The Park Forum

Links for today’s readings:

Feb 18 Read:  Proverbs 9 Listen: (1:50) Read: Psalm 39 Listen: (1:49)

Scripture Focus: Psalm 39:4-7

4 “Show me, Lord, my life’s end
    and the number of my days;
    let me know how fleeting my life is.
5 You have made my days a mere handbreadth;
    the span of my years is as nothing before you.
Everyone is but a breath,
    even those who seem secure.

6 “Surely everyone goes around like a mere phantom;
    in vain they rush about, heaping up wealth
    without knowing whose it will finally be.

7 “But now, Lord, what do I look for?
    My hope is in you.”

Reflection: Existential Dread

By Erin Newton

Existential dread is a deep-seated feeling and anxiety about the meaning of life. We sometimes equate the experience with the proverbial “mid-life crisis.” As I entered the working world after college, I learned you can have a similar feeling at that time, called the “quarter-life crisis.” What may cause people to dye their hair, buy a shiny new car, quit their job, and pursue a new career is this deeply rooted concern about life. What are we doing? What is this all about?

As Christians, we are taught to exchange our initial ambitions for a life in Christ. Our plans become whatever God’s plans are for us. And that is all well and good. But I think we are sometimes shocked (and maybe embarrassed) when we reach a point that we’re asking the same questions as Psalm 39: What am I doing with my life? When am I going to die? How much longer do I have? Have I wasted it all? Isn’t it all rather pointless?

This psalm seems to ebb and flow between statements about being silent, then a burst of questions and pleading with God. This first half of the psalm focuses on the relatively short nature of our human lives. As if an echo from Ecclesiastes, the psalmist says, “Everyone is but a breath.” Vanity. Vanity. Everything is meaningless.

The fact that these words are preserved for us should give us some comfort. We all feel this way at some point in time. It is not being ungrateful for the life God has led us through. It’s simply a question that we often wrestle with.

So what do we do? “But now, Lord, what do I look for?,” the psalmist asks.

Do we look for success? Do we look for companionship? Do we look for achievements? Do we look for a legacy? Do we look for a pain-free existence? These things are not necessarily wrong.

“My hope is in you.”

The psalm asks, “Show me,” and “What do I look for?” We want God to be a fortune-teller instead of a hope-holder.

Existential dread asks to see the future, assure us how this all turns out. We don’t get an answer to that question. There lies our hope.

We ask God the same questions century after century. The answer remains the same: We look to God for our hope and then we keep living.

Divine Hours Prayer: The Request for Presence

O God of hosts, show the light of your countenance, and we shall be saved. — Psalm 80.7

– From The Divine Hours: Prayers for Springtime by Phyllis Tickle.

Listen to: RSVP to Wisdom or Folly

Two banquets are prepared.
Two invitations go out.
Two hostesses beckon.
Which banquet will you enter? Who gets your RSVP?

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Links for today’s readings:

Feb 17  Read: Proverbs 8 Listen: (3:26) Read: Psalm 38 Listen: (2:14)

Scripture Focus: Psalm 38.4-8

Reflection: Spiritual Hypochondria and Anosognosia

By John Tillman

Do you go to the doctor at the first scratchy feeling in your throat? Or do you delay until you can barely breathe without a fit of coughing and hacking?

Hypochondriacs obsessively worry about getting or being ill, usually while perfectly healthy. Hypochondriacs annoy their friends, family, and doctors who know they are not as sick as they think.

Hypochondria’s opposite is less well known. Anosognosia is a lack of awareness of one’s illness. It can refer to simple denials in which patients refuse to stay home from work when sick. But its more severe forms include patients who deny they are having heart attacks or are paralyzed. Of the two conditions, hypochondria is annoying, but anosognosia is dangerous.

In Psalm 38, David describes horrific symptoms of both physical and mental illness. David’s descriptions have the ring of true life experience. David used his sickness as a metaphor for his spiritual state. David was guilt stricken and sickened by his sin.

“Feeling sick” is often the effects of fighting illnesses. Physical symptoms, like fever, mucus, and even vomiting are ways your body fights. These feelings are unpleasant and when your body is weak or your system is malfunctioning and overreacting, they can be dangerous, however, your situation would be worse if your immune system did not respond to threats.

What is true physically is true spiritually—guilt over sin is a good sign. It means our God-given spiritual “immune system,” our conscience, is functioning. (Romans 2.14-15; 1 Timothy 4.2; Titus 1.15-16; Hebrews 9.14) The discomfort of guilt should drive us to confession. David sought God’s forgiveness. We seek forgiveness from Jesus, who said,  “It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick.” (Luke 5.31) However, it is a very bad sign when we become aware of sin and refuse to admit we are sick.

Does your sin sicken you?

It is possible to become a spiritual hypochondriac, obsessed with maintaining sinlessness and overburdened with false guilt. To combat this, we must trust in our doctor, Jesus, whose forgiveness gives us a clean bill of health.

The more dangerous condition, however, is spiritual anosognosia. Those with consciences seared and burned away continue in sin and refuse to “go to the doctor” for diagnosis, treatment, or therapy.

Listen to your spiritual “immune system.” Don’t let it die. When sickened by sin, thank God for your conscience and seek Jesus’s merciful care and cure for our sinful condition.

Divine Hours Prayer: The Refrain for the Morning Lessons

You strengthen me more and more; you enfold me and comfort me. — Psalm 71.21

– From The Divine Hours: Prayers for Springtime by Phyllis Tickle.

Listen to: Lady Wisdom

“Does not wisdom call out?” She does, indeed. And those with ears to hear will hear her call.

Read more: Choices and Hard Hearts

Hardened hearts happen in stages. Do we hear and obey? Our heart will grow softer…
Do we hear and turn away? Our heart will grow harder…

Choices and Hard Hearts—Readers’ Choice

Links for today’s readings:

Feb 13  Read: Proverbs 4 Listen: (2:37) Read: Psalm 34 Listen: (2:14)

Links for this weekend’s readings:

Feb 14  Read: Proverbs 5 Listen: (2:08) Read: Psalm 35 Listen: (3:21)
Feb 15  Read: Proverbs 6 Listen: (3:22) Read: Psalm 36 Listen: (1:29)

Scripture Focus: Psalm 34.19-22

Reflection: Grounded, Gritty, and Glorious

By John Tillman

When struggling, rosy-sounding truisms sound insincere. We tend to dismiss people sharing them as those who’ve never faced what we face.

“Must be nice.”
“I don’t live in that kind of world.”
“You wouldn’t say that if you lived my life.”

Psalm 34 has rosy-sounding promises that we’d be tempted to dismiss as coming from some sheltered ivory tower poet. “Taste and see that the Lord is good,” (v. 8) doesn’t hit the same when your mouth is full of blood from life punching you in the face. “The Lord will deliver you from all your troubles” (v. 17) rings hollow when troubles surround us and deliverance seems impossible.

But this psalm doesn’t come from a privileged poet, philosopher, or professor who is disconnected from life’s realities. It also doesn’t come from a sinless saint, basking in the safety of a serene temple. It comes from David, the shepherd boy, turned vigilante, fugitive, criminal, and immigrant refugee. David’s true kingdom was corrupted by Saul and the kingdom sheltering him was wickedness and evil embodied. He wrote, “keep…your lips from telling lies,” (v. 13) yet was forced to feign madness and commit atrocities to preserve his life. (1 Samuel 21.10-15)

David doesn’t have dishonest, rose-colored glasses, filtering out blood, suffering, and struggle. He doesn’t just promise happy blessings or happy endings. David promises that the righteous will face afflictions, troubles, hardships, brokenheartedness, crushed spirits, and powerful enemies. Yet, while afflicted, David still rejoices.

David knew what it was like to be an outcast with zero good options. When David acknowledges evil, he’s been there and done that. When he talks about salvation and deliverance, he’s seen that and experienced it. Because of this, we can still listen to him.

Part of the power of twelve-step programs is listening to people who’ve been where you’ve been and done what you’ve done. Twelve-steppers don’t spin illusions about struggles. They don’t give false hopes, but honest support. Imagine David as the leader of a twelve-step program for sinners, sufferers, and outcasts. He’s grounded and gritty, yet glorifies God. He’s not innocent or perfect, yet praises his savior.

Thank God for the grounded, reality acknowledging truths found in scripture. Believers aren’t forced to pretend the world is perfect. Rather, it is vital we recognize the intolerable tyrannies and wickedness surrounding us.

Stuck between corrupt kingdoms, demonstrate and anticipate the better kingdom to come by exalting Jesus in the midst of affliction.

Divine Hours Prayer: The Refrain for the Morning Lessons

Help me, O Lord my God; save me for your mercy’s sake. — Psalm 109.25

– From The Divine Hours: Prayers for Springtime by Phyllis Tickle.

Read more: Wisdom Talking

We must grow in wisdom, constantly learning, ceaselessly examining our world, and courageously speaking.

Wisdom Talking

Listen to: All That Has Breath

Let everything that has breath praise the one who surrendered his breath on the cross, yet lives and breathes again.

Links for today’s readings:

Feb 12  Read: Proverbs 3 Listen: (3:05) Read: Psalm 33 Listen: (2:08)

Scripture Focus: Psalm 33.3

3 Sing to him a new song; 
play skillfully, and shout for joy.

Reflection: Worship Greatly

By John Tillman

Do you have an inner “worship critic”? I do.

I have decades of experience and expertise in planning, producing, and performing in large worship gatherings in addition to being a musician, singer, theater performer, and director. Any public performance, whether in person or on television, activates my inner critic to analyze the event.

It’s one thing to critique the quality of a worship service. We should always care about doing things with excellence for God’s glory. We must “play skillfully.” However, my expertise and experience aren’t always objective. Neither are yours. There is often a grey area between quality and preference.

Federico Villanueva reminds us of a variety of worship styles, stances, and volumes in Psalms.

“It has been said that there are two kinds of worshipers: the “Joy to the World” type and the “Silent Night” type. The latter like solemnity and silence, with matching candles. The former like it noisy, with worship viewed as celebration. The beauty of the Psalms is that they show that there is a place for both types.” (Federico G. Villanueva, Asia Bible Commentary Series)

The orchestration notes for some psalms indicate masses of loud instruments like cymbals and trumpets. (Psalm 150.3-5) Some psalms specify tender-sounding tunes such as “Doe of the Morning.” (Psalm 22) No style is excluded from “sacred” music.

Psalm 33 turns the volume up to eleven. “Shout for joy” (v. 3) means a cheer of victorious celebration. We are not well acquainted with the victory shouts one might have heard from ancient armies, but we are acquainted with the shouts of sports stadiums when one’s team has won a championship. Like it or not, worship can be like that. Worship can also be totally silent.

The vital quality of worship is not volume. Worship is not about a great production which meets our preferences or standards, but a great God. To worship properly, quiet your inner critic and distinguish between critiques of preference and quality. If a singer is pitchy or an instrument too loud or a sermon too long, but God is glorified, we should be able to say “amen.”

If the readings, prayers, music, and sermons point to God’s greatness and the gospel, I can deal with a less than perfect service. However, high production values can’t save services that mute or miss the gospel.

Don’t mistake your preferences for quality. “Shout to the Lord” and “be still and know he is God.” (Psalm 46.10) Worship God greatly, always

Divine Hours Prayer: The Call to Prayer

Come, let us sing to the Lord; … For the Lord is a great God, and a great King above all gods. — Psalm 95.1, 3

– From The Divine Hours: Prayers for Springtime by Phyllis Tickle.

Read more: Wearisome Worship

When we misrepresent God outside his house, our worship within his house is wearisome rather than welcomed.

Wearisome Worship

Read more: We Need Renewal — Worldwide Prayer

Please forgive our failures in thought, speech, and action, those we omit as well as those we commit.

We Need Renewal — Worldwide Prayer