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Foundry United Rev. DeeAnne Lowman, Associate Pastor |
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“The Psalms: YouTube of the Scriptures” May 3, 2009 |
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Psalm 1 Rev. |
I admit
my son has already been introduced to YouTube. He is a big fan of The Wiggles, and there are tons of videos available to us without
price that he loves. One of his
favorites is Can You Point Your Fingers
and Do the Twist. He knows when
Mama opens up the laptop, there is a chance he might get to see a couple
videos before she begins her sermon prep.
What you may already know about YouTube, though, is that one can enter
something like The Wiggles into the
search engine, but what comes up as choices can be far from what one would
expect. Some videos have been, shall
we say – altered and other music added that is not particularly reflective of
The Wiggles and their objectives
for learning and teaching. I am
always amazed at what I can find online.
The joke in my house is that if it’s on the internet, it must be true and factual, right? We all know the misinformation that can
abound, but there is also good stuff on YouTube that is helpful and even
correct. For example, my extended family
wanted to know all they could that would help them to get to know Max
better. Max is baby signing like crazy
right now. I found a video with a mom
and baby teaching baby
sign, so I sent the link to them to help them learn his “language.” Some of you have seen the infamous “Susan Boyle Britain’s Got Talent video” where a
doughty, single, unemployed 47 year-old woman surprised the judges with her
beautiful voice. YouTube has struck a cord with the Internet community -
humor, music, jokes, emotion, playfulness – it’s all there. Even the stuff that the Apostle Paul said
to stay away from, but that is the topic for another time. All of
YouTube is not pleasant or funny but it does provide us a window or perhaps a
platform from which to view the world, critique it, and even change it. The images can be something that confirms
our hope in humanity and the goodness of life, disrupts our sensibilities
about the world and how it works, or offers us a promise of change that will
make the world a better place. Walter Brueggemann
speaks about the psalms in a similar fashion.
There are, as he identifies them, three types of psalms: orienting, disorienting, and newly
orienting. Psalms of orientation are
psalms that “articulate the joy, delight, goodness, coherence, and
reliability of God, God’s creation, and God’s governing law.”[i] These psalms are the “Good Vibrations”
psalms – songs of creation like Psalm 33: You set the earth
on its foundations, so that it shall never be shaken. You cover it with
the deep as with a garment; the waters stood above the
mountains.[ii] There
are songs of Torah – songs that affirm what we know about God and God’s desires
for the world. Psalms like the one that
was just read for us. “But their
delight is in the law of the Lord, and on his law they meditate day and
night.”[iii] Another orienting psalm is Psalm 37 – a
wisdom psalm that tells us how it is with God. “Trust in the Lord, and do good; so you will
live in the land and enjoy security.”[iv] These are the psalms that affirm what we
know and what we believe about ourselves, God, and the world. These are psalms that reassure us that God
is in our corner always. Psalm
23 is an orienting psalm. In it is
expressed the trust that the psalmist had for God, even through and unto
death. The language of shepherd for
those first hearers of this song would have conjured images for them of being
safe and secure in the arms of one who watches over them at all times. This
psalm depicts God in a colloquial way that would have meant something
tangible and real for them. Brueggemann’s
second category – the psalm of disorientation – pertain to psalms that reveal
the disjointed and confusing events of life that knock us out of our
equilibrium, leaving us feeling dizzy and confused. These are often called psalms of complaint
or lament and they are both personal and communal in their nature. Psalms like Psalm 13: “How long, O
Lord? Will you forget me forever? How
long will you hide your face from me?
How long must I bear pain in my soul…”[v]
is a psalm that reveals deep personal pain and alienation from God. Psalm 74 begins, “O God, why do you cast us
off forever? Why does your anger smoke
against the sheep of your pasture?”[vi] This particular psalm has as its subtitle
“Plea for Help in Time of National Humiliation,” suggesting that an entire
nation is feeling lost and abandoned by their God. It is assumed that it is Yahweh, not the people,
who are not being faithful or as Brueggemann puts it, “Yahweh has not
adequately guaranteed a stable life.”[vii]
These
psalms are juxtaposed with the songs of creation and Torah (the orienting
psalms) that assure us that, if we are truly good and faithful in the eyes of
God, no ill will come to us and no enemy will thwart us. This presents the great theological
question of the ages, doesn’t it? We
know people – and we may indeed be people – who have led good and faithful
lives and yet suffering happens. This
question of theodicy cannot begin to be answered, but it is clearly
identified by this kind of psalm.
There is a deep need for answers, for comfort, for some explanation of
the pain of life, the disappointments in the world which are expressed in
these psalms. Somehow it might be a
bit of a comfort to know that people have been expressing for centuries what
we, ourselves, may be afraid to express:
why do bad things happen to good people. I'll make no attempt to provide a stock
answer for the question; only to acknowledge that the query continues to
exist. So far,
we have moved from the orienting psalms, where we sense God is good and life
is well-lived and we feel in place, to psalms of complaint and lament, where we
find ourselves in a world that is not as we wish it were, or dreamed it could
be; we fear God is absent from us or has left us behind. Brueggemann’s final
description of the psalms is the psalm of new orientation – a new way of
understanding our place in the world and God’s grace active in that
world. These are psalms of
thanksgiving, again both personal and communal like Psalm 138 and 124. I give thanks to
you, O Lord, with my whole heart; before the gods I sing your
praise; I bow down toward
your holy temple and give thanks to your name for
your steadfast love…[viii] If it had not been
the Lord who was on our side, when our enemies
attached, then they would
have swallowed us up alive…[ix] Make a joyful
noise to the Lord, all the earth. Worship the Lord
with gladness; come into his presence with
singing. Psalms
of promise for the future are truly reorienting psalms. There are psalms like Psalm 29, a song
about a leader who will bring about the reign of God. The Lord sits
enthroned over the flood; The Lord sits
enthroned as king forever. May the Lord give
strength to his people! May the Lord bless
his people with peace![x] Psalms
of new orientation provide us with a vision of what is possible, what is
truly God’s desire for the world and its people. These are psalms that reflect a sense that
God's hand is active in the places where God's people dwell. These are psalms
of declaration – proclaiming something new or renewed or fulfilled in the
divine designs of life. So
where does this leave us? We know that
there are times when we have a sense of divine intimacy, a closeness that is
understood by our actions of faithful, and the faithfulness of God toward
us. We know that there are times when
we feel lost and abandoned, not knowing where God is or why we are
hurting. And there are times when we
see a new reality, a new way of being with God in the world that transcends
our understanding but is grounded in trust.
The psalms provide for us a place of entry, no matter where we find
ourselves. They give us an
opportunity to be thankful, to be connected, to be hopeful, to be angry. Yes, angry.
In a recent conversation with a seminarian, she expressed a sense of
relief after learning during her theological education that it is okay to
rage against God when you need to. It's okay to say to God: “look this really
does stink, what has happened. I don't like that I feel alone and dumped
on. God, where are you in this?” When
our groans are too deep for words, or when we don't or can't find the words,
the psalms can offer words to us. The psalms can be our prayer, our
expressions of orientation, disorientation, and reorientation. The great
evangelist Billy Graham has shared that, early on in his ministry, he would
read and pray five psalms a day. That
way he could get through all the psalms in a month. His experience with them brought him to a
better understanding of what he needed, what his neighbor needed, and what the
world could hope for. There were, I suppose, days when Rev.
Graham didn't feel a sense of disorientation, but the psalm he found himself
reading was that expressed deep grief and forsakenness. Or perhaps he was charged to pray a psalm
of celebration and affirm (an orienting psalm) and his disposition for the
day was anything but happy. I am sure
there were days when Graham had a sense that the world was in a place of
chaos, yet one of his five might have been a new orientation psalm that
reflected the never-failing grace and love of God. But there were also days when he needed to
recall that all was not right with the world, even though he himself was not
specifically feeling any injustice in his own life. There were times when, even though we
possess a sense of equilibrium, there are grave concerns we should hear,
remember, and perhaps preach about for the sake of others. The
Psalms were the theological oral tradition of their time. While we still
don't have an answer to the big question represented in the Psalms – why does
bad stuff happen? - we do have a sense of connection to God no matter what
the situation. We can struggle with
our own image of God through these texts.
We can know that, while we don't have answers, neither did those who
have come before us, but nonetheless, we and God remain faithful. People
shared the psalms not just through word but through song. Not all psalms are designed to be read or
prayed, but all the psalms were meant to be sung. These were the hymns of the day that shared
the YouTube truth that life is fun, divine, difficult, even painful, but
ultimately hopeful. I want us to have
the chance to sing a psalm. I've
chosen a celebration psalm – an reorienting psalm that reminds us of a new
reality in God that is possible, even promised. Let's try singing Psalm 100 – Stanley and Mim
are going to help us along. The Psalms
are a songbook for life for us. They
name the truths that we know and live through. They provide us a sense that things are
good and right and just, but there are times and places and events that rock
us to our core – disorienting us from the life we know and feel comfortable
in. Then there are the psalms that
help us remember and hope for what is to come. www.foundryumc.org |
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