April 2, 2020 The Spring of our Discontent Scripture: Psalm 42
I love the Psalms. It has been said that every prayer that has ever been prayed can be found in the Psalms. The older I get, the more I find our lives of faith reflected in these wonderful songs of David and others.
Psalm 42 draws us toward a desire for God, for closeness to God. The setting, as we read further into it, is obviously a time when things were better, when the psalmist was going through an easier time in life, a time of no worries, of celebrations, of religious festivals uninterrupted by darker realities.
Sounds familiar, doesn’t it?
“My tears have become my food night and day, and I hear it said all day long, ‘Where is your God?’”
I am sure that there are people – some of them Christians – saying this very thing: where is God? Yet over and over as I talk to people of faith – many of them are you! – I hear, “There are good things that are going to come out of this, even though the world is going to be changed by it.”
First, I just want to say, “That’s the spirit!”
Then, to myself, I have to ask, “But what?”
I pray for you that whatever is coming that will change so many things for us, that we will remember that we kept the faith, we remembered when we led the joyous religious processions into the house of God, we were faithful and hopeful and loving no matter what.
With Holy Week coming, it’s important to remember that we are the people of Jesus. We are the ones who follow the One who, knowing how bad things were getting ready to be for him personally, said, “Father, this is why I came in the first place. Father, put your glory on display.” (John 12: 28)
I love the Psalms because they are about the life we’re living right now. Full of humanity, they never forget that there is more: God’s ever-present love for all of us, no matter what, no matter who.
Prayer: Help us to see you, our God. Help us to long for you, to trust in you, to hope in you, our Savior and our God! We pray this in Jesus’ name, amen.
About jamiebrame
Greetings, fellow earthlings. I'm the retired Program Director at Christmount, the national retreat, camp, and conference center of the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ), in Black Mountain, NC. From September 2019 through October, 2020, I served Timberlake Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) in Lynchburg, VA, as interim minister. After taking more than a year off, First Christian Church (DoC), Wilson, NC, offered me the position of Interim Minister, beginning May 10, 2022.
Originally from Eden, NC, I graduated from John Motley Morehead High School, earned a BA in Religion and Philosophy at Atlantic Christian College (now Barton College), and eked out a Master of Divinity from the Divinity School at Duke University. I served, in various positions, churches (part time and full time) in North Carolina and Georgia, and have lived in Black Mountain, NC, since 1989. I married Renae in 1992 (she refers to these years as "looooooooooong" years.
I've spent the past 50 years or so trying to practice Christian contemplative prayer with some touches of Zen meditation to help the journey along. Married to a wife who is much holier than I am, I am fortunate to learn from her daily about how to do this thing called spirituality. Being an ordained minister doesn't make me holy (but occasionally, as you'll read, a little sanctimonious, so forgive me in advance!); but I hope that I put my education to good use.
I'd love to be considered a spiritual teacher, but I know myself too well to claim that. While I do a bit of teaching, I think the best teaching we do is when we remain silent (the old desert abba said something like, "if you won't learn from my silence, you won't learn from my talking"). But silence shouldn't turn into quietism, and we do have to speak out and act for justice and fairness and equality for all.
I frequently ask myself the question, "Does it matter?" about the major - and minor - issues of the day. What I think matters: love for God, equality, fairness, loving our neighbor, feeding hungry people, housing homeless ones, clothing naked ones, and especially caring for children; basically, caring for those who have some trouble caring for themselves. AND our relationship with God.
What doesn't matter: what you think of me. I'm not very Christ-like. You won't hear me talking about all the things I do for others, or all the things I do for God - I was taught that It's not about me, and using good works to get attention for myself isn't what Christian faith is about - look up "narcissism" on Google. I'm not sure Jesus thinks it matters much that I am like him or not, but I do. The old story from the rabbis is probably apropo: when I am hauled up before God at the end of time, God isn't going to ask me why I wasn't more like someone else: I will be asked why I wasn't more like me. The rabbis tell the story better.
I'm still a work in progress, as Renae will attest to.
Finally, I just hope that something you read here will make you think. Use what you can, ignore the rest. Go read some of the desert saints. Read the classics. Take care of people, never point to yourself, and don't follow me: I'm just hoping to be one more signpost to God.
And as one friend reminded me the week before I left Christmount, "It matters."
Oh, and my favorite color is probably blue, and I love cats, and I love my wife's music. I don't like beets.
Does It Matter 