An Invitation To Walk …
Over the years, I have formally studied six languages: English, Spanish, Tibetan, Mandarin, Greek, and Hebrew. I am no expert in any of these languages, and each time I studied I had guides who were helping me along the way.
These guides would show me the grammar, alphabet, characters, rules, or inflections. They would also invite me to mimic the way to use the language.
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My Tibetan teacher, Gen Nyima La, was by far my favorite guide. He did not want us to only learn Tibetan, but to really live in the city. So in class, he would make us repeat the same phrases over and over until we not only sounded like a Tibetan but until our mannerisms were consistent with our speech. He made us role-play scenarios using our expanding vocabulary. Gen Nyima La’s teaching style was a great invitation to not only learn a language, but it was also an invitation to live in the ancient city as a Tibetan
The Psalms are just such an invitation and guide: an invitation to live in God’s world as one who is following the Way of Jesus. They are a guide to help us (and the Church both past and present) learn to live in our assigned world. The Psalms help us…
To walk faithfully in the way that leads to life.
To learn the language and songs of the church.
To know whom we should walk with.
To know whom we should not walk with
To learn the language of lament, sorrow, joy, and worship.
To learn how to express our feelings (anger, fear, loneliness, frustration, impatience….)
To learn how to remain faithful, even when surrounded by folks who do not want us around.
To observe God’s creation and remember His works.
To use our imagination to dream of what it looks like to live as a follower of Jesus.
Over the next four Sundays, we will be looking at this invitation in the first four Psalms. We will have help from two other pastors who have been faithfully walking this way and will invite us to do the same.
July 10th - Psalm 1 - Davidson Jean-Rejouis
July 17th - Psalm 2 -Andrew Harwell
July 24th - Psalm 3 - Andrew Harwell
July 31st - Psalm 4 - Jon Medlock
Come join us this July as we listen to the “voice of the Church” in the Psalms.
