Well, Blogging is one thing... now I have to pretend to be a poet too. Please excuse my fumbling as I am a new blogger and new poet.. there are lots of new things for me lately!
I was really struck this week by a discussion from our Google hangout. We, as a Christian culture, tend to shy way from the "lamenting" prayers. We are always quick to "sing songs of praise" and even when there are times of struggle... I feel most often the tone taken is one of trust and faith in God. Which is good, but people need to hear it is okay to not be okay.
One of the elements of my job that I enjoy the most is care and counseling. The idea of "bottling up our laments" hit close to home for me! We are not told often enough that it is okay to be angry with God, it is okay to not always have a song of praise in our hearts. I believe God desires authentic relationship with each of us, that is why we were given free will. Is it truly an authentic relationship if we only share the "warm fuzzy" feelings? As Dr. Lester said in Google hangouts this week "Let's get real!".
When we look at the Psalms we see laments, praises, hymns and thanksgivings. These writings are "keeping it real". In one of our assigned readings this week Bandstra does a great job of capturing the "realness" of the psalms: "the psalms gave voice to the people’s deepest feelings and emotions, and reading them exposes the pulsing heart of Israel".
To your right you will see my attempt at exposing my own pulsing heart: (sorry the imagery there is less than desirable..I immediately see flashbacks to Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom..ekk!) Regardless of those images, here is my attempt at "keeping in real".
