IV.
Today, as you are able, please hold the first stanza of this Psalm in our focus. Take some time to “live into it” if you can..

If you find that too hard today, then read those words, let go of them and pass on to the rest of the Psalm.

V.
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.

VI.
Has there been a time when you prayed as the Psalmist, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?”

Or, has there been a time when that sentiment was so close you wanted to give it voice, but you feared it was not proper for you to utter? You wanted to cry out, but you believed you could not talk to God that way?

Please, let go of that fear. I believe we can shout at God, cry out at God and let God share our pain, fears and burdens.

The Psalmist and Jesus give us examples of such prayers, and thereby provide a path for us.

charles
{ubi caritas et amor, Deus ibi est}