“How long, O Lord?”
This is the psalmist’s question. It echoes throughout the psalms, making its most notable appearance in Psalm 13. This haunting question comes in response to suffering and sorrow, grief and pain. The psalmist, while maintaining faith in God, believes that God has abandoned them—or at the very least, withdrawn. The psalmist begs to know when their suffering will cease and their joy be returned.
The psalms have a lot to teach us about how to be honest with God. Many of us were raised to think that questioning God is unfaithful and that getting angry at God is downright blasphemous. And yet we see questions and anger offered to God right here in Psalm 13. Psalm 13 is a lament psalm and lament psalms were once described to me as “clinging to God with one hand, and shaking your fist at God with the other.” It is possible to be angry at God and to question God while still being faithful and hopeful that God will save us. Indeed, the psalms even encourage this attitude!
I think Psalm 13 also captures the spirit of Advent. As I mentioned in my last post about the Advent Holy Hike, Advent is a season of anticipation when we cry out in longing for God to come and save us. It’s a season when we join our voices with the ancient Israelites longing for the coming Messiah. And so Psalm 13’s question: “How long, O Lord?” is our theme for this year’s Advent Holy Hike.
As we walk through the winter landscape of camp, we will stop periodically to dwell on the themes of banishment, slavery, exile, occupation, and death. We will take time to ponder how these grave realities affect our daily lives. We will being with the question “How long, O Lord?”, repeating it at each stop along the way. We will end with the hopeful reminder that Emmanuel (“God with us”) has been promised to us and will surely come and save us. Each stop will also feature a verse from O Come, O Come Emmanuel to guide our meditations.
The Advent Holy Hike is December 15th from 2-3pm. We will meet at the Evergreen Center. Following the hike, the USS Youth Group is hosting a Christmas party. You are invited to stick around and warm up over tasty cookies, hot chocolate, and good fellowship. I hope you can join us for this rich and meaningful time!