psalms – Page 5 – Adult Christian Formation

Entering Jerusalem

When Jesus and his disciples had come near Jerusalem and had reached Bethphage, at the Mount of Olives, Jesus sent two disciples, saying to them, “Go into the village ahead of you, and immediately you will find a donkey tied, and a colt with her; untie them and bring them to me (Matt 21:1-2).

By Marjorie George

Jerusalem was a city under siege in 30 AD. Almost as if taking their places on the stage of the drama, as Jesus entered the city from the east riding on a donkey and hailed as a king, the forces of Pontius Pilate were entering from the west in a military column of imperial cavalry and soldiers. Although Pilate lived in opulence at Caesarea on the Sea, it was his custom to be in Jerusalem during major Jewish festivals to put down any riot or rebellion the locals might incite. “Jesus’s procession proclaimed the kingdom of God; Pilate’s proclaimed the power of empire,” say Borg and Crossan in The Last Week, (Harper San Francisco, chapter 1).

Jerusalem – the City of David – had been corrupted both by its Roman occupiers and by the Jewish authorities who acquiesced to keep the peace.

“Jerusalem, Jerusalem,” Jesus had once said, “the city that kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to it! How often have I desired to gather your children together as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, and you were not willing!” (Luke 13:34)

Now as he entered Jerusalem, Jesus wept over the city. “If you, even you, had only recognized on this day the things that make for peace! But now they are hidden from your eyes” (Luke 19:41).

Jerusalem was not just the political and economic center of Judaism; it was, from the time of David, the religious center, for it was the home of the Temple – the place where God’s glory dwelt.

The psalmist thirsts to be in the presence of the temple, to see the living God, as much as a deer yearns for running streams in psalm 42 (vss 1-2). The psalmist recalls how he led the people in procession to the house of God with glad shouts and songs of thanksgiving (vs 4).  One thing he asks of the Lord:
to live in the house of the Lord
    all the days of my life,
to behold the beauty of the Lord,
    and to inquire in his temple (Psalm 27:4).

In Old Testament times, as Jewish pilgrims approached Jerusalem, they sang psalms of ascent – generally recognized as psalms 120 to 134 – expressing their delight at coming into God’s presence:
I was glad when they said to me,
“Let us go to the house of the Lord! (Psalm 122:1).

Thus Jerusalem, while maintaining its place as the center of Jewish devotion, embodied the corruption of the time. And that is where Jesus chose to go.

This week, as we enter Jerusalem with Jesus, we know something of the tension between faithful devotion and the effects of living in a broken world. Later in this Holy Week we will read that, after demonstrating to the disciples what loves means by washing their feet and sharing bread and wine with them, Jesus poured out his heart in what is known as the “farewell discourse” (John chapters 14-17). In it he asked God to protect his followers: ”I am not asking you to take them out of the world, but I ask you to protect them from the evil one,” he prayed to his Father (17:11,15).

Then he prayed for us: “I ask not only on behalf of these, but also on behalf of those who will believe in me through their word, that they may all be one. As you, Father, are in me and I am in you, may they also be in us, so that the world may believe that you have sent me (17:20-21).

What must be said, of course, is that Palm Sunday is not the end. Jerusalem does not only mean death, it also means resurrection.

Christians around the nation will grieve this Easter because we cannot celebrate the glorious day in the company of those we love. Even so, we know the end of the story. We know that evil does not win. We know the darkness of Holy Week, and we know the truth of Easter.

We enter Jerusalem in hope.

Today, read the psalms appointed for Palm Sunday:

For the Liturgy of the Palms:

Psalm 118:1-2, 19-29
1 Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good; *
his mercy endures for ever.

2 Let Israel now proclaim, *
“His mercy endures for ever.”

19 Open for me the gates of righteousness; *
I will enter them;
I will offer thanks to the Lord.

20 “This is the gate of the Lord; *
he who is righteous may enter.”

21 I will give thanks to you, for you answered me *
and have become my salvation.

22 The same stone which the builders rejected *
has become the chief cornerstone.

23 This is the Lord’s doing, *
and it is marvelous in our eyes.

24 On this day the Lord has acted; *
we will rejoice and be glad in it.

25 Hosannah, Lord, hosannah! *
Lord, send us now success.

26 Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord; *
we bless you from the house of the Lord.

27 God is the Lord; he has shined upon us; *
form a procession with branches up to the horns of the altar.

28 “You are my God, and I will thank you; *
you are my God, and I will exalt you.”

29 Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good; *
his mercy endures for ever.

For the Liturgy of the Word:

Psalm 31:9-16
9 Have mercy on me, O Lord, for I am in trouble; *
my eye is consumed with sorrow,
and also my throat and my belly.

10 For my life is wasted with grief,
and my years with sighing; *
my strength fails me because of affliction,
and my bones are consumed.

11 I have become a reproach to all my enemies and even to my neighbors,
a dismay to those of my acquaintance; *
when they see me in the street they avoid me.

12 I am forgotten like a dead man, out of mind; *
I am as useless as a broken pot.

13 For I have heard the whispering of the crowd;
fear is all around; *
they put their heads together against me;
they plot to take my life.

14 But as for me, I have trusted in you, O Lord. *
I have said, “You are my God.

15 My times are in your hand; *
rescue me from the hand of my enemies,
and from those who persecute me.

16 Make your face to shine upon your servant, *
and in your loving-kindness save me.”

More for your Holy Week: Some Online resources

The Diocese of West Texas offers four short videos featuring Bishop David Reed as he engages Holy Week in this time of separation from our home churches. The episodes of “Tangible Resurrection” were introduced on Thursday Apr. 2; four additional episodes will be released for Palm Sunday, Maundy Thursday, Good Friday, and Easter Sunday. To view them, visit the diocesan social media vehicles including the diocesan Facebook page – “Episcopal Diocese of West Texas – Bishop Jones Center.”

The brothers of Society of St. John the Evangelist in Cambridge, Massachusetts, offer nightly Compline with text and audio at https://www.ssje.org/chapel/. They are preparing other resources for Holy Week that will be posted on their site at www.ssje.org.

Trinity Church Wall Street in New York City will live-stream Holy Week and Easter services. The schedule is below. (We presume times are Eastern Daylight Time.)

Sunday, April 5 | Palm Sunday
Palm Sunday Holy Eucharist
11:15am-12:30pm

Wednesday, April 8
Tenebrae (encore presentation of 2018)
6pm-7pm

Thursday, April 9
Maundy Thursday
6pm-7:15pm

Liturgy of Good Friday
12:05-1:30pm

Saturday, April 11
The Great Vigil of Easter
7:30pm-9:30pm

Sunday, April 12
Easter Festive Eucharist
11:15am-12:30pm

To access the live stream, visit trinitywallstreet.org about 5 minutes prior to the event. At the top of the page under the header, you will see a white banner with the name of the current live broadcast and text that reads, “Watch Live Now.” Alternatively, follow Trinity Church Wall Street on Facebook to watch the services on Facebook live. To watch on-demand after a service has ended, visit trinitywallstreet.org/videos.

Songs of Faithful Waiting

Nearly half of the 150 psalms are ascribed to David, and many more are believed to have been commissioned by him or written for him by musical guilds or worship leaders such as Korah and Asaph.

by Marjorie George

Saul was troubled. The spirit of the Lord had left the king, once anointed by Samuel to lead the nation of Israel, and an evil spirit had descended upon him. But Saul’s servant knew of a boy, a son of Jesse of Bethlehem, who was gifted at playing the lyre. So Saul sent messengers to Jesse, saying, “Send me your son me who is with the sheep,” David by name. David came and stayed with Saul, and whenever the evil spirit came upon Saul, David would comfort him by picking up his lyre and playing it, and the evil spirit departed (I Samuel chapter 16).

After Saul’s death, When David himself became king, the lyre continued to be his favored instrument, and he no doubt used it to sing the poems he composed that we know today as psalms.

Nearly half of the 150 psalms are ascribed to David, and many more are believed to have been commissioned by him or written for him by musical guilds or worship leaders such as Korah and Asaph.

The psalms were meant to be sung. “They are not doctrinal treatises, nor even sermons,” says C. S. Lewis in his Reflections on the Psalms. “They are poems, and poems intended to be sung” (pg 2). Indeed, many Episcopalians who were raised on Morning Prayer and Evening Prayer as part of regular church worship can barely recite some psalms without recalling the soulful tunes to which they were sung.

The psalms were meant to be sung. “They are not doctrinal treatises, nor even sermons,” says C. S. Lewis. “They are poems, and poems intended to be sung.”

The original setting of the psalms was the worshipping community of ancient Israel, especially as they gathered in the temple or synagogues. An entire category of the poem-songs are the psalms of ascent, sung as people made their way to the temple in Jerusalem.

The early Christian worshipping community read their Jewish scripture, that is, the Old Testament, in the Greek version known as the Septuagint, where the prevailing title for psalms was psalmoi, meaning songs accompanied by stringed instruments.

But the psalms were also used by individuals and families in their daily lives. “In times of trouble, traditional Jewish communities have turned to the recitation of psalms — often the entire book — as a prayerful response,” according to the website My Jewish Learning. “Even now, in some circles the family and community of someone facing a grace illness may ask for psalms to be recited as a collective prayer for the sick person’s health and recovery” (https://www.myjewishlearning.com/article/the-book-of-psalms /). And we rightly use them both in our worship and in our everyday lives.

The psalms recalled and celebrated the depth and breadth of the life and history of ancient Israel – sometimes in petition, sometimes in lament, often in thanksgiving and praise of a faithful God.

Many psalms focused on a particular aspect of their faith with which the Israelites were all too accustomed – that of waiting on God’s saving power. They echoed the oft-quoted words of their ancestor prophet Isaiah who promised relief for those who wait:

“They that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength;
they shall mount up with wings as eagles;
they shall run, and not be weary;
and they shall walk, and not faint” (40:31).

Just as the Hebrews waited for the salvation of their people through the promised Messiah (and although many did not recognize him), we Christians wait for the fulfillment of God’s Kingdom. We live now in liminal time, between Genesis and Revelation – between God’s mighty act of creation and God’s final gathering of the world to himself. For, in the words of the Cursillo movement, the world does not yet belong to Christ.

We are a waiting people right now. We wait for the COVID-19 disease to run its course. We wait for a vaccine. We wait with fear and impatience and dread, for we do not know what is ahead of us. We are in the good company of the Communion of Saints who testify to us that our God has not betrayed us.

As we face into Holy Week, beginning this coming Palm Sunday, we wait for relief from the tomb and look for the resurrection to come.

Our promise is that it will.

This week, read the psalms in an attitude of waiting hopefully. Sing them loudly and with confidence and hope in the God of yesterday, today, and always.

Marjorie George serves the Diocese of West Texas as a consultant in Adult Christian Formation. Reach her at marjorie.george@dwtx.org. Or leave a reply below.

Please and Thank You

Again and again, the Hebrews turned to their God, crying, “Save us, save us,” and adding their petulant complaint of “This is not fair,” a whine every parent has heard. And yet, in the psalms, they never forgot from what they had already been saved.

by Marjorie George

When will your puddle of vague unrest gather up into a storm of emotions? And what will that storm name itself: anger, resentment, hopelessness, sorrow, despair? Or has it already? Good, you are making progress.

In this morning’s post from The Center for Action and Contemplation, Brian McLaren says, “When we call out for help, we are bound more powerfully to God through our needs and weakness, our unfulfilled hopes and dreams, and our anxieties and problems than we ever could have been through our joys, successes, and strengths alone. . . .

Naming our anxieties, says McLaren, helps us see more clearly what we are bringing before God. “Anxieties can gray the whole sky like cloud cover or descend on our whole horizon like fog. When we rename our anxieties, in a sense we distill them into requests. What covered the whole sky can now be contained in a couple of buckets. So when we’re suffering from anxiety, we can begin by simply holding the word help before God, letting that one word bring focus to the chaos of our racing thoughts. Once we feel that our mind has dropped out of the frantic zone and into a spirit of connection with God, we can let the general word help go and in its place hold more specific words that name what we need, thereby condensing the cloud of vague anxiety into a bucket of substantial request”
(https://cac.org/praying-in-crisis-2020-03-25/).

The Hebrews knew about storms and anxieties and frequently brought them before God in their psalms. The history of the Hebrew people is one of oppression, exile, and slavery. But their identifying characteristic as a people is deliverance. The Exodus event and the return from exile define them.

Again and again, the Hebrews turned to their God, crying, “Save us, save us,” and adding their petulant complaint of “This is not fair,” a whine every parent has heard. And yet, in the psalms, they never forgot from what they had already been saved.

When the Lord restored the fortunes of Zion
    we were like those who dream.
Then our mouth was filled with laughter,
    and our tongue with shouts of joy;
then it was said among the nations,
    “The Lord has done great things for them.”
The Lord has done great things for us,
    and we rejoiced (Psalm 126:1-3).

Of the 150 psalms, about a third are psalms of lament. Mostly they follow a predictable pattern: a call upon God, a recitation of the complaint, a petition for help, and – and this is important – an expression of trust that God will indeed relieve their plight.

We can see it in Psalm 22, which Jesus remembered from the cross:

Cry of distress
My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?
Why are you so far from helping me, from the words of my groaning? (vs 1)

Complaint
But I am a worm, and not human;
scorned by others, and despised by the people.
All who see me mock at me;
they make mouths at me, they shake their heads; (vss6-7, see also 12-18)

Petition
But you, O Lord, do not be far away!
O my help, come quickly to my aid! (vs 19)

Affirmation of deliverance
I will tell of your name to my brothers and sisters;
    in the midst of the congregation I will praise you:
You who fear the Lord, praise him!
    All you offspring of Jacob, glorify him;
    stand in awe of him, all you offspring of Israel!
For he did not despise or abhor
    the affliction of the afflicted;
he did not hide his face from me,
    but heard when I cried to him. (vss 22-24)

In a shorter psalm, and one which we might emulate, Psalm 13 begins with a mournful cry:
How long, O Lord? Will you forget me forever?
How long will you hide your face from me? (vs 1)

but ends with a rejoicing heart:
But I trusted in your steadfast love;
my heart shall rejoice in your salvation.
I will sing to the Lord,
because he has dealt bountifully with me (vs 6)

“There is in the psalms no quick and easy resignation to suffering,” says Dietrick Bonhoeffer in his little book Psalms, the Prayer Book of the Bible. “There is always struggle, anxiety, doubt . . . But even in the deepest hopelessness, God alone remains the one addressed” (pg 47).

Our circumstances right now demand faithfulness. With the psalmist, we bring our cry to God, ask for God’s help, and look for God’s deliverance. We allow the storm of our emotions to gather, admit our fears to God (and maybe to each other), and know that nothing can separate us from the love and mercy of God.

Psalms to read this week

For an interesting exercise, write a psalm of lament for yourself.

Marjorie George serves the Diocese of West Texas as a consultant in adult Christian formation. Reach her at marjoriegeorge62@gmail.com or marjorie.george@dwtx.org She would love to hear from you. Or leave a reply to this post.

Hard Times in the Psalms

But Peter stepped up and spoke the words we cling to today: “Where else would we go, Lord? You [alone] have the words of eternal life” (John 6:68).

Jesus had just foreshadowed the Last Supper, the Holy Eucharist. To follow him, he had said, we must eat his flesh and drink his blood (John 6:53-68). Those who were listening were “offended,” the scripture says. This was a hard teaching. After that time, many of the followers turned back and did not go with Jesus any longer.

So Jesus looked at the 12 and asked them, “Do you want to go away also?” But Peter stepped up and spoke the words we cling to today: “Where else would we go, Lord? You [alone] have the words of eternal life” (John 6:68).

Where else are we going to go in this tough time? Where else but to God? Who else – what else – are we going to trust?

With the psalmist we say:
“To you, O Lord, I lift up my soul.
O my God, in you I trust” (25: 1-2).

In our distress, we petition God:
Make your ways known to me;
Lead me in your truth;
Teach me your paths;
Don’t deal with me according to my sins;
Relieve the troubles of my heart
Be gracious to us. (from Psalm 25)

David knew hard times, some of which he brought on himself, some that came with the territory of being anointed by God. The great king did not escape the trials of being mortal. But always the psalmist knew where to turn –
“My refuge and my fortress;
my God, in whom I trust” (Psalm 91:2).

This week, when we can’t do anything else, or even if we can, read and pray with the psalmist and our ancestors in the faith, meditating on Psalm 25 and Psalm 91.

May God hold us all in God’s mighty hands. Be blessed, and bless others along the way.