Tuesday, February 16, 2016

Psalm of Complaint

For the first week studying the Ketuvim, one of the Make projects was to write a Psalm of complaint. Since I'm so good at complaining, I decided this was my best bet. After all, Tori Rodriguez did say that negative emotions are the key to well-being. She writes, "Suppressing thoughts and feelings can even be harmful...Instead of backing away from negative emotions, accept them. Acknowledge how you are feeling without rushing to change your emotional state."

Well then, sounds like the Psalmists were working out all the feels. Here's my attempt addressing a complaint that rests on most of our hearts...

{I have included links to references for fun-- try to read it through without clicking on them first.}

A Psalm of Complaint.
For God. Of A Concerned Citizen. 

O God, my God,
do you not hear your people cry?
We call out to you and you do not come.
We ask for your hand, and where does it hide?

For so long we have seen the mogul exclaim.
His face becomes ruddy as he blows hot air.
God, he knows not what he says and yet the people
clamor for him.

For so long this mogul stomps on our rights
and oppresses the poor and the orphan.
He disrespects political correctness
and relishes in a mythical Dream.

God, who we have thought to be merciful,
where is the love? Where is the love?
If he is our head, to where will we turn?
A voice cries in the wilderness, "Retreat to the North."

Oh, God, we need you now.
Rain down your Truths onto your people
and help them see the path of righteousness.
For with him we cannot survive.

You have delivered us out of homogeneity
and inspired us with another from our country.
We trust that your divine love can infuse
your people again with fervor for Truth.

O God, we fear for our lives. Save us from despair.
Enter into our affairs and choose the best for us.
(Or wait, don't... that's a theocracy.)
Help us to appoint s/he who will do your will.

To you I will be ever thankful
if you but empower your people toward Truth.
We will gift you with a thousand cranes
and put our hope in you forever.

You are the rock on which we stand
and the guard at our closet door.
We will not fear but stand in awe
of your great and everlasting works.

O God, rescue us.




7 comments:

Unknown said...

One word: hilarious. This is excellent. Really well done!

Form first: I can really clearly see the formal elements of a complaint psalm here. You have a couple statements of trust (“You have delivered…”, “You are the rock…”) with some complaints and the vow of thanksgiving (“To you I will ever be thankful…”) interspersed between. I like how you played with the form there – it keeps the complaint front and center without sounding like just a complaint.

On to content: again, really funny. You’ve shown a clear opinion for the upcoming election. I wonder how this week’s material, specifically Ecclesiastes 8:1-9, might inform that opinion. As I went through the wisdom literature this week, I was again stuck by how much our experiences of the same thing can differ.

Thanks again for your post – it was a delight to read!

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