Praise, Celebration, and the Struggle to Find Our Way to Rejoicing

The part of the Bible I turn to more than any other part is the Book of Psalms. These Psalms are the songs of thanksgiving, praise and lament of the Jewish people. They are traditionally attributed to King David of Israel. And, certainly, he could have written some of them. It is doubtful that he wrote most of them. But, what is really important is not exactly who in Israel wrote these prayers/songs, but who he or she wrote them to and what experience of the Holy One gave rise to these writings, and how these holy words were recited in synagogue and temple and later in church in a way that has literally saved human life again and again as the people continue to experience the Holy through making these holy words their own.

I am always amazed by the movement of the spirit that can be found in so many of these Psalms if you read them with an open heart. For example, Psalm 73 begins reciting a pious phrase: "Surely God is good to Israel and to those who are upright," and then turns to how the Psalmist has personally struggled with believing that in this world. "But as for me, my feet had almost slipped; I had nearly lost my foothold. For I envied the arrogant when I saw the prosperity of the wicked. They have no struggles; their bodies are healthy and strong . . . " So, this faithful Jew is seeking to give voice to what it is to praise God and trust in God's goodness in a world where goodness often seems defeated. And, this Psalm goes on looking back to a time of lament and complaining about it all. And, then, the writer says: "If I had gone on talking like this (the complaining), I would have betrayed this generation of your children. When I tried to understand all this, it was oppressive to me . . . until . . . UNTIL I ENTERED THE SANCTUARY OF GOD. It wasn't that the Psalmist went and took a self-help class on positive thinking or changed his diet and exercise routine. No, he went to worship and right there in the praising of God, he experienced God's presence and saw that the wicked and the arrogant do not rule over the universe. He discovered in the praising that there really is One who is worth praising. And, so the Psalmist writes: "When my heart was grieved and my spirit embittered, I was senseless and ignorant; I was like a brute beast before you. Yet I am always with you; you hold me by my right hand. You guide me with your counsel, and afterward you will take me into glory. Whom have I in heaven but you? And, whom do I have on earth but you? My heart and my flesh may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever."

And, so ends this powerful movement of the human spirit from a heart turned in on itself in grief and suffering to a heart turned outward to God in praise. That's why I turn to these Psalms all the time. They trace the real and holy movements of how human beings struggle to find their way to the Holy One, and how again and again this seemingly hopeless struggle is pierced through and opened up to rejoicing in the presence of our Creator whose existence is the ground of our being and the cause of our celebration.