LAKELAND COMMUNITY
  • I'M NEW
    • ESSENTIALS
    • SURRENDER TOGETHER LOVE
    • HISTORY
    • LEADERSHIP
  • COMMUNITY
    • Course and Current
    • MINISTRY OVERVIEW
    • ADULT MINISTRIES
    • MILESTONES
    • 9-12
    • 5-8
    • K-4
    • PRE-K
    • MISSIONS
  • MEDIA
    • TEACHINGS
    • VIDEO ART
    • SOCIAL MEDIA
  • THIS WEEK
  • GIVING
  • EMPLOYMENT
  • RENTAL
  • Lakeland Live
  • Church Center

AN UNBIDDEN LIFE

PRAYING THE PSALMS

9/30/2013

0 Comments

 
Praying the Psalms is a time-tested spiritual discipline for developing a compassionate heart.  St. Anthony said so.  Evagrius Ponticus said so.  Thomas Merton said so.  Henri Nouwen said so.  Thomas Green said so. 
Not one has a good reason for why contemplative prayer develops compassion.  But I think they just assume that praying the Psalms takes us deep into the heart of God.  We gain the heart of God through the Psalms. 
Now here’s some instruction about praying the Psalms.  First, you should NOT begin with “an information quest.”  Praying the Psalms IS NOT about gaining information or teaching.  Yes, you will be instructed.  More so, you will find yourself meditating (studying) on a phrase or word or concept in the Psalms. 
We begin to pray the Psalms not for depth therefore, but for “volume.”  It is the sheer volume or amount of the Psalms we are leveraging.  This is quantity over quality.  I know that sounds wrong in our head-driven Christianity that has been with us since the Reformation (16th century).  But we pray the Psalms to bath our day with the words of God, inspired by God, given by God, prayed back to God by us, and then the prayers of God are sent back to us as a balm of God’s divine Presence.  Uh huh, that’s right.  Complicated yes.  Why?
Praying the Psalms is mystical prayer.  We are praying more with our gut than our mind.  We are changing our heart – not through information – not through the head, but through our innermost being. 
To understand this fully one must hang around a monastery and listen to Benedictine monks pray the Daily Office seven times a day.  Do monks burn out on praying the Psalms?  Yes!  Perhaps for years!  But this is the nature of a discipline.  Keep at it even when you don’t feel like it.  Do runners training for a marathon burn out on preparation?  Sure.  But they keep at it.  The discipline has its desired outcome:  ability to run a marathon.  Praying the Psalms has its desired outcome:  a compassionate heart, a heart that becomes still and ceases to judge another human being; a heart that sees its False Self for what it is:  a deception, a lie that tells one they are stupid or worthless or witless, or shameful or confused, pitiable and sad and childish.  The true self sees us as sinners saved by a loving gracious Father.  The True Self is honest.  It does not need to judge.  It is at rest. 
This is why contemplative prayer is the road to love: it brings judgment of self and others to an end.  We must embrace this ancient Christian discipline for our contemporary lives.  Otherwise we will not change much. 
“The Christian of tomorrow will be a mystic, one who has experienced something, or he will be nothing.” – Karl Rahner (theologian)
(Needful topics not addressed this time:  a) how to schedule praying the Psalms  b) the posture and bodily mode of praying the Psalms c)  accompanying disciplines for leveraging the Psalms  d) understanding the content of the Psalms in all their varied topics and themes.)
0 Comments

    Archives

    October 2021
    February 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    October 2017
    September 2017
    June 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    December 2016
    August 2016
    July 2016
    June 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    December 2015
    October 2015
    September 2015
    August 2015
    May 2015
    February 2015
    December 2014
    September 2014
    July 2014
    May 2014
    April 2014
    March 2014
    February 2014
    November 2013
    September 2013
    June 2013
    May 2013
    April 2013
    March 2013
    February 2013
    December 2012
    October 2012
    August 2012
    May 2012
    January 2012
    December 2011
    November 2011
    October 2011
    June 2011
    May 2011
    April 2011
    February 2011
    January 2011
    December 2010
    November 2010
    October 2010
    September 2010
    July 2010
    June 2010
    May 2010
    April 2010
    March 2010
    February 2010
    January 2010
    December 2009
    November 2009
    October 2009
    July 2009
    June 2009
    May 2009
    April 2009

    Categories

    All

    RSS Feed

Picture

​913 NE Colbern Road
Lee's Summit, MO 64086

816.554.0929
​

SUNDAY SERVICES
9:30a Course Hour
10:30a Current Hour
EMPLOYMENT OPPORTUNITIES
SITEMAP
  • I'M NEW
    • ESSENTIALS
    • SURRENDER TOGETHER LOVE
    • HISTORY
    • LEADERSHIP
  • COMMUNITY
    • Course and Current
    • MINISTRY OVERVIEW
    • ADULT MINISTRIES
    • MILESTONES
    • 9-12
    • 5-8
    • K-4
    • PRE-K
    • MISSIONS
  • MEDIA
    • TEACHINGS
    • VIDEO ART
    • SOCIAL MEDIA
  • THIS WEEK
  • GIVING
  • EMPLOYMENT
  • RENTAL
  • Lakeland Live
  • Church Center