Category: Prayers

After seducing (or raping) Bathsheba, the wife of Uriah, a solider in his army, King David discovers that he has fathered a child. He decides to try to make Uriah look like the father. When that doesn’t work, he arranges for Uriah to be killed in battle so that he can have Bathsheba. This was a low point in the moral demeanor of King David, who could be called the “comeback” king because he is remembered as the greatest king of Israel. Guilty of taking another man’s wife, who really cannot refuse the king, while her husband is off fighting in the king’s army, that was really bad. But then to arrange for the husband to be killed in battle to get rid of him so that he can have the wife, that is heinous. [See 2 Samuel 11-12]

We are told that King David is confronted with his moral turpitude by the prophet Nathan. I can’t imagine what a dreaded task that was for Nathan. But David admits his wrong doing and repents.

Tradition links David and his sins over Bathsheba with Psalm 51. The intense pleading for forgiveness and mercy in the wake of severe iniquity fits with the story of David and Bathsheba.

For most of us, the sins that we commit and for which we repent are not of the magnitude portrayed in the story of David. While we may be part of systems responsible for the life and death of others, not many of us are ever directly responsible for taking a life. While we may “lust in our hearts” like Jimmy Carter, only something like half of us will actually have extra marital affairs. [The statistics are vague and inconclusive. . .] But there is more to sin than murder and adultery and complicity in systems and institutions that perpetuate injustice and violence. There is more to sin than robbery and rape. There are the day to day betrayals of what is good and right and true, the hurtful, angry outbursts, the self centered choices, the apathy.

Maybe our worst sins are not so much the ones that we commit as the ones we don’t commit. Perhaps what is most offending to Divine Love is the good that we don’t do. Our lack of generosity. Our lack of compassion. Our lack of attention. Our lack of investment in working for justice and reconciliation. Our lack of commitment to peace-making. Our lack of service to others. In our reflection this Lenten season, maybe we should give some thought not to the bad things we have done but to the good things we have not done.

One thing is for sure. Our tradition tells us that God forgave David. He was freed of his iniquity. The presumption of Psalm 51 is that God forgives. So whatever we have or have not done, grace embraces us and there are new beginnings ahead.

Prayer
We go through life with all of its challenges and complexities seeking to do what is right and pleasing to God. Sometimes we hit the mark. Sometimes we do not. Our shortcomings can never exceed the scope of divine grace. May we accept the grace that is offered to us when we seek reconciliation and may we extend that same grace to others who have also missed the mark. Amen.

Images of physical suffering and affliction are found throughout the psalms. In Psalm 22, which we reflected on several weeks ago, there are graphic images of physical danger and threat:

Many bulls encircle me . . .
they open wide their mouths at me,
like a ravening and roaring lion. . .

. . . all my bones are out of joint;
my heart is like wax;
my mouth is dried up like a potsherd,
and my tongue sticks to my jaws;
you lay me in the dust of death.
For dogs are all around me,
a company of evil doers encircles me,
My hands and feet have shriveled;
I can count all my bones. . .
Deliver my soul from the sword,
my life from the power of the dog!
Save me from the mouth of the lion!

These are graphic images of physical suffering and threat. Such references are not uncommon in the psalms. There is often a sense of imminent danger.

In Psalm 51, the psalm assigned for this week, we hear some of the most intensive pleading for deliverance and mercy represented in the entire book of Psalms:

Have mercy on me. . .
blot out my transgressions.
Wash me throughly from my iniquity,
and cleanse me from my sin. . .
. . . you are justified in your sentence
and blameless when you pass judgment.
. . . teach me wisdom in my secret heart.
Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean. . .
Hide your face from my sins,
and blot out all my iniquities.
Create in me a clean heart. . .
Do not cast me away from your presence,
and do not take your holy spirit from me.
Restore to me the joy of your salvation,
and sustain in me a willing spirit.

The pleading is intense. The writer is clearly desperate and suffering. Yet there is no mention of physical suffering or physical affliction. Therefore, we can assume that the pain of the writer/pray-er is not physical, but spiritual. The one writing this psalm is referring to acute spiritual affliction. And sometimes the worst pain we experience in life may be spiritual, emotional suffering, rather than physical suffering.

Suffering of the body can generally be diagnosed and treated. We go to the doctor. We take the pills. We follow the prescribed therapeutic plan given to us by the medical profession.

Spiritual pain can be more complex. It can be harder to identify and sort out. It may involve other people which adds complications that we may have no control or influence over. Spiritual pain may affect every area of our lives. And it can be harder to address.

Being aware of the distress caused by spiritual pain can make us more compassionate toward ourselves when we are suffering in spirit. And it can help us to be more understanding and supportive of others who are in the midst of spiritual distress. It may be a time to turn to a pastor, a therapist, a chaplain, or a counselor for needed support.

Lent is a time for reflection and healing. The mercy and love of God can heal our spiritual suffering and free us from bondage to that pain. There can be fullness of joy for us thanks to the steadfast love and faithfulness of God.

Prayer
We offer our prayers for all those who are suffering in spirit. We pray for those whose lives are wracked by spiritual pain and affliction. We know that God intends peace for all people. May we seek the healing that we need to that we can know the freedom of peace and joy. Amen.

We have met the enemy and he is us.” This phrase was used by Walt Kelly, the creator of the Pogo comic, on a poster for Earth Day in 1970. Kelly strikes a chord with that insight. I think the writer of Psalm 51, our psalm for this week, would also resonate with the Pogo cartoon. Although the psalm does not deal directly with environmental issues, it does deal with our behavior. The psalm is an intense poem of repentance and remorse. It is a desperate plea for forgiveness. And the source of the drastic, shaming, disorienting sin to be forgiven is the writer/prayer of the psalm. It boils down to, “I have no one to blame but myself.”

The sentiments in this psalm are intense. Clearly the writer is extremely heavily burdened. And the writer takes full responsibility for the iniquity. The guilt is deep and broad and ingrained. The writer is really almost self-flagellating over the extremity of the sin committed. The enormity of the sin involved is captured in phrases like:

my sin is ever before me
I have done what is evil in God’s sight
I was born guilty
purge me with hyssop

The prayer is steeped in sin and remorse. There is no self-justification as we sometimes see in the psalms. There is no self-defense. There is no blaming of others. There is no blaming of God. The writer takes full responsibility. “I have met the enemy and he is us.” The writer is his (her) own worst enemy.

This is something important for us to remember. It can be convenient to blame circumstances for the ways we stray from God’s way. We can blame our cultural environment. We can blame our upbringing. We can blame someone else. With all the suing going on in our country, it is clear that we have become masters at blaming, making others pay, and expecting others to be accountable. But this psalm brings us back to ourselves. Which is where we should be in this season of Lent. We should be examining ourselves and taking full responsibility for our behavior, our shortcomings, our neglect of God’s will, our ignoring of God’s dreams. We can’t fix everything in the world. We can’t fix all of our relationships. But we can come a far piece in fixing ourselves by being honest and seeking to be transformed. We may be constantly expecting others around us to change. Psalm 51 and Lent remind us to “be the change you wish to see” as Gandhi said it.

Prayer
It is not easy to be honest. It is not easy to admit guilt, or wrong-doing, or neglect of goodness. Yet until we do so, our sins weigh us down like a sack of rocks. Our faith invites us to take responsibility for the burden and lay it down. May we be honest with ourselves, with God, and with others, and seek freedom from our shame, guilt, and sin. Amen.

On the front page of this morning’s paper there were two tragic articles front and center, side by side. One was about the trial of Nicholas Lindsey, an African American teenager who shot and killed a white police officer in St. Petersburg. And one about Trayvon Martin, an African American teen shot and killed by a white community crime watch volunteer. Both cases are heartbreaking. Both mothers are crying. Both stories should have us all crying.

What has our society come to? Innocent people gunned down in the street. A police officer on the way home after work and a young teen talking on the phone with his girlfriend and eating Skittles. People carrying guns like an ol’ time western rerun on TV. In 1969, when I was 9 years old, our family visited our relatives in Germany. Their favorite TV show was Bonanza. You know, Lorne Green and Hoss and the gang. My cousins asked me if we rode horses and rounded up cattle. Now they might ask if we all carry guns like the cowboys in the old west. What a terrible image.

We might be tempted to say this is not “our” problem. We had nothing to do with either case. We were not directly involved. These killings are about personal decisions by the people involved. And, yes, they are. But all the people involved, as well as we ourselves, live in a society that forms and shapes us and that we have a responsibility to form and shape. George Zimmerman and Nicholas Lindsey, the two who did the killing, did not drop down out of the sky with their evil intentions. Both thought carrying a weapon and using it was part of “normal” for them in this society. I sat next to a woman in the waiting area at the doctor’s office today who was talking with her young adult son about buying a gun and looking at websites on her phone about where to get what he wanted locally. They were discussing this as if they were talking about stopping at the store on the way home to get milk. I was horrified. Zimmerman and Lindsey are not aliens, they have been produced by this society. And who has produced this society?

In Psalm 107 we are given an image of God putting down those who are wielding their power at the expense of others and raising up those who are being put down:

When the hungry are diminished and brought low
through oppression, trouble, and sorrow,
God pours contempt on princes
and makes them wander in trackless wastes;
but God raises up the needy out of distress,
and makes their families like flocks.
The upright see it and are glad;
and all wickedness stops its mouth.
Let those who are wise give heed to these things,
and consider the steadfast love of God.

In Christianity, as far as I am concerned, there is a lot of room for leeway about many things. You want to believe in the virgin birth of Jesus. Fine. You don’t believe that. Ok. You believe in the bodily resurrection of Jesus. Ok. You believe the resurrection is metaphor, that’s ok, too. You believe that baptism should be conducted for people who are of age. Fine. You want to have your baby baptized. All right. You like the New International Version of the Bible. Ok. You prefer the New Revised Standard version. Fine. You believe that people should be embalmed and buried. Ok. You think cremation is a more sensible option. Fine. I think there can be lots of diversity and variety under the Christian umbrella. [See the reflection from yesterday for more on diversity within the Christian family.]

But there are other matters about which there is such clarity in the Bible and in the tradition of Jesus that they cannot be open to compromise or interpretation. One of those matters is the condition of oppression. Any kind of unfairness, bigotry, violation of human rights, abuse of power, or victimization be it economic, social, or religious, etc. is wrong. In the Bible and in the teachings of Jesus that have come to us, there is ZERO TOLERANCE for oppression of anyone. In the scriptures, as we just noted in Psalm 107, God takes the part of those on the bottom, those left out, and those who are exploited for others‘ gain. ZERO TOLERANCE. No compromise. No variety of views. Simply, no oppression. Christianity is about living for a world that is completely liberated from every kind of oppression.

Now, this can be complex for us. In one scenario, we may be on the bottom. In another, we may be perceived as the victimizer. From a global perspective, we may be seen as those who abuse our power at the expense of others. Locally, we may be discriminated against because of gender, race, age, or sexual identity. We may not be in just one camp or the other.

As an example, many years ago we had a couple join the church. They happened to be two men. When they were introduced to the congregation, in person and in print, I made sure to introduce them separately as distinct individuals . Later they mentioned that they felt I had not shown proper respect for their relationship because I had introduced them separately. I was shocked. I had not intended to devalue their union. I explained my perspective. I told them that so often with married heterosexual couples, the woman is subsumed under the man, so I had made it a point to introduce married people separately to show equal respect for the man and the woman and treat them as distinct individuals both worthy of respect. So, to be fair and egalitarian with this same gender couple, I did what I do with heterosexual couples. Only it had a different result. Once we discussed this, we saw that we were really all on the same side. We were all for ending oppression, disrespect and unfair treatment of people.

And that is the point about which there can be no wavering for a Christian. We must be against every kind of oppression and be working for a world where there is no oppression. No oppressors and no victims. And no one caught in the cross fire because one way or another, we all suffer because of oppression. The lives of both those teen aged boys, Trayvon and Nicholas, have been ruined by oppression. Racial oppression and abuse of power has also taken its toll on Officer Crawford and George Zimmerman. But we are not simply products of an oppressive system. We are also the producers and consumers of that system. And that is where we as Christians are called to be God’s agents of change. We are called to stop producing and consuming oppression. And we are called to be agents of reconciliation and healing. The world is groaning for hope, new life, and resurrection.

Prayer
Our hearts break over the violence and killing around us. We lift up our prayers for the family of Trayvon Martin. We pray for George Zimmerman and his family. We pray for Nicholas Lindsey and his family. We pray for the family and loved ones of Officer David Crawford. And we pray for ourselves. For the healing of our hearts. For the courage to overcome fear and complacency that we might liberate ourselves and the world entire from oppressive systems – social, economic, and religious – which take life away that cannot be returned or replaced. May hope be resurrected within us and may we be in solidarity against all oppression. Amen.

If our congregation was Ghanaian American, we would do the dance of life accompanied by drums and other rhythm instruments at least twice each and every Sunday. The choir would lead, out of the pews up to the front forming a circle then back down the aisle, followed by one side of the congregation and then the other. This would happen again as people would dance down the aisle to put their tithes in a special box and their offerings in a large wooden bowl, singing and dancing the whole way. Sounds like a great work out!

If we were a Japanese American church, each Sunday we would likely say a special memorial prayer for everyone from the congregation who had died that week in years past. Each Sunday, we would remember the dead.

If LUCC was a Hispanic congregation, every month or so we would hold Vigilias from about 7 p.m. Friday to 6 a.m. Saturday, singing, praying, preaching, and making testimonies as well as eating together all through the night.

If we were a Fijian American congregation, the parents of a child to be baptized would bring special fine mats and brown tapas cloths to be put in a pile for the pastor to stand on when the child is baptized. The mats then become a gift for the pastor.

If we were a Filipino American congregation, you would be calling on me to bless your homes, pets, cars, and other material items to honor that every part of life is considered holy. That could keep me really busy!

If this was a Korean American congregation, I would slip off my shoes and put my feet in special slippers before going up the steps to the chancel to get the offering plates or bless the elements for communion.

If we were a Pakistani American congregation, during Holy Week, we would have services each night of the week in someone’s home, sitting on the floor on large white sheets, shoes left at the door.

In a Native American Indian church, the service starts not according to chronological time, but when all who need to be there have gathered and are ready to begin. That could prove very interesting with our congregation!

And in a Native American Indian congregation, we might begin by praying to the four directions, north, south, east and west.

In Psalm 107 we are told of the four directions:

Let the redeemed of God say so,
those God redeemed from trouble
and gathered in from the lands,
from the east and from the west,
from the north and from the south.

In the Bible, we are told that people from all corners of the earth gather to worship and praise God. In every country and culture, people are led to express their devotion and delight to God.

When people of faith gather, from the east and west, north and south, the ways to praise God are prolific and diverse. There is an infusion of culture and tradition that is rich. The predominantly Euro American Christian church in the US is also steeped in tradition and culture. Our ways have grown out of our experience, our language, our climate, our lifestyle. Our worship is just as culturally determined as churches of other countries.

If we were Christians from another part of the world coming to the US and going to church, we might say, “My, in the US the service was only an hour long. The people did not move around at all, but just stood and sat at their seats. And there was only one offering. Can you imagine? How can you glorify God and support the church with only one offering? And the pastor left her shoes on for the whole service, even in the chancel. It seemed so disrespectful, but I guess that’s how they do it.” We can imagine comments like that coming from those of other cultural expressions of Christianity.

A time traveler from New Testament times would have no idea what we were doing in church. Those Christians met together in homes to eat, drink, sing, pray, read scripture, plan help for the needy, and discuss the teachings of Jesus. No robes, choirs, pastors, pews, pianos, organs, stained glass, bulletins, and certainly no cross displayed. All that was to come much later!

As we gather each week, let’s be open to the Spirit, coming from the east and west, north and south, past and future, inviting our vital worship in new and varied ways. There are endless possibilities when it comes to ways to praise!

Prayer
We are grateful for the opportunity and freedom to gather for worship. We are grateful for the resources that are devoted to that glorious celebration! May what we do in worship shape our faith and our lives in ways that delight God. Amen.

Note: Much of the material from this reflection came from Worship Across Cultures: A Handbook by Kathy Black