An Earthy Spirituality

In 2005, I was awarded a D.Min. degree from Columbia Theological Seminary in Decatur, Georgia. One of my teachers there was Walter Brueggemann and one of the classes I took for my program in "Gospel and Culture" was on the Psalms. Walter called it "Earthy Spirituality." Fabulous stuff.

That class and Walter's book, The Message of the Psalms: A Theological Commentary have inspired me over the past fourteen years or so to teach and pray the psalms in new ways. I've done Lenten studies and taught adult education courses based around Walter's idea that there are psalms of orientation, of disorientation, and of new orientation. But one thing I have done very infrequently is to preach on the psalms.

Recently I participated in a pre-Lenten retreat with Ellen Davis. She was wonderful and rekindled my love for the Psalms in a complementary but fresh way to what I learned from Walter. When I left that conference, I felt inspired to purchase Robert Alter's translation of the Psalms which is wonderful. 

This has led me to feel inspired and committed to preaching on the Psalms this Lent, and perhaps beyond Lent as well.  

This is the challenge I've faced: as much as I love to teach and pray the psalms, as a preacher I am a sucker for a good story. I tend to preach Old Testament texts about half the time or maybe a little more. I'm drawn more to the Abrahamic narratives and the Exodus, and the David stories and to Esther and Jonah and Ruth. I find that people don't know these stories very well, so as a preacher I can have some fun. 

The parables function in a similar way, even as much shorter compact narratives. Parables like the one about the lost (prodigal) son or the "good" Samaritan invite us into the story and give me a "hook" to work with. On the other hand, I tend to shy away from Paul and even the prophets from the pulpit. I draw from them deeply for theological depth and I've taught them in various settings. But, and this is very personal, I just don't know how to enter in as well from the pulpit. You can do some history or talk about the context, sure. But when Micah asks "what does the Lord require of you but to do justice, love mercy and walk humbly with God?" I want to just say amen and sit down. Perhaps taking on these texts would make my sermons shorter but they seem to say what they mean, and mean what they say. And I feel I have very little to add. 

So, as a former English major, I preach narratives most of the time. And generally speaking - in spite of my love for the Psalms in my spiritual life - I have mostly steered clear of the poetry of the Bible as a resource for preaching. I think in part this is because I have wanted to avoid "lecturing" on poetry. I'm reminded of that scene in The Dead Poets' Society when the teacher, played by Robin Williams, has his students rip out the essay about how to analyze poetry. Preaching about the Psalms is fraught with danger! Rip, rip, rip!

Even so, this Lent I'm going all in. Ellen Davis has inspired me and modeled a way in that is evocative and I hope will be productive. I have several preaching opportunities that I think lend themselves to fresh approaches. Stay tuned; those sermons will no doubt be posted here as they are preached. And, as always, I'd welcome your feedback.