Psalm 77

This summer I am paraphrasing the lectionary Psalms as a prayer practice and then I'm reading the selection prayerfully (lectio divina) with my own paraphrase.  Finally, I'm developing a breath prayer to take the transformed psalm with me into my week.  You are invited to join me and paraphrase the summer psalms for yourself.   As we work with the psalms and rewrite the text in our own words/using our own vocabulary, we will find deeper meaning as the week unfolds.  The psalms are prayers of dearly faithful people.  We can pray them into a personal prayer language that lives and breathes our own faith.  

Paraphrasing the Psalm ...  

Step 1:  Read the Psalm selection (vs. 1-2) from a translated version.  This week we read from the Contemporary English Verson.  I hope you read these couple of verses many times and out loud if you dare!    Psalm 77 is clearly written by someone in distress!  It can help us to move through our own distress if we allow it to permeate our soul as we cry out.

The Old Testament Reading this week is from 2 Kings (2:1-2 and 6-14) from the NRSV.   Our passage illuminates the time during which Elijah passes the mantle to Elisha.  Elisha seems fearful to let Elijah go, it must have been a time of deep grief for him.  In the passage we hear Elisha cry out, "As surely as the Lord lives and you yourself live, I will never leave you.”   

Elijah takes Elisha across the Jordan River to talk with him and ask him what he wants as his "inheritance."  Elisha simply wants to be like Elijah and more!  He asks for a double portion of Elijah's spirit.  The story goes like this ...   

When the Lord was about to take Elijah up to heaven in a whirlwind, Elijah and Elisha were traveling from Gilgal. And Elijah said to Elisha, “Stay here, for the Lord has told me to go to Bethel.”  But Elisha replied, “As surely as the Lord lives and you yourself live, I will never leave you!” So they went down together to Bethel.  Then Elijah said to Elisha, “Stay here, for the Lord has told me to go to the Jordan River.”  But again Elisha replied, “As surely as the Lord lives and you yourself live, I will never leave you.” So they went on together.  Fifty men from the group of prophets also went and watched from a distance as Elijah and Elisha stopped beside the Jordan River. Then Elijah folded his cloak together and struck the water with it. The river divided, and the two of them went across on dry ground!  When they came to the other side, Elijah said to Elisha, “Tell me what I can do for you before I am taken away.”  And Elisha replied, “Please let me inherit a double share of your spirit and become your successor.”  “You have asked a difficult thing,” Elijah replied. “If you see me when I am taken from you, then you will get your request. But if not, then you won’t.”  As they were walking along and talking, suddenly a chariot of fire appeared, drawn by horses of fire. It drove between the two men, separating them, and Elijah was carried by a whirlwind into heaven. 

Dr. He Qi 2001 shared through a Creative Commons license

Elisha saw it and cried out, “My father! My father! I see the chariots and charioteers of Israel!” And as they disappeared from sight, Elisha tore his clothes in distress.  Elisha picked up Elijah’s cloak, which had fallen when he was taken up. Then Elisha returned to the bank of the Jordan River. He struck the water with Elijah’s cloak and cried out, “Where is the Lord, the God of Elijah?” Then the river divided, and Elisha went across.

Perhaps  Elijah cried out in much the same way the Psalmist did at the beginning of Psalm 77:1-2:

I pray to you, Lord God,
    and I beg you to listen.

In days filled with trouble,
    I search for you.
And at night I tirelessly
lift my hands in prayer,
    refusing comfort. 

Step 2:  Explore the images you find in the psalm and seek new ways of proclaiming the message in words and phrases that translate to the situation you find in your life today.  Be creative and think not in words but in ideas and let your psalm scream, cry, and fight for you.

Step 3:  Take up a journal OR pull up a blank document on the computer ... begin writing in a stream of consciousness with new images, words, and phrases.  Let the images grow and become.  Let the words and phrases emerge to translate the psalm anew in your own prayer language, a new song!

Step 4:  Paraphrase the Psalm with your own images in your own words and phrases ...
here is mine and feel free to share yours in the comments

Cindy's Paraphrase of Psalm 77:1-2
Hear my prayer, of God of Elijah and Elisha!  Listen to my life.  I fall down on the ground and cry out to you ... for my last 2 days have been filled with lies and gossip-mongering!  Where have you been while my character was torn to shreds.  Where have you been?  I exhaust myself reaching up to the heavens begging you to come to my side and be with me, yet I cannot find you under the velvety blanket of shining stars.

Lectio Divina ...
Step 1:  Read Psalm 77:1-2 slowly and reverently ...
Use the CEV text, my paraphrase or your own, or take link to use this Message Paraphrase:
What image, word, or phrase calls for your attention?  Spend a few moments pondering ...

Step 2:  Read your selection again and reflect ...
How does this paraphrase illuminate your life right now?

Step 3:  Read your selection again and respond ...
What do you say to God about your life and how you are seeing God's presence in it?
Write a one-sentence prayer as an Amen to your time of lectio ... here is mine and feel free to share yours in the comments

O God, sometimes it seems that you have left me.  Help me to know that you are present with me even when I don't feel your comfort, even when I cannot sense your presence.  Amen!

Step 4:  Rest ... Come to a place of silence within yourself and just "be" with God.

Breath Prayer ...
Step 1:  In 3-4 syllables, what image of God is emerging from your time of prayer?

Step 2:  In 3-4 syllables, what prayer of desire is rising within you?

Step 3:  Create your breath prayer ... here is mine and feel free to share yours in the comments

Breathing in … Illusive God  (pause)
Breathing out … Where are you?  (pause)
Breathing in ... In my distress (pause)
Breathing out ... Come to me! (pause)

As you continue to journey through your week, breathe!  And take the Presence of God with you through the breath prayer you have created from your time with Elijah and Elisha ... or use mine! I've had a hard week and I know that I need this breath prayer to carry me through the next few days.   There is also this song called The Days of Elijah ... Take the Link and check it out.  One of the things I hear in it is that it isn't about me, it is about God.  All of God's servants suffered in one way or another.  Most of them wondered where God was in their distress.  As God's people we are called to ride out the hard times ... Our breath prayer and this small prayer from Psalm 177 will sustain us as long as we need to be sustained!

I pray to you, Lord God, and I beg you to listen.   In days filled with trouble, I search for you.  And at night I tirelessly lift my hands in prayer, refusing comfort.   

Breathing ... Illusive God, Where are you? In my distress, Come to me!