I.
As you come to this Psalm with open ears, what do you hear?

Are you immediately taken to The Cross, and hear these words coming from Jesus?

Many of us will.

Today, take time to approach this Psalm fully, and hear all the Psalm, both the anguish and the hope.

II.
Psalm 22:1-11 (NRSVue)

My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?
       Why are you so far from helping me, from the words of my groaning?
O my God, I cry by day, but you do not answer;
       and by night but find no rest.

Yet you are holy,
       enthroned on the praises of Israel.
In you our ancestors trusted;
       they trusted, and you delivered them.
To you they cried and were saved;
       in you they trusted and were not put to shame.

But I am a worm and not human,
       scorned by others and despised by the people.
All who see me mock me;
       they sneer at me; they shake their heads;
“Commit your cause to the Lord; let him deliver—
       let him rescue the one in whom he delights!”

Yet it was you who took me from the womb;
       you kept me safe on my mother’s breast.
On you I was cast from my birth,
       and since my mother bore me you have been my God.
Do not be far from me,
       for trouble is near,
       and there is no one to help.

III.

Do you hear the sing-song rhythm of the Psalm? How it goes back and forth between anguish and hope.

Which stanzas do you identify most with today?

The ones that speak of forsakenness, scorn and farness of God?

Or the ones that speak of God’s holiness, those who trust in God and God keeping one safe?

charles
{ubi caritas et amor, Deus ibi est}