Psalm Writing, Poetry, and the Soul

Last night at my parish we had Ray McGinnis lead a workshop on Psalm writing and journaling. I was reminded of how powerful poetry can be in stirring the soul. In one exercise, Ray had us take a list of phrases and use them to write a personal psalm. Some people used several of the phrases, some started with one and took off from there, and others ran with a theme inspired from the words shared. People who thought they couldn't write much were turning words that revealed a depth of soul and you could feel it in the room. After many people shared what they had written, one woman commented that she felt as though she had been to worship. Indeed, there was a sense of the Holy as people shared words that revealed their own searching and finding.
Look through the Psalms and find those phrases that might shape a personal psalm.

Suggestions include:

I waited patiently

You go before me

Bones grow weak

I cry aloud to God

Over the waters

Myself a sanctuary

Ancient doors

Like a bird to the mountains

Look at me and answer

Like the feet of a deer

In the morning

. . . and you can find your own. Let the familiar phrases shape in you a response to God. Let the power of images and words awake the soul.

Peace,

John Mark

National Day of Prayer Hooplah!

More than one of my Facebook friends posted the following:

President Obama has decided that there will no longer be a "National Day of Prayer" held in May. He doesn't want to offend anybody. Where was his concern about offending Christians last January when he allowed the Muslims to hold a day of prayer on the capitol grounds. As a Christian American "I am offended." If you agree copy and paste no matter what religion you are, this country was built on Freedom!!!

I responded immediately with some thinly veiled snarkyness that I think that this is a good idea, and that our faithful president is standing against the idolatry of civil religion. It turns out that the National Day of Prayer has not been cancelled, but that there will not be a ceremony to observe the day held at the White House. Check it out-

Snopes.com

I usually never respond to the "re-post this if you have a heart, love God, and don't kick puppies" kind of posts. I try to refrain from engaging in much discussion at all on Facebook, especially if that discussion could get heated. So, I have a blog that I can vent on and a few folks might read.

I do have a few things to say about the hype over the "cancellation" of the National Day of Prayer and other such public religious movements. I think a national day of prayer is great. The recognition of the day by our president doesn't move me. The suggestion that our president is leading our country into godlessness by not holding an observance of the day has my blood boiling.

As a Christian, I am offended by the amount of energy put into fighting over public nativity scenes, monuments to the ten commandments, and prayer in schools. I would like to say that I am sure that people leading these fights are well intentioned. My problem with these struggles is that they deal with things that do little to promote the faith, and might even present the faith in a distorted way.

Take the drive to have public monuments displaying the 10 Commandments. I perceive that many folks believe that having the 10 Commandments in classrooms and court houses will reduce crime and improve classroom behavior. Even if people don't believe that, the emphasis on the public display opens the opportunity for that. That, my friends, is some messed up magical thinking, and idolatry that I don't want my government to engage in. Leave the idolatry to religion.

We leave ourselves open to make an idol of any religious practice or symbol. The cross, the bible, the eucharist, and a host of other things can be imbued with superstition. We must wrestle with that in our own religious practice. Prayer is not magic, and God won't love you more if you give more money to your church. Our symbols and practices are helpful tools in our relationship with God. No nation can take away that relationship.

I appreciate keeping some distance between the empire and faith. The intermingling of faith and the state has too often turned evil. In more insidious ways the religious establishment has promoted the notion that being a good Christian means being a good citizen, polite, and successfully capitalist. Hmm, Jesus (and many before him) promoted some prophetic justice making (with mercy thrown into the mix.)

Many people fighting to erect the idols of public religion claim that our nation is going down. I agree with that. The United States of America will one day crumble into oblivion. I don't want to see that, but it will happen. The faith of millions of God-loving saints will endure through the demise of all nations. God's love will not be cancelled, taken, or established by any state.

Hey, man- this is just like, my opinion.

Peace.