Psalm 78:1-7
Pastor Jordan Farrell
REFLECT: You’ve received everything you have. The chromosomes that make up your cells: given to you by your biological parents. The oxygen in your lungs: a gift from the trees. The food you ate for dinner: provided by soil, animals, and farmers. The clothes covering your body: the product of a fabric worker somewhere in the world. Whether you played an active or a passive role in receiving gifts such as these, the fact still remains that you’ve received everything you have.
The same is true for your relationship with God. Your thoughts, feelings, hopes, fears, and wonderings about God are a response to something you received. Or, put a little differently, at some point in time you were (and in many ways, still are) the “next generation” that the Psalmist was writing about.
You have been told stories about who God is. Some of those stories are treasures that you have learned to cherish. Perhaps because you love the story, or you simply love the person who told it to you. Other stories are garbage that you have decided to throw away. Perhaps because the story was toxic, or the person who told it to you is not a trustworthy storyteller. Another set of stories aren’t treasures or garbage. They’re simply worn down and you need to figure out how to refurbish them. You know certain parts are broken and potentially harmful. But you are holding out hope that you can fix the story, or reconcile the relationship.
Your faith story is a witness to the stories and storytellers that have taught you about God. The ones you’ve treasured. The ones you’ve thrown away. The ones you’ve tried to repair.
RESPOND: There is a basket by your seat. It is filled with paper and with pens. Pick up one piece of paper and two different colored pens. Use one colored pen to write down the names of people, communities, and/or experiences that have told you a story about God. Leave some space between each name. Make your list as long or as short as you need. When you feel like your list is finished, take three slow, deep breaths.
When you are ready, read through the list of names that you wrote. Next to each name, write a description of the story that that particular storyteller told you about God. Make your descriptions as long or as short as you need. When you are finished, take three slow, deep breaths.
PRAY: When you are ready, read through your full list one final time. As you read through your list, use the other colored pen to respond to each name and each story in one of the following ways:
1) Give thanks for the people and the stories you treasure. Make a mark on the page that expresses this prayer of gratitude (ex: smiley face, star, heart, underline).
2) Ask God to help you release, deconstruct, or re-purpose the ones that do not help you “set your hope in God.” Make a mark on the page that expresses this prayer of lament or letting go (ex: circle with a line through it, a minus sign, scratch out certain words).
3) Ask God to be with you as you sift through stories that you are unsure about. Make a mark on the page that expresses your prayer of uncertainty (ex: question mark, squiggle line, ellipse).
When you are finished praying, take three slow, deep breaths. If you finish early, then you are invited to use the rest of your time to silently pray for the people sitting near you.
