in gatherings and in private and centered on instruction.  The words reminded the Israelites about God’s law.  They called the people to remember and keep the commandments.  They encouraged prayer and offerings, righteous living, committed worship and ethical behavior. 

Perhaps the most popular psalms are the Laments.  These are personal prayers asking for help.  Their composers wrote them to be offered to God in times of torment and frustration.  The laments arise out of situations of severe distress.  Sickness, adversity, betrayal, abandonment, sin, guilt, slander, false accusation, persecution by one’s enemies or the wicked drive the prayer to his or her knees in search of relief.  All other options have been exhausted.  Deliverance must come from God.  In these psalms, God’s people are assailed and assaulted by the hard realities of the world.  Trusted friends turn cold.  Reputations are ruined.  Loved ones get sick. Income is lost.  Partners die.  Sad, hard, unpredicted, undeserved calamities fall on good people.  They turn to God with pleas for a way out of pain.  They seek and expect divine intervention. 

Through these psalms, they describe the emotional and physical distress they endure.  They express hurt and disappointment.  Sometimes raw anger is apparent.  How, how can a loving God permit such suffering and injustice to continue.  Verses of railing against God are not uncommon in the Laments.  But, under the frustration, there is the persistent confidence that God will act to make all things right.  There is the basic assumption that God is aware and engaged, that God is powerful and present, that God cannot, will not be fooled or deceived by evil doers or the antics of the unworthy.  Somewhere in these prayers the case is made that help will be forthcoming.  The person praying recalls the character of God.  They rely on the infinite goodness of the Almighty.  They point out the gross injustice of the situation and hold up their own righteousness and faith.  They are assured God will hear and react on their behalf.  And by the end of the psalm, their trust has been answered.  The concluding verses name how God has put down the hurtful problems and restored them to health and wholeness and community.  All is well once more.

In the eight short verses of Psalm 4 which we recited this morning, we see this dynamic worked out.  In the opening lines, the psalmist speaks to God from his heart.  “I am hard pressed, have mercy on me and hear my prayer.”  In verse two which unfortunately is a poor translation in our prayer book, the person states the problem.  It should read, “How long, how long, you people, shall my honor suffer shame.  How long will you love vain words and seek after lies?”  Apparently, slander and false rumors are circulating about this person.  Verse three is a comforting thought.  The psalmist expresses confidence that the Lord knows what is true and who is telling the truth.  In the next two verses, advice is offered to the “wicked.”  The concluding two verses demonstrate that God answers the prayers of the faithful.  “You have put gladness in my heart more than when grain and wine increase.  I lie down in peace and at once I fall asleep, for you alone, O Lord, make me lie down in safety.”  All has been made right.

The Psalms of Lament are powerful and telling.  They come out of personal trauma.  They erupt with raw, uncensored, emotional energy.  They are often filled with harsh language and biting imagery.  Ravenous beasts, dry bones, ashes, unrelenting heat are frequent metaphors for trouble in these prayers.  Under the anger and disappointment, however, there resides an abiding trust in God.  Despite disappointment, people offering these prayers believe that God is big enough, strong enough, loving enough, engaged enough to endure their frustration.  Deep in their souls they sense God will see them through their irritation and skepticism and will ultimately make all things whole.  Their hope rests in the Lord.  They recall incidents in their past when his saving hand was surely present. 

The good news in the Psalms of Lament is that since the beginning of our faith, from the earliest years when God made a covenant with Abraham and continuing through ages and eons to us today, people have gone to God with huge overwhelming dilemmas and with tiny aggravating hurts, and they have found real and tangible relief.  God answers prayers.  God hears and responds.  Sometimes his intervention is clear and immediate.  Sometimes his answer seems delayed and at odds with our wishes.  But we k now we are heard.  We know God has both the power and the inclination to help us out of our distress.  We know this truth by evidence in our own lives and by the adage “there are no atheists in foxholes.”  This saying points to the reality that in times of great fear and danger, people of all sorts and stripes turn to God.  They seek his strong, sure presence.  They rely on his kindness.  They expect his intervention and ultimate deliverance.  In the scary times of our lives, where do we turn?  Prior to an operation, as our car spins out of control, when our child wanders out of sight in the mall, when layoffs come down from corporate, when the “in” group decides we’re “out”, where do we turn, what do we say?  Oh God, oh God, please, please, help me.  Find a way to make this okay.  Save me.  Keep me safe.  Make everything turn out for the best. In the trials of our life, we go to the one source we know has the power and the will to work on our behalf.  We go to God.

And through the fear, anger, anxiety and even the doubt, he hears our heart’s desire and he answers.  This is the nature of our loving creator.  He hears us and he comes for us. We are so incredibly blessed.  So, we pray psalms of lament when we’re sorely oppressed and we sing hymns of praise, because we are mightily delivered.  Then, we found ourselves ever fortunate to be encircled in God’s embrace.  Now, into His magnanimous fold, we bring the newest members.  For the children we baptize this day, may their laments be few and their hymns be glad and numerous.  May they know as we know that God hears them and moves heaven and earth to answer their real needs.  Amen.