PsalmsDay.com

Email preparing for Sunday, February 21, 2021

Dear Psalms friends,

Doug and I continue to pray for safety, warmth, and now water supply for each of you as God guides us through yet another strange, unprecedented event.  This past year from February 2020 to the present has certainly shown us our human frailty and vulnerability, and it has spotlighted our human tendency to think and act independently from God. In 2021, we don’t need Lent to show us how desperately needy we humans actually are! 

But I still need Lent.  I need this slowed down, God-focused, simplified stretch of time to ask for grace to accept God’s unconditional and unfailing love and to invite our merciful God to search my heart, the hidden depths of me, and point out all that Father, Son, and Holy Spirit know that I am ready to face.  (See Psalm 139:23-24.)  What wounds and sins, what brokenness do I need to allow God’s saving light to reveal and start to heal in me…and in His Body the Church?

Lent awakens us to both our sinful human condition apart from Christ and to the grace and peace of life in union with God in Christ. Lent can clear our minds and hearts to grasp the necessity and glory of Easter Resurrection, Christ’s victory over sin and death and Satan. So I want us not just to “pass the time”  chronologically in Lent 2021, to “get through it,”  but to “use this time” as kairos time for holy purposes, a time set apart for ongoing repentance (conversion), a time of God’s grace changing us, redirecting us. (See Mark 1:14-15, Romans 13:11, and 2 Corinthians 6:1-2 for references to “kairos,”  opportune time for change.)

This Sunday we will take a Lenten look at Psalm 119 and also to the Lenten instructions in the Book of Common Prayer pp. 542-552. The Kellers share thoughts and prayers about each stanza of Psalm 119 in The Songs of Jesus, pp. 304-325.  Meditate on  stanzas that are especially meaningful to you and that you might share with our group on Sunday morning.   

I’ll send you a Psalm 119 lesson tomorrow about  the different words used in Psalm 119 for God’s words to His people, “all things necessary for our salvation.”  (BCP, p. 773, article 6 in The Articles of Religion)

May you be warm and hydrated, but not overly so!  James and Julie’s welcoming kitchen, the one that many of us gathered in for our first and only official meal together back in Christmas 2019 (I think!), is basically gone because of hot water heater pipes bursting and caving in the ceiling. It was a special bonding time as they scooped up their kitchen together.  No kidding.  Prayers needed.  I think Paula also has plumbing problems, as do we.  Pray for plumbers and all of the people who need them.  And of course, pray for the restoration of the sanctuary and the offices of Christ Church.

So here we are, with another opportunity to stay God-centered like Jesus did, and to praise and lament with the Psalms.  

United with Christ and with you,

Toni  

Email to Psalms Group preparing for Sunday, 2/14/21

Dear Psalms friends,  

Brrrrr!! This frigid time, despite the warmth of Valentine love and friendship and fun, is our preview for Lent, the upcoming penitential season.  On February 17, Ash Wednesday begins our deep dive into our Triune God through intensified prayer, fasting, and generosity. Our Bishop Todd Hunter points out that the key question for discipleship is always (yes, Bishop Todd said “always”), “What do you want?” 

Preview email for Psalms Group on January 31, 2021

Dear Psalms friends,

Our focus psalm this Sunday will be Psalm 69, a lament that is the second most quoted psalm in the New Testament, right behind Psalm 22.  It’s a reminder of the honest, God-centered dialogue that our daily praying of the psalms calls us to. It’s a reminder that life is hard and that life as apprentices of Jesus can be especially difficult, truly “the way of the cross.” 

The psalms helped Jesus keep talking to and depending on the Father in the worst of times.  He knew the Father was with him:  “I am not alone, for the Father is with me.  I have said these things to you, that in me you may have peace.  In the world you will have tribulation. But take heart, I have overcome the world.”  (John 16:32b-33)

In Christ, we have the One the world system lacks Who brings meaning to our lives.  But in Christ, in this world, we regularly confront our unrelenting enemies:  that world system, our own self-absorbed sin patterns, and our Enemy/Accuser.  Jesus Christ’s  victory over all of these enemies is assured in the “not quite yet” kingdom that is coming.  Meanwhile, we confront frustration, fear, danger and hostility.

Psalm 69 is a frank and powerful personal lament out of an experience of undeserved suffering for obedience, a shared experience of many who live by entrusting themselves to God.  Think about what experiences of your own or others help you identify with this psalmist’s troubles.

Psalm 69 contains all the typical parts of a lament:  invocation, plea for help, complaints, confession, imprecation, expression of confidence, and  praise. It’s located in Book 2 of the Psalms, in the second of the three Davidic collections in the Psalms. Those three   collections with superscriptions saying “Of David” are:  Psalms 3-41;  51-72;  138-145.   

 Here are two links to study aids that might help in your reading and praying the Psalms. Look for our lesson on Psalm 69 in your e-mail tomorrow. 

Struggle and Hope in Lament Psalms

Suggestions for Psalms Study

I thank God and each of you for the meaningful conversations we have as we share in God’s work in us and through us.

Much love in our Triune God,

Toni