The West Wing 'Servant Problem', Part I

Josh Lyman and Toby Ziegler are sitting in the office of Leo McGarry:
Leo: You gonna make this happen?
Josh: It's in the bag, boss. It's this one here who's doing the moaning.
Toby: I can't sell this.
Josh: You can sell it.
Toby: I can't sell this!
Leo: You can. You can sell this...
Bartlet enters the room from the Oval Office. He's rolling up his sleeves. Josh, Toby and Leo all stand.
Josh, Toby, and Leo: Good morning, Mr. President.
Bartlet: Siddown. And a blessed Holy Monday to you all. Leo, are we gonna meet about the thing?
Leo: Yessir. Did you enjoy the Easter service, sir?
Bartlet: Yes, it was very fine. And Good Friday was also beautiful, except for the usual servant problem.
Leo: Yessir.
Bartlet: So I'll see you about the thing.
Leo: Yessir.
Bartlet, exiting: Charlie! I need the folder about the thing!
Josh, Toby and Leo sit down.
Josh: What's the servant problem?
Leo, waving his hand dismissively: Isaiah.
Josh: What? Everybody loves Isaiah.
Leo: It's Isaiah 52 and 53. It gets read on Good Friday. The President doesn't like it.
Josh: He doesn't like Isaiah 52 and 53, or he doesn't like that it gets read?
Toby: He doesn't like the implication?
Leo: He hates the implication.
Josh: What's the implication?
Toby: It's one of the so-called Servant Songs. Even though Isaiah 52 clearly says Zion and Jerusalem, Christians always interpret it as Isaiah's prediction of Christ's passion. "Awake, awake, O Zion! Clothe yourself in splendor; put on your robes of majesty, Jerusalem, holy city."
Josh: Yeah. And it goes on about "How welcome on the mountain are the footsteps of the herald announcing happiness, heralding good fortune, announcing victory." And how true is that.
Toby: But you get to verse 13, "Indeed, my servant shall prosper, be exalted and raised to great heights," and all of a sudden it's Jesus.
Bartlet, re-entering: "Just as there were many who were astonished at him--so marred was his appearance, beyond human semblance, and his form beyond that of mortals--" sit down, gentlemen--"so he shall startle many nations; kings shall shut their mouths because of him; for that which had not been told them they shall see, and that which they had not heard they shall contemplate!" Toby, who is the suffering servant?
Toby: The identity of the servant is subject to vigorous debate, sir.
Bartlet: Do you think it's the Messiah?
Toby: No, sir.
Bartlet: Of course you don't, because nowhere else does Deutero-Isaiah refer to the Messiah. In contrast to First Isaiah, belief in the Messiah is not one of the hallmarks of Deutero-Isaiah. But it might be Jeremiah. Do we think it might be Jeremiah, Toby?
Toby: Saadia Gaon thought it might be Jeremiah, sir...But the authors of the books of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John decided it meant Jesus, so I think you're stuck with that interpretation, sir.
Bartlet: I'm the President of the United States, Toby. I'm not stuck with anything.
Josh: Who's Saadia Gaon?
Toby: This is what you get from a Connecticut Jew.
Josh: Just because you're from Brooklyn doesn't mean you're more Jewish than I am--
Leo: Could we get back to the matter at hand?
Bartlet, sitting down: The suffering servant is a tensive symbol, and one of the most profoundly radical propositions of all time--that suffering is not a sign of the disfavor of God Almighty, but instead a mark of service to the one true God. In a polytheistic culture that saw sickness, failure, disfigurement, and death as signs of abandonment by one's god, or even as a sign of the defeat of that god, the assertion both that God rules and that misfortune is no sign of abandonment--this, my friends, is an assertion that brings about the end of kings and kingdoms. The very foundation of slavery as it is conceptualized in the ancient world is utterly undone.
Toby: All due respect, sir, your co-religionists would prefer to win a bet.
Bartlet: A brackish spring, my friends. We could drink the cool pure water from the fountain of the greatest of all the prophets, a man who rewrote the script of Life for all time, yet what do we prefer? What do we prefer, Leo?
Leo: Sir, we prefer to get some work done.
Bartlet, bounding to his feet: A brackish spring! You know I minored in theology at Notre Dame?
Leo: Yes, sir, we know.
Bartlet: I fought many a battle over supersessionism when I was at Notre Dame. I despise supersessionism. Our beautiful New Testament was not written to correct the Tanakh, it was written to extend the Tanakh.
Toby: No Marcionite you, sir.
Bartlet: I give supersessionism no quarter when I meet it in the highways and byways. But when I go to Good Friday service, I am constrained to be civil; I can't stand up in my pew and point out that the author is clearly referring to Zion.
Toby: People would just blame the Israel lobby, sir.
Bartlet, exiting: No kidding.
Leo: Nothing like a little hermeneutics to make policy-making go more smoothly. So, Toby, you gonna run with this?
Toby, rising: I'll get with Will and C. J.
Josh, to Toby: Just because you speak Yiddish.
Toby, exiting: Bei me bist du shayne, boychick.
Josh, to Leo: He thinks he's more Jewish than me.
Leo: I don't care. I'm a drunk; we're non-sectarian. You gonna make this happen?
Josh: Sure, boss.
Leo: Okay, so, gay avek. I gotta go meet with the President about the thing.

Eli, Eli, lema sabachthani?

My church, Our Saviour's Lutheran in Arlington Heights, has been doing a seven-week study, led by Jodie Draut, based on Walter Brueggemann's Into Your Hand. Last night, for our Good Friday worship service, members of the group presented meditations on each of the Seven Last Words of Christ. This was mine:

The Fourth Word: “Eli, Eli, lema sabachthani?"

The Reading: Matthew 27:45-49 

When we human beings are dying, words come back to us. Frequently they are words from our childhood: a song, a psalm, or a prayer. Even when dying people are also suffering from dementia and can’t remember anything else, they often remember poems or hymns from their childhood.

Jesus speaks the words,  “My God, My God, why have you forsaken me?” from the cross in both the Gospel According to Mark and the Gospel According to Matthew. “My God, My God, why have you forsaken me,” is the only one of the seven last words of Christ that appears in more than one Gospel, and in both Mark and Matthew, these are also the only words Jesus speaks from the cross. He speaks them in Aramaic, the language he would have known as a child growing up in Nazareth. 

These words are the first line of a famous psalm, Psalm 22:

My God, My God, why have you forsaken me?

Why are you so far from helping me, from the words of my groaning?

Oh my God, I cry by day, but you do not answer;

And by night, but find no rest.

Jesus probably learned this psalm as a child— by memory, ‘by heart,’ as we would say—much as some of us here tonight might have learned ‘by heart’ the psalm that immediately follows this one, the 23^rd Psalm. Just as we would catch the reference if we heard a dying person murmur, “The Lord is my shepherd,” if there were Jews present at the crucifixion who heard Jesus murmur the opening line of Psalm 22, chances are they would have been able to fill in the rest. They would have known of the comparison of God to a midwife in verses 9-10:

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.

 These Jewish listeners would have known that Psalm 22 continues:

For dogs are all around me,

A company of evildoers encircles me.

My hands and feet are shriveled;

I can count all my bones.

They stare and gloat over me;

They divide my clothes among themselves,

And for my clothing they cast lots.

The listeners would have been able to imagine that, as Jesus watched the Roman soldiers who were putting him to death, he was thinking of these dogs and evildoers. And these listeners would have known the conclusion of the 22^nd psalm:

To him, indeed, shall all who sleep in the earth

Bow down;

Before him shall bow all who go into the dust,

And I shall live for him.

Posterity will serve him;

Future generations will be told about the Lord,

And proclaim his deliverance to a people yet unborn,

Saying that he has done it.

Even as he drew his last agonized breath, Jesus still had the resources that had been given to him as a child; his education and his tradition had given him a way to think of his death, not as a humiliation or a defeat, but instead as an affirmation and a proclamation of the power of his God.

X-iles, Part III

Mulder: OK, Scully, I figured it out.
Scully: What did you figure out, Mulder?
Mulder: What you were talking about when you mentioned 'alien invasion' in regards to the books of Ezra and Nehemiah. Very clever: you were piquing my interest by pandering to my obsessions. In addition, you were pulling the old switcheroo.
Scully: Please explain to me the scientific nature of the 'switcheroo.'
Mulder: The text presents it as the return of the true Israel to Jerusalem from Exile--but you're hinting that the people living in Judah might actually have seen it as an invasion by a group of aliens.
Scully: It's an interesting thought experiment, Mulder: when you read the text of Ezra-Nehemiah, with which group do you identify?
Mulder: Do you even have to ask? I'm an American, Scully, and the mere thought of those elites with their fancy Persian ways coming into my land and telling me who I can and can't marry makes my red white and blue blood boil. I don't care who their grandfathers were, I don't care if they've got a charter from the Persian ruler, authentic vessels from Solomon's temple, and the 10 commandments in the original packaging: don't tread on me! No taxation without representation! And if a a Moabite wife is good enough for King David, it's good enough for me!
Scully: Ruth was King David's great-grandmother, Mulder, not his wife.
Mulder: Tyranny, Scully! Government elites hatching a conspiracy to force men to divorce their wives and send their children away!
Scully: Your righteous indignation on behalf of the wives and children does you credit. But can't you summon up that fertile Mulderean imagination and think about the matter from the point of view of the returnees?
Mulder: I'd rather not, Scully. You know how much I enjoy my righteous indignation.
Scully: Which makes you not unlike Ezra and Nehemiah.
Mulder: I suppose an argument could be made that the returnees were an endangered species. If they didn't draw the line at something as fundamental as marriage and the raising of children, they might have found themselves back at square one, worshipping a whole pantheon of Canaanite and Moabite gods. As Nehemiah says, there was the issue of the children not learning the language of Judah, those precious words of the law and the prophets. And then, these returnees came from people who had stood out against worshipping the Persian gods. The fact that the prayers of their parents and grandparents had been answered, and they were now back in Jerusalem, must have made them feel that their God, Yahweh, had a power that it would be dangerous not to acknowledge.
Scully: Those do sound like plausible reasons, Mulder. I admire your ability to put yourself in the place of these men.
Mulder: Plus they were probably sick of their wives anyway.
Scully: Mulder...
Mulder: They probably all just got together and said, "Hey, let's get new wives. Really hot new wives."
Scully: Mulder...
Mulder: It was the New Wives Club. But, Scully, put yourself in the place of those new wives. Do you think they ever really trusted their husbands? Do you think they thought, How soon until these guys find another document in the temple that says, all the priests get new wives? How soon until there's another commission that investigates us, and decides we're not Yahweh-approved? If you'd been one of those wives, Scully, what would you have done?
Scully: I suppose I'd have fired up the oven and started baking cakes to the Queen of Heaven.
Mulder: That's right. Queen of Heaven, baby!
Scully: Asherah.
Mulder: What did you call me, Scully?
Scully: Asherah is one of the names of the Queen of Heaven.
Mulder: I think a man should always be loyal to his partner, Scully. Even if she doesn't worship at the same altar or speak quite the same language.
Scully: And she should be loyal to him, even if he does sometimes become awash in self-righteousness...But Mulder, I think your assumptions about the lack of hotness of Moabite wives may not be supported by the texts.
Mulder: Are you telling me there may be biblical warrants for the hotness of Moabite women, Scully? Do you suggest more careful investigation into the biblical narratives?
Scully: The truth is in there, Mulder.

X-iles, part II

Mulder: So, Scully, I've been doing some research on Ezekiel. Just as you suggested.
Scully: Mulder, for a person who likes to think of himself as a loose canon, you are astonishingly predictable. Of course you've been doing some research on Ezekiel. Let me guess: you think that the throne-chariot which Ezekiel saw was actually a UFO.
Mulder: You have to admit, Scully, that the appearance of the throne-chariot as described by Ezekiel is highly suggestive of alien spacecraft.
Scully: All I have to admit, Mulder, is that Erich von Daniken has a lot to answer for.
Mulder: What else could it be, Scully, other than a spacecraft?
Scully: It could be exactly what Ezekiel says it is: a vision of the Glory of God leaving the precincts of the Temple and heading off toward Babylon, where the Ezekiel and the rest of the exiles from Jerusalem are living. God is God and requires a sufficiently awe-inspiring battle chariot in which to travel.
Mulder: So I suppose you incline to the view that Ezekiel's vision is actually the result of post-traumatic stress disorder.
Scully: The entire book of Ezekiel seems to me to be quite clearly the product of P.T.S.D. The man experienced a months-long siege of Jerusalem and then a forced thousand-mile march as a prisoner to the city of Babylon, where he and his fellow exiles had to adjust to God knows what. Nightmares, bizarre behavior, becoming aggressive, violent, or inappropriately sexual: all these are part of this text. It's a first-person account of wartime trauma in the ancient world.
Mulder: Scully, are you suggesting that the Old Testament might be something more than psalms, children's stories, and predictions about Jesus?
Scully: I'm suggesting, Mulder, that the subject of the book of Ezekiel is in fact 'alien abduction'; just not the kind of aliens or the type of abductions that you're always so interested in.
Mulder: Scully, you wound me. You know I'm interested in things other than alien abductions. I'm also interested in alien invasions.
Scully: I apologize, Mulder. I know you also have a healthy interest in sunflower seeds, Native American culture, civil rights, and porn.
Mulder: And baseball, Scully. Don't forget baseball. It's America's pastime.
Scully: But you know, Mulder, now that I think of it, there is a sterling example of 'alien invasion' in the Old Testament. And it includes conspiracy and the persecution of the innocent; it's right in your wheelhouse. You'll find it in the writings of the post-exilic prophets and the books of Ezra and Nehemiah.

X-iles, part I

Mulder: Scully, can I ask you a question about the Bible?
Scully: Mulder, is this about whether Jesus might have been an extraterrestrial?
Mulder: No, it's not. It's about the prophets.
Scully: Is it about the flying chariot in the book of Ezekiel?
Mulder: No. I want to ask you about the eighth-century prophets.
Scully: You want to ask me about Amos, Hosea, and Isaiah?
Mulder: Also Micah. Don't forget Micah, Scully.
Scully: What do you want to ask me, Mulder?
Mulder: I want to ask you if you think it's possible that the eighth-century prophets knew each other.
Scully: I suppose it's possible. Amos and Hosea were prophesying in Israel, the Northern Kingdom, while Isaiah and Micah were prophesying in Judah, the Southern Kingdom. They might have known each other, or known of each other.
Mulder: And Amos, even though he prophesied in the north, was actually from the south, so he might have been the contact.
Scully: The contact... Mulder, are you saying you think eighth century prophesy was a conspiracy?
Mulder: Well, there are commonalities that can't otherwise be explained.
Scully: Such as?
Mulder: All four prophets make the point that the people of Yahweh had broken their contract with their God. And all four prophets claim that Yahweh is about to punish his people using foreign armies. These were unpopular stands to make at the time and would have caused these men to be ostracized. I just think it's possible that the prophets might have needed some sort of psychological support for their activism, which would have lead them to form bonds with like-minded men.
Scully: Mulder, are you saying that Amos, Hosea, and Isaiah were the eighth-century equivalent to the Lone Gunmen?
Mulder: Also Micah. Don't forget Micah, Scully.
Scully: While it is true that the eighth-century prophets had some points in common, they also differed in their message. Amos, for example, locates the sin of the people in the unjust treatment of the poor by the elites, whereas Hosea asserts the sin lies within the religious institutions. Isaiah, an elite who shows an urban bias, believes there is hope that Jerusalem may be saved, whereas Micah, who was from a small town and therefore an outsider, says the city will be destroyed.
Mulder: By alien armies.
Scully: Mulder...
Mulder: But they are alien armies, Scully. How do we know what kind of aliens they were?
Scully: They were Assyrians and Babylonians.
Mulder: But don't you think there could have been rogue elements within the Israelite or Judean governments...
Scully: To which Mulder am I speaking? Are you Classic Mulder who blames all events on aliens, or are you Reboot Mulder who thinks everything happens due to government conspiracies?
Mulder: Scully, are you asking if I'm more like Hosea, who blames all events on the worship of alien gods, or Amos, who thinks everything happens due to unjust actions by elites?
Scully: I think you are most like Isaiah, who keeps getting rewritten due to his ever-increasing pertinence to current events. And if you want to know more about the eighth-century prophets, you should read the book by D.N. Premnath.
Mulder: What's the book called?
Scully: It's called Eighth Century Prophets.
Mulder: Good title. Does it include Micah? We can't forget Micah.
Scully: It does include Micah.
Mulder: Do you know who my favorite prophet is?
Scully: I would have to say Jeremiah.
Mulder: Got it in one, Scully. Who is your favorite prophet?
Scully: My favorite prophet is Jonah. Because Jonah would prefer not to be involved in all this drama, and yet Jonah keeps getting hauled back into it, again and again.
Mulder: Scully, are you comparing the X-Files to the belly of the whale?
Scully: I am, Mulder.
Mulder: Would you be surprised, Scully, if I told you there are theories that what happened to Jonah was actually a thinly-disguised account of alien abduction?
Scully: No, I would not be surprised.
Mulder: And now I'd like to hear more about that cool flying chariot in the book of Ezekiel!
Scully: It's called Merkabah mysticism, Mulder. You can look it up in Wikipedia.

Apocalypso

"In about 100 words, imagine that you are a member of a Jewish or Christian group, in modern times, where people like you face serious abuse and repression."

As I lay upon my recliner watching a The West Wing episode on Netflix, I seemed to doze, and I bethought me that I dreamed. And lo, there appeared to me one like unto Allison Janney, and also like unto C.J. Cregg, and unto Bonnie from Mom, and even like unto Job herself (see previous post). And she spoke to me and said:
"Daughter, I have seen thy suffering, and how you face serious abuse and repression."
And I said, "But Allison Janney, I am a member of a ELCA church here in Arlington Heights, and have never known serious abuse and repression. And I have a recliner and Netflix, so I don't think I can be said to be suffering."
And she said unto me, "Daughter, when you attend worship, what doth the liturgy commend to thy saying at the end of each time of worship?"
And I said, "We say, 'Make Christ Known. Thanks be to God.'"
And she said unto me, "And do thy pastors and teachers and religious leaders and fellow congregants ever ask you in what wise you have made Christ known in your world in that week preceding?"
And I said, "Good heavens no, we are not accountable to them for our actions in the world as Christians."
And she said, "Daughter, can you explain to me why this should be so?"
And I said, "Because if they were to ask us, we might demand a like accounting of them, which would be embarrassing and possibly hurt people's feelings."
And then Allison Janney (for such she seemed) took me up upon a high mountain, and she showed me a world in which there were no humans, but only goats and sheep. And the goats and sheep fought each other without ceasing, and there was much blood, but no barbecue.
And she said, "Daughter, what do you see?"
And I said, "I see a lot of goats and sheep fighting each other. Is this a metaphor?"
And she said unto me, "Daughter, I will explain the figure to you. These goats which you see are those who think that all religion is but chaff and unworthy to be thought upon. And these sheep are those who understand only that they are right and all others wrong."
And I said to her, "Allison Janney, where have all the humans gone?"
And she said, "Daughter, they have not gone: they are only invisible. Those who cannot speak cannot be seen, and their tongues have all withered; for they never learned to speak of their faith in any way that did not make them sound preachy, patronizing, or self-righteous. This their church never expected of them, nor did it teach, nor equip them, to speak briefly, cheerfully, and eloquently of their deepest values. This I call abuse and repression, for now they cannot be heard nor seen, and now all draws to an end."
And I said, "But Allison Janney, we just have to decide to practice talking about our beliefs like ordinary practical human beings in ordinary practical situations. Nobody is stopping us."
And she looked upon me sternly, and spoke, and said, "Daughter, seeing is believing, and hearing is yet more. And now I must leave you, and you shall see me no more, save in reruns. Go your way, Daughter, and tell thy people to get it in gear."
Then I awoke and decided that it wouldn't kill me to hold myself a little more accountable to my faith community by explaining what I do at Garrett in a way that is quick and light-hearted and not all jargon-y and blah blah blah. And then I decided to watch X-Files, as being an excellent example of a modern use of the genre of apocalyptic.

(For those who don't know anything about the genre of apocalyptic, this is from Christopher D. Stanley's book, The Hebrew Bible: A Comparative Approach, pages 484-485:

"...most scholars would agree that apocalyptic thinking has its roots in the prophetic movement. Apocalyptic texts share many features with the prophetic books. Common elements include:

• a belief that Yahweh reveals his plans to humans through episodes of prophetic inspiration;
• a conviction that Yahweh stands on the side of a faithful but oppressed minority within the people of Israel;
• a critical attitude toward those who hold positions of power and influence within the society;
• an expectation that Yahweh will act at the appropriate time to bring down the powerful and rescue those who are oppressed;
• an anticipation of a future era in which everyone will be devoted to Yahweh and righteousness and justice will prevail; and
• a reliance on symbolic and exaggerated language to describe both present and future events.

"At the same time, there are also many differences between the prophetic books and full blown apocalyptic works...it can be helpful to summarize them all in one place. [How right you are, Dr. Stanley!] In contrast to the prophetic books, apocalyptic texts include:

• more frequent and more extensive reports of visionary experiences;
• more detailed descriptions of the heavenly realm and its inhabitants;
• more specific predictions about the future course of human events;
• a vital role for the supernatural forces that stand in opposition to Yahweh;
• a highly pessimistic view of human nature and the present universe;
• an assurance that the day of judgement and salvation will occur soon;
• depictions of the fates of the righteous and the wicked after death; and
•  scenes of a final, universal judgement that will eliminate evil from the universe and inaugurate a new era of peace and joy for the righteous.")

Job and Friends

"Write an original composition that uses modern examples of conventional wisdom to "set the trap" for a dissenting perspective that subverts the conventional wisdom."

Job has just finished Lamenting to God the decline of her congregation. (See previous post.) Worship leaders now appear to give her sage advice.
Worship Leader #1: The source of congregational decline has been clearly shown to be unsatisfactory worship practices.
Worship Leader #2: Decline in worship attendance is because worship is too impersonal and does not speak directly to people's needs.
Worship Leader #3: Decline in worship attendance is because people are not being sufficiently challenged to live faithful lives.
Worship Leader #4: Decline in worship attendance is because traditional church music is not attractive to today's consumers of music.
Worship Leader #5: Decline in worship attendance is because people don't get to sing the wonderful old hymns they love.
Worship Leader #6: Decline in worship attendance is due to lack of skillful use of media resources.
Worship Leader #7: Decline in worship attendance is because worship looks too much like everyday life and has lost the sense of the Sacred.
Worship Leader #8: Decline in worship attendance is because people are not welcoming to children in worship.
Worship Leader #9: Decline in worship attendance is because of a lack of opportunities for worship before or after the service.
Worship Leader #10: Decline in worship attendance is because sermons are too formal.
Worship Leader #11: Decline in worship attendance is because sermons are too sloppy.
Worship Leader #12: Decline in worship attendance is because congregants do not welcome seekers.
[The reader is here invited to fill in reasons they have heard or given for the decline in church worship attendance.]
Job: You are all giving me conflicting advice. How can I listen to you if you can't agree on anything?
Worship Leader #1: But we can agree on one thing, Job. We can agree that declining worship attendance is your fault.
Worship Leader #2: You have not been faithful in your attendance at worship at your church.
Worship Leader #3: You haven't invited your friends and neighbors to attend worship at your church.
Worship Leader #4: You haven't repeatedly and persistently invited your friends and neighbors to worship at your church.
Worship Leader #5: You haven't told your friends and neighbors how spiritually satisfying worship is at your church.
Worship Leader #6: You haven't told your friends and neighbors what inspirational sermons your pastor preaches at your church.
Worship Leader #7: You haven't told your friends and neighbors how uplifting the music is at your church.
Worship Leader #8: You haven't volunteered to sing in the choir for worship at your church.
Worship Leader #9: You haven't volunteered to serve as an usher for worship at your church.
Worship Leader #10: You haven't volunteered to serve as a reader for worship at your church.
Worship Leader #11: You haven't given enough money to support excellence in worship at your church.
Worship Leader #12: You haven't prayed for the leaders of worship at your church.
[The reader is here invited to fill in all the reasons they have heard or given as to why decline in worship attendance is the fault of the laity.]
God appears.
God: You are all worship leaders, so naturally you think everything has to do with worship. I suppose you would be astonished if I told you that congregational decline has nothing to do with worship. I was just winning a bet, so stop berating my servant Job.
Ha-satan appears.
Ha-satan: What you need here is more expert advice. I say you hire some consultants. Really expensive ones.
Worship Leaders: Great idea!
Job: I repent me in dust and ashes.

Psalm 1234 Arlington Heights Road

Ootle16.net Assignment for Week 2: "Study the formal features of the genre “Complaint Psalm” (often also called a “Lament Psalm”). Then write your own Complaint Psalm."

Formal features of a Lament/Complaint Psalm:
A. Address
B. Complaint
C. Statement of Trust
D. Petition
E. Vow of Thanksgiving
(Note: Not all of these features appear in every Complaint/Lament Psalm, and sometimes they appear in different order.)

By request of the Wednesday night "Welcome to the New Age" group:

Psalm 1234 Arlington Heights Road

To the leader. Of the Charites. A Maskil after Psalm 44.

We have heard with our ears, O God,
     what our mothers and fathers and former pastors told us,
what things were like in their days,
     in the days of old:
How there were not enough churches to hold
     all the people who wanted to join them,
The fund-raising and the planning,
     the building and the dedications,
the worship services and the Sunday schools,
     full and overflowing,
the Men's Bible Studies and the Women's Circles,
     the Vacation Church Schools and the Luther Leagues,
the Christmas Pageants and the Easter Egg Hunts,
     men and women, children and teens in their hundreds.
And we were the light of Your countenance,
     and You delighted in us.

Those were the days,
     When no one ever had to explain why they belonged to a church.
No one asked us why on earth we were Christians,
     Or challenged our mindlessness,
Or dismissed our Scriptures as blood-soaked savagery,
     Or criticized our Creed,
Or demanded proof of our God,
     Or just assumed that we must be hypocritical bigots.

So now we are like deer in the headlights:
     We can't believe people dislike us,
Or pity us,
     Or ignore us,
Or simply prefer Netflix.
     They think our worship isn't worth their time.
They know our service doesn't change their systems.
     They feel our teaching will not touch their hearts.

So, what next?
     What shall we do now,
O Lord our God,
     here in the 21st century?

You never used to be shy about telling people what to do,
     You thundered and whispered and sang to all those people in the Bible.
You not only spoke to Abraham, You sat down and had a meal with him;
     You wrestled with Jacob,
You schooled Moses.
     When You couldn't come Yourself, you sent Your messenger.
And that was at a time when methods of communication were limited,
     Now it's so much easier!

So what about us?
     Don't we rate at all?
If we're doing it wrong, You could just tell us. We're not deaf.
     And it's not like we've gone anywhere.
We're still here at 1234 Arlington Heights Road,
     Still worshipping, still serving, still teaching,
It's not like we moved and left no forwarding address.
     Plus You know our home addresses,
You're the Lord of the Universe,
     So we assume You have our email addresses, our cell phone numbers, and our Twitter handles.
Drop us a line. Send us a text. Message us. Give a Tweet.
     Too busy? Got a sore throat? Tendonitis? No phone service? Mulling over your options?
While You're diddling around, we're dying here.
     Rise up, O Lord! Make haste to help us!
Get a move on! Send us that Spirit! Give us our next move!
     I'm sure you've noticed we're not getting any younger.

As long as we are here,
     We will praise You and give You thanks,
But worship attendance is dropping,
     Giving is falling off.
Volunteers are thin on the ground,
     We are all so weary!
So we ask:
     When we are gone,
Who will cause Your name to be celebrated
     in all the generations?

We are Your people:
     Your people of 1234 Arlington Heights Road.
Will You let us die out?
     Will You not save us?

Welcome to the New Age!

Hello, Wednesday evening OSLC Ootlers! This is my blog (web log), which I call The Happy Hermeneut in honor of the Happy Hermeneuts Book Discussion Group at OSLC. I have tagged it so that it can be "aggregated" to the Ootle16 Blog Post page.
Don't forget to come this Sunday for the Annual Meeting; worship will be at 9 and 11 am, with the Annual Meeting in between. (Just because this is a MOOC doesn't mean I can't do OSLC announcements!)