When we read our preferred news source, or a email from a friend, or our favorite song lyrics, we treat those kinds of writing a little differently. They differ in purpose, and so we read them with different eyes.

The whole bible is true and helpful, and yet the books of the Bible are no different. The different genres are to be read differently and with different considerations

So then...what are the Psalms?

The Psalms were poems to be sung in community. The weren't sermons or theological treatises but they are incredibly helpful in our understanding of God and how God's people saw Him in the Old Testament.

We can gain fabulous insight into our everyday discipleship by paying attention to them. The pilgrimage psalms in particular (Psalms 120-134) are some of my favorites because I see my own journey with Christ in these words.

These 15 poems were sung in community three times a year during the three festivals that happened for the Jews up in Jerusalem. Each festival required that everyone make the haul from their homes up the hill to the city. Scholars tell us that the three festivals, Passover, Pentecost, and Day of Atonement, had different customs and procedures, but all three meant a road trip for the Jews and that meant these songs were pulled out. It was a significant journey because Jerusalem sits above the neighboring regions, thus an uphill climb from most directions.

Jesus’ parents made these trips (Luke 2:41)
Jesus himself would have made these trips.

The parallels for God’s people then, and you and I today are easy and obvious. We too find ourselves on the road. Perhaps a bit cliche, but our lives are a journey. We're all hurling through time and space and heading somewhere. Between creation and recreation. Between the Garden as it was and the garden as it will be.

We, too, and moving towards the Heavenly city. We too, are heading toward a time when all of God’s family will be gathered as one. Regardless of what you think about God, or whether you even think he is real, your life is a journey.

I love the Psalms because there’s so much heart in them; not just heady facts about God, but an invitation to find God himself. I need the Psalms because they remind me that GOD sees everything in my chest.  And that includes the hard and heavy stuff.

The psalms say over and over and over again, that God sees all of it, He sees us, and He is with us in the midst of those honest prayers. I need the Psalms. And I suspect you do too.

We're about 75% of the way through the book of 1 Corinthians at Doxa. The last few weeks we've spent time looking at the ways in which God gifts his children for the revealing of his character, the benefit of those around us, and witness to the world. For the "call to worship" these past few weeks, I asked the room to extend their hands in a posture of receiving as I recited prayers for a subset of the giftings we see in scripture. Some of those prayers are below.

TEACHING
Help those with the gift of teaching communicate your perfect truth with care and precision. Help their joy for your words to us move them toward obedience. Spirit, fill them with the ability to help our hearts understand your will. Help them love those they instruct, and always maintain a posture of learning for themselves.

GIVING
Thank you Father for the generosity of this church. Bless those that give sacrificially and let their willingness to make your kingdom first be contagious for all of us. May the freedom they experience remind us of the temporary nature of most of what our hands hold.

MERCY
In light of the brokenness we see outside of us, and feel inside of us, help those with this gift to minister to us. Give them the care and concern of your son Jesus, to weep with those that weep, and mourn with those that mourn. Many of us need a friend to speak words of mercy, so raise up more of us to mirror this aspect of your perfect love.

ENCOURAGEMENT
Give them the words we need to hear from you. Help them speak into the deepest wounds and bring healing to us through words of kindness and empowering grace. Help those of us who lean towards the critical to receive from them.

PRAYER / INTERCESSION
Father help those with the gift of prayer find you in their quietness. Help them pray for what you desire for our lives, instead of things we substitute for you. Help them lead us towards greater dependence. We have so many needs in this season, yet you are our supply.

SERVING
Many hands are required for the thriving of your local church. Thank you for those that use their gifts today. Help them see their service as a beautiful act of worship. Help them see how their service looks like your kingdom. That your hospitality extended, your truth taught, your family cared for is our very purpose for living.

EVANGELISM
You have sent us into the world to love others and share with them who you are. Give them courage. There is nothing the world can take from us that lasts. Give them the words, forgive them for ever treating others like projects, and may our own humility and sacrifice be attractive to those around us.

DISCERNMENT
For those with this gift let their discernment lead them to deep care for others and not judgement. Give them the patience to watch your plans unfold. Lead them to ask questions that encourage your saints towards greater obedience and lives of holiness.

Worship leading is a beautiful privilege and massive responsibility. I have found it is a struggle to hold both of these truths in tension all the time. This past week reminded me rather pointedly that both of these statements are equally true and essential. Godly leadership requires that you have to maintain humility and an open posture for feedback while keeping a thick skin and expecting scrutiny.

Inside of 24 hours this weekend, I had a congregation member attack me via text while another one gift me something very thoughtful as a gesture of appreciation. High mountains and low valleys are part of being in ministry to be sure, but I so desperately need grace and Christ's presence to level the terrain. I don't often respond the way I want to. I weather one storm to be spun around by the next. And then in his kindness, God sends an encourager, an ally, or a grateful word.

Feeling a bit beat up and rattled, I wrote this confession for our gatherings on Sunday, mostly because I needed it:

Though made in the image of a giving God,
we have withheld from others.

Though made in the image of a patient God,
we have lost our patience.

Though made in the image of a Savior that willingly took our punishment,
we defend ourselves and demonize others.

Though made in the image of a God of kindness,
we consider our own needs above others.

As always, I'm thankful for a God who is for me, who never provokes us, puts words in our mouths, or assumes the worst. In fact, I am increasingly convinced that he is for me...a truth I've known in my head for two decades but a "heart belief" I've found slippery. My faith is small and my Savior is great.