Praying the Psalms*

By Rev. James Lamkin

Psalm 56

*(The congregation is invited to read A-Psalm-A-Day during 2011. Here is today's reflection and prayer by the pastor based on a psalm from the past week.)

Verse 8 says: "You have kept count of my tossings; put my tears in your bottle. Are they not in your record?"

Now that is some prayer! The Psalmist reminds God of how vexing it is to try to sleep at night while burdened with the day's weight. Plus, he tells God to bottle his tears and store the salty evidence of his angst!

Compared to the psalmists, my prayers are anemic.

There is a name for a tear bottle. It is a lachrymatory. That's right, lachrymatory.

I first came across this while standing on the Mount of Olives at the Dominus Flevit Chapel. It is shaped like a teardrop. It was there, legend has it, that Jesus paused as he rode into Jerusalem and wept. "I would have gathered you as a mother hen gathers her chicks under her wings...but you would not!" And Jesus wept.

In olden times, as men went off to war, and as their wives wept at home, the women saved their tears in bottles, lachrymatories, to give the returning husbands/soldiers, as evidence of how much they had been missed.

Liz tells the story of blessing tears that were evidence of the hard work of therapy. A person had come to her for pastoral counseling. During the hour, the person poured-out her heart. Along with the words came the weeping and many a tear.

There was no lachrymatory handy; but there were Kleenex! And the tissues piled-up on the edge of the desk.

At the end of the hour, the person grabbed the handful to toss into the trash. However, Liz stopped her. "These tears and tissues represent a lot of spiritual and emotional work," said Liz, "before you toss them, let's bless them." And they laid hands on them and did just that.

The psalmist did the same. In fact, the psalmist asked that of God. He asked for a "blessing of the tears."

Let's bootleg off of his prayer.

"O God, hold for me the results of my work of weeping. Hear my tears as you hear my prayers. And who knows, maybe tears are prayers that have not yet found words. All-loving God, listen closely. Amen."

A-Psalm-A-Day Upcoming Schedule:

July 28-Psalm 59

July 29-Psalm 60

July 30-Psalm 61

August 1-Psalm 63

August 2-Psalm 64

August 3-Psalm 65

July and August 2011

The Art of the Handmade Book

Northside Driver, Ruth Kramedjian has a selection of her handmade books on exhibit at the Smyrna Public Library during the months of July and August. The handmade books are exhibited in the glass cases on the second floor. Most of these books have been made in 2010 and 2011. Many of the books are blank books suitable for journals and a few have original art included. Many of the books are for sale-contact Ruth at 404-210-9790 or rrpk2@yahoo.com.

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The Northside Line-drivers are having a fun season. As always, we need a co-ed church softball team with 20-25 people. The team must be 50/50 female/male when on the playing field. Contact Coach Brian Knight (cell - 404-759-9063) if you are interested.

The Northside Line-drivers schedule:

Game 1 - Wed, 25-May @ 7:00 PM (L)

Game 2 - Wed, 1-Jun @ 7:40 PM (W)

Game 3 - Wed, 8-Jun @ 8:50 PM (L)

Game 4 - Wed, 22-Jun @ 8:50 PM (R)

Game 5 - Thu, 30-Jun @ 6:30 PM (L)

Game 6 - Thu, 7-Jul @ 7:40 PM (L)

Game 7 - Wed, 13-Jul @ 6:30 PM (L)

Game 8 - Wed, 20-Jul @ 8:50 PM (L)

Game 9 - Wed, 27-Jul @ 7:40 PM

Game 10 - Wed, 3-Aug @ 7:40 PM

All of the games will be played at the NDBC ball field.

For more information about the NACL website, go to http://www.naclsports.info/pages/schedule.htm.

Church Week

SUNDAY, July 31, 2011

9:00 AM - Congregational Hymnal Review

9:30 AM - Summer Church School

11:00 AM - Morning Worship in the Chapel

WEDNESDAY, August 3, 2011

6:00 PM - Northside Yoga

7:40 PM - Co-Ed Softball Game

THURSDAY, August 4, 2011

7:00 PM - TNT