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As we listen to the news from our communities and around the world, we can find ourselves overwhelmed by all that is wrong with it. This prayer of petition and lament brings some of those circumstances to God.

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.

Have you ever thought about what your space invokes in you or your congregation? Many or most of us are in contexts different from these old European spaces. But every space speaks and every space shapes.

Blessed is the worship leader who knows that the space matters, for their church will discover God’s unique work through the place they call home.