(Yes, that’s a tip of the hat to Blue Swede)
The spontaneous and liturgical work together.
There is a Psalm I have been hooked on for a month or two. I have been looking for encouraging Psalms to share with people. You might be surprised to know that not all Psalms are encouraging, some are downright aggressive (imprecatory Psalms specifically ie. Ps. 69 & 109), and in an effort not to read the ones that are too dark and graphic at a person's bedside I thought it best to do some research when I started here at Grace. That was the orderly part of how I found this Psalm. The spontaneous part happened when I looked at the list I had compiled through quick reading. I knew and had read the Psalms with lower numbers more often, so I decided to go for one with a higher number. That is how I came across Psalm 145.
Here is the perfect time to take a break from what I am writing and read the Psalm for yourself, that’s where the real fruit is.
What I loved most about really reading Psalm 145 and taking it in most were the repeated calls to share God’s work with future generations (vs. 4), and to declare all the good stuff God is doing (vs. 6,7). These calls are repeated in various language, multiple times, throughout the Psalm. Overall, the idea is to declare to those around us all God’s work in our lives and in the world; past, present, and future. At that moment really diving into this Psalm I got a burst of joy, hope, and happy memories. I can remember countless times God has come through for me, been good to me, taught me kindly, disciplined me harder than I wanted but I cherish it long after the sting, and times he has done the same for my friends and family. I have younger kids so this was especially applicable to me. Since then we have put a greater emphasis on talking about answered prayer with our kids rather than just what needs to be prayed about. It has been so good to see how it has encouraged them to pray more earnestly, knowing that it’s not just a chore but has real results.
Those spontaneous encouragements we find in our walk with God are great, often we refer to them as “mountain top experiences.” Long ago I stopped trying to avoid these, I had been doing that to avoid the spiritual crash that often followed. Rather, I tried to savor them like the memory of a great meal. Great meals cannot always be replicated, cooks change, recipes change, we change, but memories of good meals (whether the food or the friends were what made it great) can be held onto. We can celebrate those memories many times and enjoy the fruit of joy they bring.
And that brings me to repetition (or what some call liturgy). In our evangelical circles we often look down upon repetitive things. We avoid them not because they are bad but because we build up ideas of bad things that can come from repetitive things. Liturgical prayers can create a dry prayer life, repetitive songs can create a shallow worship experience. Those risks are real, but Psalm 145 has encouraged me, through coming to me spontaneously, that continually remembering God’s good deeds are like the memory of a great meal. Coming to this Psalm over and over again for months, not moving on until its works has ripened in me, and through that continually remembering the good things God has done and is doing, has been a good practice. Since then God has taken me to Psalm 66, it is different but I am excited to see what work it can do on me.
My latest thing to celebrate is this. That God’s use of His Word and His people in spontaneous and repetitive ways are all worth declaring and celebrating!
Pastor Will