Praising God

“Praising God” based on Psalm 138 and Luke 11:1-4

When I think of God, I think of God as the ultimate empath. God is with us feeling all the things we’re feeling, and not just with us, nor even with EVERYONE on earth, my belief system says that God is feeling the feelings of all creation. Which means God is feeling what our pets feel when they are apart from us, and what other mammals feel looking for food. And then, perhaps we move out of “feeling” exactly, but whatever it is that a reptile experiences when it is cold, or whatever feeling a leaf has when the plant is parched, or however we conceive of a rock experiencing erosion.

I believe God is with, for, and attentive to every part of creation, and even guiding all of us along to the extent that we’re willing to listen. The good news here is that the rock doesn’t need too much encouragement, and I’m not sure the leaves do either 😉

But, to go back to the beginning, as I think of God as the ultimate empath, I also believe God dreams good dreams for all of us and for all of creation. So not only does God feel our feelings with us, I tend to think of God as also having God’s own feelings of sadness and disappointment in the ways we hurt each other, fail to care for the vulnerable, and harm Mother Earth.

And I say all that to say: I think God is holding a whole lot of sadness, grief, anger, hunger, loneliness and disappointment. I mean A WHOLE LOT. An inconceivably large amount. God holds within God’s own self all the sadness, grief, anger, hunger, loneliness, and disappointment of all the people, and all creation, and all God’s own dreams for justice. All of it, all at once, and probably for all time.

The God of Compassion holds soooooo much. More than enough to drown a person, more than enough I fear to drown all the people together. The God of Compassion is doing a lot of holding of hard emotions and realities.

As are we, beloveds. Less, thank goodness, but we are holding a lot of hard emotions and realities. Our own emotions and those of our beloveds; our fears for the world and for the world’s vulnerable; concerns for those who are ill, injured, and aging; generalized discomfort in being a part of this society; and so much more. Heavens it is a lot.

In fact, I often have some concerns that we’re all holding more sadness, grief, anger, hunger, loneliness, and disappointment than we can bear as well. Just our parts are a lot.

Then I read Psalm 138 and listen to it praising God with such profound gratitude. Right? “I give thanks, O Lord, with my whole heart!” (1a) The Psalmist praises God for God’s steadfast love and faithfulness, exalts God’s name, thanks God for answering prayers, thanks God for increasing the strength of their soul, names that everyone on earth has reasons to praise God and sing about God’s glory, expresses gratitude to God for being the God who cares about those who are struggling, expresses assurance that God is with them even when things are hard, affirms again that God’s steadfast love endures forever and ends with a plea that God stay the course and keep working towards good.

And, yeah, all that’s true! Wow. It feels nice to hear it, to say it, to feel it. YES, indeed, God is with us and God is good and that’s great news. And also, sometimes, that reality gets a little bit pushed off center by the other stuff these days. My compassion for the world distorts the view of the wonders all around me.

Beloveds of God, I think that means I am out of balance. I am taking on more of the world’s struggles than I can gracefully hold. So, I’ve been trying to counterbalance it. To my delight, it has been easier than expected.

My primary spiritual tool in re-balancing myself is has been the “Prayer of Creation” that I learned from Dr. Andy Dreitcer in seminary. These days I sit on my front porch to do it, and it is amazing in that once tiny slice of creation how many different things are able to draw my attention with wonder.

To engage in the Prayer of Creation, you find a place to sit or be quietly in nature, somewhere where the abundance of God’s world is present for you. (Really and truly, this is better outside. Yes, things like this church’s stained glass are also awe producing, but nature is always full of wisdom.) Then you invite God’s presence to be with you – which is really about bringing your attention to the fact that God is already with you. Then attend to what is around you, and let something draw your attention. Be with that thing (a tree, a leaf, an ant, a clover, a flower, something else entirely?), and simply rest in the presence of God and this one piece of God’s handiwork. Attend to it for a while gazing with body and soul, a time to simply be in wonder, amazement, openness, and receiving of God and this piece of God’s creation. When it feels like time, engage God in conversation about this thing that you noticed. You may want to ask God questions about it. Andy suggests, “Where has it been? Who has touched, held, seen it? What does God value it? How is it related to what is around it? How is it related to me? – to the rest of creation? What does it tell me of myself? And finally… How is God present to me through this piece of creation? What does it tell me of God? What is God saying to me, offering me?” Finally, thank God for the time and for the wonders of creation.

The end. These days I practice this a little bit more loosely. I go outside and attend to God with me, let my attention wander, let it land on something , rest and be with it, be awed, be in amazed, and then if my attention goes to something else to do the same work, I let it. I love Andy’s questions but I don’t always get to them.

What I find though, is that when I’m sitting outside watching a leaf soak up sunlight, while the birds sing and the breeze blows, I get filled up again. I am filled with the goodness. Sometimes I’m struck by a wet tree trunk, other times a tree that never called to me before fills me with awe. While I’m watching with wonder at how a plant has grown since yesterday, a fly lands on me and pulls me to it. And meanwhile I breath, and I notice God is with me, and God is good and loving and justice-seeking, and that we’re not in this kin-dom building work alone. God is WITH us, and FOR US, and God cares about the leaves on my neighbors un-identified plant, and about the inchworms crawling on the hostas, and God cares about me, and God cares about the people I’m worried about and while things are not OK, God is with us throughout it all.

And I breathe a little more. And I rest, and relax, and trust and hope. And after I’ve been praying with creation for a while (I like an hour, and I’m lucky to be able to take it), I am full and ready to face the realities around me.

I’m also full of gratitude. Because when I notice the pure miracle of sunlight on a leaf, it gives me a sense of magnitude because there are rather a lot of leaves in my view that all get sunlight every day and … WOW. Isn’t that cool? And similarly, there are a lot of humans who ARE getting “their daily bread” and WOW, isn’t THAT cool? It doesn’t take away the sting of my concern for the hungry, but I end up being reminded that there is a multitude of things to be grateful for TOO.

Then, to be honest, my days happen. And I end up holding a lot of pain. Some is mine, some is my families, some I hold because it is my job, some I read about. But I can hold it without being overcome by it when I’ve been filled up with God’s goodness FIRST.

And then I’m IN balance.

This is a little bit more personal than my preference is in preaching, but I’m hoping to remind you all that God is good and God’s goodness is all around us and we are able to attend to it and be filled by it and be able to hold a fuller balance. I’d LOVE it if I were the only one being occasionally overwhelmed by the struggles of the world right now, but I know I’m not.

In Luke we hear a version of Jesus sharing what we now call the Lord’s Prayer. I was stuck by how well it works with Psalm 138. It starts with intimacy, calling God Father in a way that brings a sense of family ties to the relationship with the Divine. (That’s the good part of using Father language.) Like the Psalm, we hear that God is holy and even God’s name should be praised. The prayer asks that the kin-dom of God come to earth – that instead of the reality we live of people completing against each other to survive and harming creation along the way that we might live as God would have us live in cooperation, mutual care, treating each other as kin and receiving the sacred blessings of creation as the sacred gifts they are. Then, comes the request for daily bread. That one, too, is profound. It reminds those of us who have daily food that it is something to be grateful for. It reminds us to be grateful for all who have enough, and brings our attention simultaneously to those who don’t. And then, the prayer turns to asking God for forgiveness and offering forgiveness. (This Jesus guy is good at getting to a lot of points in a short time.) And finally it asks that those of us who pray it be able to face what comes before us.

This, too, is a prayer of praise and of mutual connection with the Divine. It is shockingly good at holding together the truths that not all is well and also seeking that things be well!

This week, a Celtic version of the prayer was shared with me, one by John Philip Newell. It says:

Holy One beyond all names

Eternal Wellspring

May Love rise again in us today

With food for every table

Shelter for every family

And reverance for every life.

Forgives us our failings in love

And free us from all falseness

That the light of our souls may shine

And the strength of our spirits endure

For Earth and all its people’s

This day, tonight, and forever

Amen

I want to end bringing the idea of God as empath full circle. God holds the pain of all creation. But God also holds the delight and wonder of all creation. God holds the happy squeals of children, the awe of new parents, the laughter of shared friends, and the contentment of a person and a pet being petted. God feels the full bellies and well rested bodies of other mammals. God feels reptiles being warm in the sun, and feels whatever experience a leaf has when the right amount of water is flowing towards it and sunlight covers its expanses, and even whatever experience a rock has in being slowly moss covered. God is a God of Compassion who feels it all, and thanks be to God can help us balance feeling it all too. Amen

July 27, 2-25

Rev. Sara E. Baron First United Methodist Church of Schenectady 603 State St. Schenectady, NY 12305 

Pronouns: she/her/hers

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