A Psalm-Shaped Prayer
Genesis 18:1-15, (21:1-7) and Psalm 116:1-2, 12-19
Several years ago a friend shared a “Prayer of Unknowing” by Thomas Merton from Thoughts in Solitude (1956, 1958), and I was moved by its honesty and by Merton’s faith in God’s trustworthiness in the midst of his own confusion and weakness. This prayer is well-known, but well worth a moment of your time today.
As I read the texts for this week’s Lectionary readings, I heard Merton’s whisper in my mind and wondered what I could do with Psalm 116 that was both faithful and truthful. Below you will find Psalm116 broken into sentences, followed by my own word in italics.
Like Merton, I am counting on God to know that I do desire to please God in all I do while I also recognize that I frequently fail. My confession to the Lord and to you is that I fail more often than I get it right. May my desire to please bring the Lord pleasure.
Psalm 116:1-2, 12-19
116:1 I love the LORD, because he has heard my voice and my supplications.
Lord, you have listened intently to my cries and have sustained me all the days of my life. Sometimes I cried out blindly, reflexively, and in desperation. Sometimes I have been so distraught that all I could do was to groan aloud. But even then You heard me. I love You for this.
116:2 Because he inclined his ear to me, therefore I will call on him as long as I live.
And because I have learned that You are faithful, I will continue to cry out to you, knowing that You hear me.
116:12 What shall I return to the LORD for all his bounty to me?
But because I love you, like a child, I also want to give something to You. Like a beloved child, I NEED to be able to give something to You. But what could I possibly give to the Creator and Sustainer of All Things? Do you put our humble offerings on Your refrigerator like a loving parent? What else can I offer?
116:13 I will lift up the cup of salvation and call on the name of the LORD,
I will tell others of Your faithfulness and of Your mercy. I will make myself vulnerable in this age of skepticism and will not be ashamed to call on Your Name.
116:14 I will pay my vows to the LORD in the presence of all his people.
In my baptism, I committed my life to you, Lord, in the presence of Your gathered people. I will submit my life and myself to the way of Jesus and will walk faithfully with Your people. I will count on Your people to hold me accountable for my vows to You as they speak the Truth to me in love.
116:15 Precious in the sight of the LORD is the death of his faithful ones.
I have witnessed the preciousness of that moment when a loved one leaves this life. I have felt Your mercy and Your tenderness as a soul makes its way to You in faith. Indeed, You have promised to be close to us, even in our most fragile moments of birth and of death. Your rod and staff comfort us; You hold our hand firmly in the shadow of death.
116:16 O LORD, I am your servant; I am your servant, the child of your serving girl. You have loosed my bonds.
I have no stature or merit of my own. I come from a humble birth in an unimportant family. Like all Your children, I need You to release me from my self-imposed prison, from my many sins and their consequences. I cried out and You heard my voice. You loved me long before I could choose to love and trust You.
116:17 I will offer to you a thanksgiving sacrifice and call on the name of the LORD.
I will trust in the mercies of my Father. I will walk in the way of Jesus, my Brother. I will listen to the leading of the Holy Spirit, still present among your people. This is the only offering I have and the only one that will please You.
116:18 I will pay my vows to the LORD in the presence of all his people,
I surrender my dignity and my pride as I offer myself to You. Though my own sisters and brothers find my joy scandalous or simply embarrassing, I will sing, dance, and exalt in the love of the Lord. Your banner over me, especially in my ridiculousness, is always and only, Love.
116:19 in the courts of the house of the LORD, in your midst, O Jerusalem. Praise the LORD!
In the gathering of Your people, whether in Jerusalem or on the Near Eastside of Indianapolis,You are there with us, Lord, and that place becomes Your abode. And from that confidence and as we share the abundance of Your in-breaking Kingdom, we gratefully shout Your praises and our thanks. Amen and amen!