A Pastoral Letter from Father Andrew
Dear Friends in Christ,
This Lent at St. Margaret in-the-Pines we are praying the Psalms (you can find the reading guide at the church) — the hymnal of Israel, which means they are the hymnal of Jesus. And so it is by way of Jesus, that we Christians come to the Psalms. Which is a gift, because the Psalms create a lively faith. When we read the Psalms we are not just picking up information about God, we are speaking to God — which is what we mean by prayer.
The Psalms have almost nothing in them that teaches us how to pray, they
just have us tell God how we so often feel — they are poems. They express
every conceivable human emotion from anger to delight to despair to fear to joy and love — they are registry of human emotion. They take how we feel right now and transfigure them so we might love God and neighbour… fully. John Calvin, the great reformer of the church, said the Psalms are an “anatomy of the soul; forthere is not an emotion of which anyone can be conscious that is not here represented as in a mirror.” The Psalms diagnose us… on the way to healing us.
The Psalms are not always easy to read, much less pray. We may think it
is because the language and imagery are ancient, but I suspect that even though this is sometimes true, the real difficulty we have with them is that they reveal and sharpen the depth of our life before God — the good, the bad and the ugly.
The Psalms express raw emotion. They cry out in anger. They rage against
enemies. They ask God for help. They weep and mourn. They blame God for not showing up soon enough. Can we really speak to God like that?!?
These days I find myself swinging back and forth between disbelief and anger. The world as I knew it seems to be unravelling and I feel powerless (a feeling I do not like). The preventable return of measles, tariffs, ongoing wars, a lack of hospitality and listening in the highest offices of the nations. I want to cry out, “God, what is happening?! Do something! Are you not in control?” But can I
really say that to God? Do such prayers betray a lack of faith?
The Psalms remind us God can take it all. All our anger. All our pain. All our shock and confusion. All our shame. There is no need to tie a bow around what we feel or make ourselves more presentable to God. Nothing is off limits. We can pour it all out. The Psalms teach us that to pray with such raw honesty is deeply faithful and can even renew our hope in God.
The good news of the Psalms is that through it all God remains faithful.
This isn’t a wild guess. We are witnesses to this truth, because we have seen
and heard Jesus himself pray the Psalms. We listen to Jesus as He cries out,
“My God, my God, why have you forsaken me!” (Psalm 22.1). And by the
mystery of God’s grace, God takes Jesus prayer of despair and brings about our salvation. I can’t explain that, but I believe it to be true.
My friends, Lent leads us into the wilderness so that we might learn to trust
in God and not in comforts. So I encourage you — no, I dare you — to pray the
Psalms with St. Margaret’s this Lent and see how God makes our faith lively.
Yours in Christ,
Andrew+