Joyce Borger

Many of us can resonate with Psalm 80’s plea to God to “hear us,” “restore us,” and “save us” intermingled with the gut-wrenching question “how long?”. It doesn’t take much pastoral imagination to think of ways in which members of our community relate to this psalm and what occasions have brought the lament “how long?” onto their lips. For that reason it is an important psalm to turn to again and again and worth exploring in its entirety.

Who of us wants to hear words of critique even when they are true and spoken in love? Our natural instinct is to rebuff such words and deny their veracity. At the same time, few of us know how to offer true words of critique and prefer to avoid them. We often do the same in worship, especially when it comes to the prayers of confession…However, words of hope and grace are meaningless if we don’t understand just how mired we are in sin. What’s more, calls to live lives of justice and grace are missing their mark if we leave the bar too low. We need to dwell on difficult passages like Psalm 50. We need to hear God’s words of judgement in order to change our ways and receive God’s message of hope and abundant grace.

Is there anything worth celebrating? When the news cycle is increasingly horrific and our communities are being torn apart, the church needs to be a carillon ringing out the good news of salvation and hope. Use Psalm 107 as an opportunity to share the good news by giving opportunity for those gathered or for pre-selected folks to share their testimony of how they have experienced the redemptive power of God. And may all God’s people join together in praise, for God’s love is steadfast and endures forever.

These resources for the opening movements of a worship service use language from Psalm 85 and develop the themes of that psalm as well. “Listen to the promises of our Holy God— God has covenanted with us that all who are faithful will flourish. God will not let us remain in our sin, but, through Christ, all who believe will be saved. More than that, God remains with us. God is with us here, now, and forever!”

We speak Psalm 52 in solidarity with all who are experiencing the treachery of unjust people and systems. We speak it today as a warning to ourselves to choose the way of righteousness because a life of injustice leads to eternal death. We speak it today to remind ourselves that though the unjust may seem to have the upper hand, “The steadfast love of God endures forever."

Psalm 82 is a psalm for all those who are victims of injustice and those who stand in solidarity with them…Psalm 82 is a message for all people who hold power, which I would argue is the vast majority of us. Each of us has spheres of influence whether or not we have an official leadership title. And, therefore, all of us have the responsibility to speak loudly to those who are in leadership and have unjust practices, lest we become complicit.

Psalm 30 is David’s testimony of praise to God for rescuing him from a period in his life in which he was overcome with despair. What follows is a reinterpretation and reorganization of the Psalm as a monologue. It is interspersed with the congregational song representing God’s voice, “Don’t Be Afraid” by John Bell.

We hold our breath while deep in our soul we may be crying out to God, “Where are you God? When will it end?” For all those times when we feel like we are holding our breath while our soul cries out, we need Psalm 77: an invitation to bring our laments to God, to remember God’s faithfulness, and give thanks for all that is good.

The psalmist’s encouragement to lean into hope is not wishful thinking based on some abstract concept but arises out of past experiences. God was faithful in the past; there is nothing to suggest God isn’t faithful in the present or won’t be in the future. The doubt, the questioning, the struggle, arise out of the context of a deep faith. This is why it is so important to retell the stories of God’s faithfulness, to bear testimony of God’s greatness. It is even more important to tell those stories during difficult times. “These things I remember…” Such testimonies become songs in the night.

Psalm 8 is often seen simply as a psalm of praise to God for all creation, and it is that. But it also describes the right ordering of that creation and the relationships within the created order. While it is a wonder to acknowledge that humanity is seen as a little lower than the angels, it is also sobering to understand the responsibility that comes with that honor. In Christ, God has provided us with an example of what that responsibility entails—seeking the flourishing of all and being willing to be serve, putting others ahead of self.