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Letting God Teach the Church How To Pray Excerpt from Experiencing the Psalms by Stephen P. McCutchan Most of the time when we approach Scripture, we come to learn about God and what God expects of us. We speak of Scripture as the Word of God and try to respond to it as Gods Word for us. When we come to the psalms, we encounter a different type of literature. The psalms are the prayer book of Scripture. In that sense, they are the words of the people to God rather than the Word from God. While that does not preclude us from approaching the psalms as Scripture and using them to teach us about God and Gods way, it opens up a different possibility for us as well. We can also approach the psalms as liturgy or the words of the people lifted up to God. In that sense the psalms become our instructional book to teach us how to pray. As our instructional book about prayer, we are taught how to pray not by reading about it, but by praying. Too often we approach Scripture by asking what we can learn from it. Its as if we are the objective observers who are examining Scripture for its ideas. The psalms raise entirely different issues for us if we objectively stand outside them and ask what we can learn from them about prayer versus allowing them to become our prayers. We do not learn first about prayer and then begin to pray. Rather we learn to pray by praying and specifically by praying the psalms. For many modern Christians and especially those who are accustomed to what is often referred to as free prayer, saying prayers that were written by someone else presents some problems. First, the language of the psalms is not our normal manner of speaking, and it is difficult for many to identify with this language as part of their prayer to God. Second, we assume prayer is our personal communication with God; and for many it is difficult to believe that someone else, let alone someone who lived two to three thousand years ago, could provide the right words for our personal communication with God. Third, in a culture of individualism, the psalms assume an identity with the whole people of God. We prize our individual identity that is separate from any larger body of people, and it is difficult to accept our identity with and commitment to the worldwide body of people who are part of the Christian faith. Further, it challenges the parameters of some peoples faith to recognize that they are part of an even larger body of faithful that includes the first people that God chose and who in turn offered the psalms to us. Fourth, there are parts of the psalms that make us extremely uncomfortable and seem to our ears as inappropriate ways to pray to God.1 Finally, in a society that seeks a language that defines exactly what is being said, the language of the psalms is the language of poetry that often speaks of more than is being said. Poetry speaks of mystery when our society is fearful of that which they do not understand and therefore cannot control. Poetry requires us to take time to ponder and meditate when our society wants to rush on to a well-defined conclusion. In short, the psalms ask more of us than we are normally willing to give. Their value is revealed to us when we realize that the psalms are Gods instruction to us about how to pray. |
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