utilize the wisdom of the psalms. Drawing upon more than thirty years of
—James Luther Mays Cyrus McCormick Professor Emeritus of Hebrew and Old Testament Union Theological Seminary Richmond, Virginia
mcCutchan
Many Christians do not know how to
“Stephen McCutchan’s book uncovers the profound possibilities in the psalms for liturgy and life. It combines interpretive skills and authentic pastoral practice into a valuable guide for using the psalms in the practice of ministry and the living of faith. It is a remarkable achievement.”
pastoral ministry, the author offers a fresh approach to integrating the psalms into the life of the whole church. He not only illustrates practical ways to utilize the
suggests ways to use the psalms in pastoral care.
The psalms can become the framework for examining current ethical problems and for providing self-care for clergy. McCutchan examines the psalms with
—Patrick D. Miller Professor of Old Testament Princeton Theological Seminary
these goals in mind and confronts the issue of the harsh language of the psalms, suggesting that this language may well be the key to helping believers bring their whole lives to the worship of God.
Stephen P. McCutchan is pastor of Highland Presbyterian Church in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. During his thirty-one years of ministry he has also served churches in Maryland and Pennsylvania. He is a graduate of Union Theological Seminary in New York.
1-57312-283-1
Biblical Studies / Old Testament
experiencing the psalms
psalms in liturgy and preaching, but also
“Stephen McCutchan has written from a pastor’s heart and a pastor’s experience with the psalms. Long years of thinking about the psalms as well as incorporating them into many facets of congregational and personal life have prepared him for this thoughtful and helpful study of the psalms. Many connections between the psalms and both human experience and the worship life of the congregation are identified. The book will be of special interest to pastors, not only because he provides many examples of the ways that pastors can draw the psalms into the life of the congregation, but also because he makes suggestions about how the psalms can speak to ministers about their own lives and ministry.”
Chapter 2
Speaking to God in Harsh Language
e have all been in the presence of someone who began to speak in very harsh and sometimes crude language that caused us to be embarrassed. Even when we understood the reasons behind the language, our inclination was to believe that the person should have been more restrained. We live in a society that believes in restraint of offensive language. In fact, we are so convinced of the necessity of restraint that we often hide the strength of our feelings from the people with whom we relate. The psalmist did not feel the need for restraint, causing some Christians to feel that the harsh language of certain psalms is at best sub-Christian. They often find themselves censoring certain parts of the Psalms as inappropriate for true Christian prayer. For example, it is difficult for Christians to pray: “Happy shall they be who take your little ones and dash them against the rock!” (137:9). Before we too quickly accept the approach of censorship, I want to raise several points.
W
Jesus’ Use of the Psalms First, there is every evidence to believe that Jesus prayed these prayers. When Jesus was particularly frustrated by the attacks of some of the religious leaders, he may well have prayed: “For there is no truth in their mouths; their hearts are destruction, their throats are open graves; they flatter with their tongues. Make them bear their guilt, O God; let them fall by their own counsels; because of their many transgressions cast them out, for they have rebelled against you” (5:9-10). When we think of Jesus’ praying this psalm, we are faced with three choices. Our first choice is to believe that Jesus censored the Psalms and prayed only those verses that were appropriate to his forgiving nature. Therefore, as disciples of Christ, we are invited to join him in the censorship of certain psalms as inappropriate. The problem with this solution is that sometimes the harsh words of the Psalms do express some of our most base feelings. If Jesus censored these words, does this
14
Experiencing the Psalms
suggest that he did not have negative feelings and therefore did not share in the fullness of humanity? Or does it suggest that he had these feelings, but, unlike the psalmist, he was unwilling to lift them up to God in prayer. Neither suggestion fits with the gospel’s picture of Jesus who clearly got very angry and was not above denouncing the religious leaders of his time. Our second choice is to believe that Jesus used these denunciatory prayers during his lifetime but later, from the perspective of the cross, offered a new viewpoint. The one who prayed “Father, forgive them; for they do not know what they are doing” (Luke 23:34) revealed to us that such harsh denunciations were inappropriate in light of God’s forgiving love. This places the responsibility upon each of us to bring to worship a forgiving spirit that we often do not feel. It also suggests that we are to do what Jesus could not do before the cross. Our third choice is to believe that Jesus, indeed, experienced the fullness of humanity, including some very negative feelings. It assumes that Jesus recognized not only the reality of opposition forces, but also had negative feelings toward them. Mark suggested this real possibility when he described Jesus’ response in one incident by saying, “He looked around at them with anger; he was grieved at their hardness of heart” (Mark 3:5a). With these strong feelings, is it not possible that Jesus prayed words such as those in Psalm 5 quoted above? Is it not likely that Jesus included in his prayers the negative feelings he had toward those whom he perceived as being in opposition to God? By allowing prayer to bring his negative feelings about those who threatened the reign of God into the realm of God, was not Jesus trusting that God could reign over those feelings? Would he not have lifted up natural human feelings to the only one who was able to receive the prayers and transform them into forgiving possibilities? Only from this perspective is it clear that where God rules, the enemy is not finally a threat. It is only from this viewpoint that one is able to offer forgiveness. For ordinary Christians who experience opposition and negative feelings, we are invited to bring the full breadth of these experiences into the realm of God. In doing so, we recognize that vengeance belongs to God (Ps 94:1), which sets us free from the necessity of seeking human vengeance. When we bring our negative experiences to God, we celebrate the sovereignty of God over all that threatens us, recognizing that God rules over all that would diminish us. Further, we
Speaking to God in Harsh Language
15
recognize that only from the perspective of God’s rule being exercised, as it was in Christ, can these situations be open to creative new possibilities.1 Our reluctance to pray these psalms before God as Christians may seem to be a superior stance to that of our Jewish ancestors. The danger, however, would be that it reflects a belief that God cannot handle the type of vengeful thoughts that are natural to our being. The question is not whether we should forgive our enemies. The question is whether forgiveness is possible outside of the sovereignty of God. Unless we trust that God is master of even those events that result from actions of our enemies, we can only see those actions as evil threats to our being. Jesus was able to pray for the forgiveness of those who had crucified him because he trusted that God could take those actions and transform them into a saving reality. The cross offered by the enemy to defeat the love of Christ became the saving reality for the world.
The Psalms as Hyperbole The second point I would like to raise with respect to the harsh language in some of the Psalms has to do with our understanding of the use of hyperbole, which is common to all of us. For example, when we are angry, we often reach for extreme statements to act as a vehicle to carry the full force of our sentiments. A child who is angered by a parent’s denial of a privilege may in frustration cry out, “I hate you, I hate you, and I never want to speak to you again!” At that moment a measured tone and rational speech would be inappropriate forms of expression. Can you imagine a child at such a time saying, “I choose to be upset at your denial of my wishes even though I am aware that you have my best interests in mind”? That is the child we would want to send to a psychiatrist. We do the same thing as adults. A wife who is embarrassed by a husband who has had too much to drink one too many times may shout, “You lousy, no-good drunkard; why I ever agreed to marry you is beyond me. You are the most irresponsible man on earth.” We would not expect a statement of this sort to be scientifically verifiable. Yet this hyperbole conveys a very accurate set of feelings in a way that more rational and measured tones would not. In the Psalms the depth of inner emotion is often captured by the use of hyperbole. The people who are seen in opposition to the
16
Experiencing the Psalms
psalmist are often described as oppressive enemies who set devious traps or are like lions eager to tear them apart. In contrast, the petitioner is often pictured as the epitome of purity and innocent of all wrongdoing. G. B. Caird states that this use of hyperbole is characteristic of Middle Eastern thought.2 We may cringe in our society when we are asked to pray: “Happy shall they be who take your little ones and dash them against the rock” (137:9). But set in another context, we may hear the Psalm differently. Imagine your nation has been destroyed and you are among those who were deported to a foreign land. In addition to having to make your new home in a strange land and experiencing the grief of the destruction of your country, the citizens mock your faith and seek to ridicule you as the psalmist suggests they were doing to the Israelites. As you think about the tyrant who rules over you and through dynastic succession whose children are likely to continue to make your life miserable, in the depth of your grief can you not imagine praying that the dynasty will be ended and that there will be no children to succeed to the throne? It is not a nice sentiment, but it is certainly an understandable one under the circumstances. It is important to remember that the Psalms are the prayers of people who frequently felt oppressed and helpless in their situation. Hyperbole is the language of oppression. It is the use of extreme language because the use of rational language does not seem to be heard. It is the language of the street—not the language of the palace. We experience the use of hyperbole in rap music. It may offend us in its harshness, but it is shouted in a way to break through to the awareness of those who are comfortable and have refused to listen. The psalmist’s use of hyperbole is an act of faith in the sovereignty of God. He trusts that God can accept his full range of emotions and not allow even his darkest side to damage the bond of their relationship. It is also the recognition that only in one’s willingness to trust God with the depth of our emotions can we establish full communion. In the same way that a parent absorbs the extreme statements of a child and understands them not as literal expressions but as reflections of the child’s hurt, so the psalmist trusts that God will receive and interpret his words. It is a mistake to believe that contemporary humans do not have such raw feelings. If in our prayers we are bringing our whole selves before God, our dark sides also need to be offered to God. Of course,
Speaking to God in Harsh Language
17
not all of our negative feelings are so extreme. Yet one of the values of the extreme language of some psalms is that it sets the boundaries for what is acceptable to God. The Psalms become the inclusive language of prayer in which the whole range of our feelings can find their place as acceptable.
The Psalms as Corporate Prayer A third point about the language of the Psalms is that we need to recognize we are not praying these psalms for ourselves alone. When we pray the Psalms, we are joining a community of prayer. Not only have people prayed them before, but also they prayed them as members of the community of believers. In praying the Psalms we are invited to be part of the community of believers that stretches across time and space. Our prayers are not lifted up on behalf of ourselves alone, but on behalf of others. Thus, when we pray a psalm that is concerned with the wickedness of an enemy, we may not be personally aware of any enemies. Yet somewhere in the world there is someone who is directly threatened by an enemy and needs a prayer on her behalf. Picture a Christian in a foreign country who sits in jail and is being tortured because of his faith. Each day his jailers come to torture and mock him. While you may not pray on your own behalf: “Be pleased, O Lord, to deliver me; O Lord, make haste to help me. Let all those be put to shame and confusion who seek to snatch away my life; let them be turned back and brought to dishonor who desire my hurt. Let those be appalled because of their shame who say to me, ‘Aha, Aha!’ ” (40:13-15), can you not hear yourself praying on behalf of the prisoner? It sounds different under this circumstance, doesn’t it? Through praying the Psalms we fulfill part of our responsibility expressed in Paul’s recognition that in the body of Christ “if one member suffers, all suffer together” (1 Cor 12:26a). A corporate understanding of our praying the Psalms should not be used as a cover, however, for avoiding our own discomfort with the fact that we have enemies. One way to separate our experience of worship from experiences encountered in the rest of our lives is to deny a certain portion of our reality access to worship. For many people in government, business, law, science, and so on, there is an assumed adversarial aspect to their professions. For them not to be able to acknowledge that they have enemies when they come to worship means
18
Experiencing the Psalms
they have to leave a major factor of their lives outside the door. They have been taught that these feelings are inappropriate. The Psalms can help provide an avenue by which they can honestly present their whole selves before God. The Psalms also can become the means by which we become more honest with ourselves about our own feelings as we come to God in prayer. Jesus is quoted in Matthew as saying, “Truly I tell you, unless you change and become like children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven” (Matt 18:3). In a sense we need to relearn the brash honesty of a child in our prayer life. An incident in the life of John Fraser, a newspaper correspondent, as described by Henri Nouwen illustrates what I am talking about: One morning when Jessie was four years old, she found a dead sparrow in front of the living room window. The little bird had killed itself by flying into the glass. When Jessie saw the dead bird, she was both deeply disturbed and very intrigued. She asked her father, “Where is the bird now?” John said he did not know. “Why did it die?” she asked again. “Well,” John said hesitantly, “because all birds return to the earth.” “Oh,” said Jessie, “then we have to bury it.” A box was found, the little bird was laid in the box, a paper napkin was added as a shroud, and a few minutes later a little procession was formed with Daddy, Mama, Jessie, and her little sister. Daddy carried the box, Jessie the homemade cross. After a grave was dug and the little sparrow was buried, John put a piece of moss over the grave, and Jessie planted the cross upon it. Then John asked Jessie, “Do you want to say a prayer?” “Yes,” replied Jessie firmly, and after having told her baby sister in no uncertain terms to fold her hands, she prayed, “Dear God, we have buried this little sparrow. Now you be good to her or I will kill you. Amen.” As they walked home, John said to Jessie, “You didn’t have to threaten God.” Jessie answered, “I just wanted to be sure.”3
The question that both Jessie and the psalms of complaint raise is whether we are doing God any favor by being so polite and civilized in our prayer life. Would we not be more honest with God if we entrusted God with our most uncensored thoughts and feelings and trusted that God “knows how we were made” and “remembers that we are dust” (Ps 103:14)?
Speaking to God in Harsh Language
19
Conclusion Instead of being offended by the harsh language and hyperbole of the Psalms, we should allow our discomfort to add depth to our faith. By recognizing that Jesus prayed these same psalms, we give ourselves permission to share our dark side with God. By recognizing the corporate nature of the Psalms, we allow our prayers to become prayers on behalf of a hurting world. The Psalms invite us to bring our whole selves and the whole world before God.
Notes See Mark 3:5. Also Walter Bruggemann, Praying the Psalms, A Pace Book (Winona MN: Saint Mary’s, Christian Brothers Publications, 1982) 33, is suggestive in this regard. 2 G. B. Caird, The Language and Imagery of the Bible (Philadelphia: Westminster, 1980) 110. 3 Henri Nouwen, The Road to Daybreak (New York: Doubleday, 1988) 1617. 1
utilize the wisdom of the psalms. Drawing upon more than thirty years of
—James Luther Mays Cyrus McCormick Professor Emeritus of Hebrew and Old Testament Union Theological Seminary Richmond, Virginia
mcCutchan
Many Christians do not know how to
“Stephen McCutchan’s book uncovers the profound possibilities in the psalms for liturgy and life. It combines interpretive skills and authentic pastoral practice into a valuable guide for using the psalms in the practice of ministry and the living of faith. It is a remarkable achievement.”
pastoral ministry, the author offers a fresh approach to integrating the psalms into the life of the whole church. He not only illustrates practical ways to utilize the
suggests ways to use the psalms in pastoral care.
The psalms can become the framework for examining current ethical problems and for providing self-care for clergy. McCutchan examines the psalms with
—Patrick D. Miller Professor of Old Testament Princeton Theological Seminary
these goals in mind and confronts the issue of the harsh language of the psalms, suggesting that this language may well be the key to helping believers bring their whole lives to the worship of God.
Stephen P. McCutchan is pastor of Highland Presbyterian Church in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. During his thirty-one years of ministry he has also served churches in Maryland and Pennsylvania. He is a graduate of Union Theological Seminary in New York.
1-57312-283-1
Biblical Studies / Old Testament
experiencing the psalms
psalms in liturgy and preaching, but also
“Stephen McCutchan has written from a pastor’s heart and a pastor’s experience with the psalms. Long years of thinking about the psalms as well as incorporating them into many facets of congregational and personal life have prepared him for this thoughtful and helpful study of the psalms. Many connections between the psalms and both human experience and the worship life of the congregation are identified. The book will be of special interest to pastors, not only because he provides many examples of the ways that pastors can draw the psalms into the life of the congregation, but also because he makes suggestions about how the psalms can speak to ministers about their own lives and ministry.”