Summer in the Psalms

This week I begin what has become a summer tradition for me: preaching through the Psalms. I began this series of sermons with Psalm 1 in June 2008. Now in my eighth summer of this series I have reached Psalm 61, which I am preparing to preach this coming Sunday. And I approach these sermons with a great deal of excitement and some trepidation. But still I love to preach the Psalms. Here are a few reasons why.

1) They run the full gamut of emotion. From mountaintops to valleys, from lament to joy. Filled with moments of God's proximity and God's distance. Whatever you feel on a particular day, there is a Psalm for that.

2) They do not hold back in those emotions. The Psalms get to the very depths of our souls. They lash out in anger at enemies and false friends. They react with a violence that lies within us, and sometimes shocks us. (Psalm 137:9 comes to mind.)

3) They speak of things we have difficulty expressing in the church today. This is especially true in terms of lament. So often church has become about the experience, the high of worshiping God. But we do not always worship God from that joyous place. The Psalms let us know that that is OK.

4) The comfort of God in Jesus Christ is there on every page. The Psalms are frequently quoted and used in the New Testament, and because of that we can relate so much of their content to the life and work of Jesus Christ. The first apostles' relationship to Christ led them to the Psalms. When we think about our spiritual lives, and our kinship with Jesus Christ, can we do any better than turn to the Psalms. The songs speak of God our King. They speak of the God who comforts. They speak of the God who hears. The speak of the anointed one who would suffer. They speak to the Christian of Jesus Christ.

5) In all things praise God. The Psalms, in all their varied emotions, ultimately lead us back to God. In joy, praise God. In sorrow, praise God. In laughter and tears, praise God. In lament and frustration, praise God. In the presence of demons and angels, friends and enemies, praise God.

There Is a Fountain

When William Cowper was recovering from depression and nervous anxiety, he wrote the following song, in the knowledge that his sins and his feelings of unworthiness were taken up by Jesus Christ on is cross. The song was well known in evangelistic circles and played a part in creating the team of D.L. Moody and Ira Sankey.

I sang it this morning at the Anniversary service at Jacksonville United Church, as recorded in the video below.