Category: Psalms

Pray with a loving heart~

8/7/2016

     The Rule of the Society of Saint John the Evangelist states: it is his (Christ’s) Spirit who calls us to join him there by offering our love in intercessory prayer and action, to be used by God for healing and transformation.
     There is much to discern in this chapter entitled, “The Mystery of Intercession.” Mystery on many levels. But what strikes me most vividly is the phrase offering our love. Is it suggesting that if intercession isn’t offered in love, it has no effect. I know it ‘s not that simple, but I believe that to be true. If I have resentment or judgment toward the person or situation for which I am praying, I am not being honest, and thus God can’t hear me. I say this because God, being love, only hears love.
     So I must continually pray as the Psalmists do: Create in me a clean heart, of God, and put a new and right spirit within me (51:10).

‘My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?’

11/19/2013

I just got word that a young mother, a wife, friend, a woman full of light and love has died. What can we make of such unfairness? We lament like Job, like the psalmists. Like Jesus we call out, ‘My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?’

I am grateful for all these laments, especially for Jesus’ words that let me know that I can be angry, that anger, despair, and even hopelessness are all part of the human condition. Simone Weil writes: “Affliction constrained Christ to implore that he might be spared, to seek consolation from man, to believe he was forsaken by the Father. It forced a just man to cry out against God, a just man as perfect as human nature can be, more so perhaps, if Job is less a historical character than a figure of Christ.”

Jesus and Job called out to God in their affliction, but they never left God, they never stop believing in God’ love; they just didn’t understand.

That’s where I am now, trying to understand, waiting in hope for the resurrection. Thank God the story isn’t over.

St. Columba's feast day on Iona~

6/9/2013

In the Abbey before today's service.

The island has been very busy today. Sunshine and then it’s St. Columba’s feast day. The Sunday morning service at the Abbey marked the 1450 anniversary of Columba’s arrival from Ireland at what is now called St. Columba’s Bay. In his sermon, historian/ordained minister Ian Bradley, however, admitted that very likely Columba arrived on mainland of Scotland in 1463, and not on Iona until about 1478.

Legend tells us that every day Columba recited, in three groups of 50, all 150 psalms. Thankfully, today we were only offered one, Psalm 34. According to Columba’s biographer Adomnan (625-704), Columba was copying verse 7 of that psalm when he stopped, said that was enough, and died soon afterward.

“The angel of the Lord encamps around those who fear him, and delivers them.” Feels like a good ending to me.

Columba lived and died reciting and copying the psalms. We don’t have to do that, but then, we’re not saints. As Ian Bradley reminded us, “We may never become saints, but we can all be pilgrims on our continuing journey to God.”

Praying the Twenty-Third Psalm

1/19/2013

The other day a friend told me that she prays the Twenty-third Psalm for people. I loved the idea and so I started, praying it for my cousin who is in hospice care. Powerful, powerful! I’m aware that my explanation falls short of what I felt and envisioned, but here it is--that I was accompanying him, that his family with him, that I saw him walking ahead in the light.

Give it a try. Pray the Psalm 23 for someone in need, or maybe just someone you love.

God's steadfast love endures forever~

3/5/2012

        Every day here at the cottage offers a new view of God’s magnificence. This is my third winter sitting on this same deck, with the same but always different view. I never want it to end. Of course it will, but God’s awesomeness never ends; it’s just that sometimes it’s hard for us to see it and hold onto it.
       The psalmist tells us, “God’s steadfast love endures forever.” Sometimes my vision clouds God’s constancy; sometimes clouds bring on storms, and I can’t envision that behind it all God’s love never changes. All I can see is that my life and life around me does change.
    This morning the sunrise was on fast forward; and in the past five minutes a narrow strip of green sea has spread to color the entire vista. This is all well and good for the ocean in front of me, and for this well-built cottage that protects me from the bothersome elements; I can absorb and embrace these changes. But in a month my time here will end; I won’t have these daily reminders of God’s magnificence and awesome steadfast love. My prayer is that I will feel the memory.

Thanks be to God~

9/17/2011

Oban.

How easy it is to offer God praise after spending time in the highlands of Scotland. I stepped right into it after the second day here, in spite of the inclement weather. The natural world, in good and bad weather, is all part of God’s creation, and as I mentioned yesterday, all of it is affirmed in the Psalms. But I don’t need the Psalms for justification. I just need to walk around in the awesomeness, both splendid and terrible.

(I’m writing this during my flight, and talk about awesome, we’re flying over the mountains and ice flows of Greenland-- a route not usually taken.)

During this trip I’ve been starting my prayers time with praise and thanksgiving, instead of my usual routine of skipping immediately to confession and intercession. What is amazing is that because of this new “wee” habit. I notice that I am more aware of the little blessings that keep happening and am less inclined to dwell on what might not be going as I’d like.

Thanksgiving for Iona~

9/16/2011

A gorgeous day today after all those days of rain and wind. To glimpse the fullness of God’s glorious creation and God’s awesome omnipotence, I suggest you read the Psalms. My photos are my humble offering of thanksgiving. Here are today’s offerings.
(I thought i posted this a few days ago.)

It’s bigger than “just about me.”

9/3/2011

Outside the cottage window today.

There is no way for me to forget how immersed in nature I am here on Skye, and in case I might miss the point, the Psalmists continually remind me that I am wandering about in God’s creation, all of it, even in this morning’s drizzle. Clearly this trip is about something bigger than my longing to take off by myself for a few weeks, even in my willingness to think of it as a time to pray, to walk with God, to deepen my faith. It’s bigger than “just about me.”
        Consider Psalm 147, all of it. What an all-encompassing God ruling the universe. But then there is verse 11 speaking to me: “the LORD delights in those who fear him, who put their hope in his unfailing love.” When I interpret “fear” as “in awe of” I sense that have been given some control over my part in this mysterious plan. And don't forget about "his steadfast love."

Psalm 147

1 Praise the LORD.
   How good it is to sing praises to our God,
   how pleasant and fitting to praise him!
2 The LORD builds up Jerusalem;
   he gathers the exiles of Israel.
3 He heals the brokenhearted
   and binds up their wounds.
4 He determines the number of the stars
   and calls them each by name.
5 Great is our Lord and mighty in power;
   his understanding has no limit.
6 The LORD sustains the humble
   but casts the wicked to the ground.

7 Sing to the LORD with grateful praise;
   make music to our God on the harp.
8 He covers the sky with clouds;
   he supplies the earth with rain
   and makes grass grow on the hills.
9 He provides food for the cattle
   and for the young ravens when they call.
10 His pleasure is not in the strength of the horse,
   nor his delight in the legs of the warrior;
11 the LORD delights in those who fear him,
   who put their hope in his unfailing love.

12 Extol the LORD, Jerusalem;
   praise your God, Zion.
13 He strengthens the bars of your gates
   and blesses your people within you.
14 He grants peace to your borders
   and satisfies you with the finest of wheat.
15 He sends his command to the earth;
   his word runs swiftly.
16 He spreads the snow like wool
   and scatters the frost like ashes.
17 He hurls down his hail like pebbles.
   Who can withstand his icy blast?
18 He sends his word and melts them;
   he stirs up his breezes, and the waters flow.
19 He has revealed his word to Jacob,
   his laws and decrees to Israel.
20 He has done this for no other nation;
   they do not know his laws.
   Praise the LORD.

Chatting with God~

8/16/2011

This morning I sat down for my meditation time and heard myself saying, “Well, God, I don’t feel very connected to you right now, but I figure you’re used to that. But I know you’re standing by, just waiting.”

Wow, I thought, “Here I am chatting with God as if he were some very (human) good friend.” It made me grin because of all my blogs that address my BIG question about the omnipotence of God. And yet today, without analyzing, I began conversing with God. Well, if Jesus was fully human and fully divine, I see no reason not to consider God in that full array. If the Psalmists can talk comfortably and honestly with God, why can’t I?

Turning to Scripture

5/14/2011

How can I make sense of what’s going on in my family right now? On Mother’s Day my mom celebrated her 101st birthday in her assisted living facility, while three miles down the road, in the very same town, my brother-in-law signed onto hospice at home.
     The Psalmists give us permission to lament. They show us how very human it is to doubt, express anger, be confused, but then they lead us to the possibility of accepting God’s ways and resting in God in spite of difficulties. They lead us to hope.

      Psalm 13: How long, O Lord? Will you forget me forever? How long will you hide your face from me? (1)….
        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 (5-6).

      Psalm 61: Hear my cry, O God; listen to my prayer. From the end of the earth I call to you, when my heart is faint. Lead me to a rock that is higher than I (1-2)....
      So I will always sing praises to your name, as I pay my vows day after day (8).

      The Christian way is to turn to Scripture for help.