There are no hopeless situations; there are only people who have grown hopeless about them. Clare Boothe Luce
From Psalm 65:
By awesome deeds you answer us with deliverance,
O God of our salvation;
You are the hope of all the end of the earth and
of the farthest seas.
By your strength you established the mountain;
you are girded with might.
You silence the roaring of the seas, the roaring of their waves,
the tumult of the peoples.
Those who live at earth’s farthest bounds
are awed by your signs;
You make the gateways of the morning and
evening shout for joy.
Each day I look forward to “sitting with a psalm” as a way to pray. These words are not my own, of course, but become my prayer as I sit with them, reading and saying them, sometimes over and over. I had a professor at Duke Divinity, Dr. Grant Wacker, who encouraged such. He invited us to join him to ruminate on a psalm at the beginning of each class period. We didn’t talk about the psalm; we read it and let it linger for a moment, the psalmist’s words, our prayer, and an invitation to Christ’s presence into our classroom.
John Wesley, our Methodist founder and father, often spoke of psalms and used their words to describe his own feelings and experiences. After hearing a choir sing at Saint Paul’s church from Ps 130, he describes a feeling of his own heart crying out using the words of the psalter: “Out of the deep I have called unto thee, O Lord. Lord, hear my voice. . . “ Singing the words of psalms ordered the early Methodist societies and classes and even our ancestors in Jerusalem (Intro to Psalms, The Wesley Study Bible).
I sit with the words of a psalm as a means of praying, starting the day with prayer. The words are there for me and offer an order to my day. Lately a lot of our work as pastors and laity has focused on hearing damaging words and untruths, sharing the reality of the UMC, and sharing in holy conversations. While it is not easy, this is part of our journey at this moment in time. We are called to consider how God is working in us and in our churches; we are called to work together, with our brothers and sisters, to make good plans for our future together with hope.
In this season of chaos and difficulty (we have named with the word disaffiliation), we are delighted to find hope! And God is our Hope and our Salvation! The words of this psalm jumped out at me because the psalmist describes God as the deliverer, a strength, and one who silences the roaring of the sea. God quiets the mighty storm which surrounds us, “the roaring of the waves, the tumult of the peoples.” Tumult is not a word I use in conversation, but I recognize the meaning throughout various hymns and in scripture. It’s the bumps in the road, the waves in the sea, which threaten to overturn and pour us out. It’s the really rough stuff of life. We are in a tough time, with rough seas, indeed. And yet – God is with us! God IS delivering us, God IS quieting the roaring waves and stormy sea! We are seeing signs of God’s deliverance!
Thanks be to God for persons who bring calm leadership and who pray quietly as we seek to come together in our meetings. Thanks be to God for committees who commit to working together for the good of their churches. Thanks be to God for all who offer time to a process which includes all members of the church. We partner with God, who is our Hope and Deliverer, for a beautiful future together in the United Methodist Church. We follow Christ who guides us as servants and disciples and has shown us the way. “Those who live at earth’s farthest bounds are awed by your signs; you make the gateways of the morning and the evening shout for joy.”
I hope you are feeling hopeful this day and will join me in shouting for joy! We are a strong people who join God and one another in this amazing, difficult, tumultuous, enriching and joy-bringing season! May this psalm guide this season and become our prayer when we need a reminder that God is with us and Hope is ours.
