October 18, 2023 • 16 mins
Drawing from the work of Old Testament theologian Walter Brueggemann, Gabrielle discusses the concept of orientation, disorientation, and new orientation as seen in the Psalms and in Jesus's life. These movements symbolize the human experience of comfort, crisis, and resolution. Brueggemann’s perspective emphasizes the realness and authenticity of the Psalms, which capture raw human emotions during moments of disorientation.
In this episode, Gabrielle creates a space for listeners to sit with and confront their feelings of disorientation, whether they stem from personal challenges or external sources like news headlines. She then guides listeners through Psalms 13, offering prayers and reflections between verses, encouraging those in the midst of hardship to lean on God and trust in His presence.
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Music by AG (Affirming Grace) @agmusic4god and Dandelion Meditation
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(08:54:49):
Hey, what's up Beloved's? I wantto do something different. See
these? Maybe last several weeks,we've been talking about
movement, right journey, andmore specifically this journey
towards Sabbath rest. And thisweek, I found myself flipping
(08:55:10):
through a couple pages of thisbook by Walter Brueggemann,
who's a Old Testamenttheologian. The book is called
the spirituality of the Psalms.
And, and one of the, in part, hetalks about the moves of
orientation, that are seen inthe Psalms, and really can be
seen throughout the Christiannarrative, and specifically,
(08:55:30):
even in, in Jesus's life,orientation, disorientation, and
new orientation. It says thatthere's psalms of orientation,
there's psalms of disorientationand psalms of new orientation.
It's very easily seen inPhilippians, two, even when in
(08:55:51):
refer in reference to to Jesus,where you see the orientation,
that though he was in the formof God, right, that reference,
then you see disorientation Heemptied Himself, and the new
orientation. Therefore, God hashighly exalted Him, those three
moves of orientation. He pointsout that the Psalms,
(08:56:16):
specifically what makes them,part of what makes them so
powerful, is the fact that theywe have the words of real people
that were that are no longeralive. And we have an account of
the words they spoke the thingsthey said, their communication
with God, in moments ofdisorientation. And it gives us
(08:56:39):
potential language, for showingup in that space with God and
finding that in the midst ofdarkness, he is actually
present. In his book, he says,that much of Christian piety and
spirituality is romantic andunreal, and it's positiveness.
(08:57:02):
Right as, as children of theEnlightenment, he says that we
have censored and selectedaround the voice of darkness and
disorientation that we seek togo from strength to strength
from victory to victory. Butthat way, only ignores the
Psalms. And it is a lie in termsof our experience. So when I say
(08:57:24):
I want to do somethingdifferent. What I mean by that
is, I just want to create aspace for you to be present in
disorientation. And I just wantto be with you, as God is with
you in that disorientation andpropose a way that we can be
(08:57:46):
together in this moment, becauseI hear and I sense, the
different disorientation goingaround us whether that
disorientation is coming fromheadlines in the news, whether
that disorientation is comingfrom betrayal, feeling
misunderstood, unheard, unseen,lonely, having expected one
(08:58:09):
thing of your life at thispoint, and being in the middle
of something totally different.
I know so many people are goingI don't know what I'm doing. But
I'm just trying my best. I'mtrying to give what I have. I'm
trying to stay above water. I'mtrying to keep moving forward
(08:58:31):
because I got people who needme. I got people who am who I'm
trying to serve who I'm tryingto love, who've I don't show up
for who's who will. I just needyou to know the Lord sees you.
He sees us in this psalm is foryou. So voice it with me. Voice
(08:58:56):
in your own words. But let's sitin this disorientation trusting
that the light is still with us.
When I say that I'm actuallyreferring to John chapter one,
starting in void in verse four.
When it says the word gave lifeto everything that was created
(08:59:19):
in his life brought light toeveryone. The light shines in
the darkness and the darknesscan never extinguish it. We
don't hear about darkness beinggone or eliminated right there.
We just hear about the lightbeing present and darkness being
(08:59:44):
unable to extinguish it as youare removed are present in the
reality of like darkness ispresent, it is not gone. Know
that the one who is the LightJesus who is the Light is also
not gone, has power over thedarkness and sits, stands, leads
(09:00:09):
beside you, I encourage you tolisten to this one, when you're
in a position to where you cantruly listen. And I think that
it would be best served to be inthe moment of it. I'm going to
read verses from Psalms 13. Andin between those verses, I will
(09:00:30):
pray, I'll add new words. I'llfill in the gaps. And the
attempt there is to not add tothe word but to help you add
your own voice, your ownlanguage, your own confession of
the soul to God, or helping youas you step into an imagination
(09:00:51):
of someone else who may be inthis place. That's why I invite
you even if you are not in astate of disorientation, I still
invite you to listen. Becausethis would be a good practice.
In stepping into a state thatsomeone else may be in, to
intercede for them, to expressto God on behalf of them. Even
(09:01:18):
if you're not there in thismoment. But if you are there
then receive and if you are notthen join in. Let's read let's
walk through psalms 13 How longoh Lord. How long? Oh Lord. God,
(09:01:40):
we are waiting. We are waitingfor your response. We're waiting
for you to eliminate thedarkness. We're waiting for you
to eliminate and clear the fog.
There is a sense that we havebeen here for too long. There is
a a feeling like this has goneon for far too long. Time has
(09:02:06):
surely passed enough time has ithas to be enough. It has to be
enough. Surely enough has beenenough. And time has come to
fullness. There's no need forany more waiting. Surely waiting
(09:02:27):
can be done now. We confess ourfrustration with words and
encouragement that say just waiton the Lord and back to it. We
say how long Oh lord. Psalmsaid, the Psalm is says who we
(09:02:48):
go, how long? Oh, Lord, will youforget me? Will you forget me
forever? How long will you hideyour face for me? Go we confess
that the time has ticked on forso long. We've watched the long
hand of the clock move. We'vewatched it, tick and tick and
(09:03:11):
tick. We've watched the samebrokenness. We've watched the
same suffering. We've watchedthe same injustice. We've
watched the same fear overwhelm.
We've watched the same cycles ofbrokenness, addiction. We've
(09:03:33):
heard the same arguments overand over and over again and time
goes on and on. And it seems asif you have forgotten and we say
where are you? Where are you?
Are you hiding? Do you want tobe found? Where are you? First
Tues? How long? Must I takecounsel in my soul, and have
(09:04:01):
sorrow in my heart all the day?
Are the things that are mostpresent to us right now. Our own
thoughts, our own reasonings ourreasoning surrounds us so hard
to fight back your own reasoningit's so hard to fight off the
(09:04:24):
pain and the emotion that risesup to the surface. Our reasoning
God has overwhelmed us. Thevoice that is cleared lead to be
heard is the is my own voice inmy head that questions where you
(09:04:45):
areand when we will appear again
The voice in my head isbeginning to question my brother
and my sister. It's easier nowto assume to be skeptical of
them and paranoid of what isnext to come. We are paranoid.
There's an unease, a tension,because the counsel that we're
(09:05:05):
such aware of, is our own. Howlong must I take counsel in my
soul? How long shall my enemy beexalted over me? Tired of the
same battle? And seemingly thesame defeat? Verse three,
consider and answer me. O Lord,my God. Light up my eyes. Least
(09:05:34):
I sleep the sleep of death.
Consider and answer me O Lord,my God. Light up my eyes least I
sleep, the sleep of death. gottahear our desperation. This is a
(09:05:55):
matter of life and death, lifeand death, math, the door of
life and death and wonderingabout choosing death. Answer,
oh, God, am overwhelmed. Deathwants to consume me and if you
don't intervene, it will. VerseFor least to my enemies say I
(09:06:15):
have prevailed over him. Leasemy foes rejoice because I am
shaken. Shake we are asking youto shake that which is trying to
shake us the very ground wherewe walk on Phil's unsteady that
if you don't answer, our enemywill assume victory. We will
(09:06:38):
have to admit defeat. Fear not.
Fear not. Just hear this wordspoken over you Beloved's Fear
not. Fear not. Fear not. First,fight five. But I have trusted
in your steadfast love. My heartshall rejoice in your salvation,
(09:07:02):
but I have trusted in yoursteadfast love. My heart shall
rejoice in your salvation, yourgospel, secures us, you will not
leave us abandoned, you will notleave us alone. You've made this
covenant with us, Jesus, that iscommitted, committed to pulling
(09:07:24):
up out of the pit of despair.
You've made this commitment, notonly with me, not only with us,
but with others who are notlistening, who are also going
How long, oh, Lord, you've madethis commitment to them. For
that reason, we've put our trustin your steadfast love, that
(09:07:46):
that kind of love you providethat is radical, that does not
make sense. That removes all thebarriers, trying to prevent your
love. You come rushing in versesix, I will sing to the Lord,
because he has dealt bountifullywith me. I will sing to the Lord
(09:08:07):
because He has dealt bountifullywith me. Thank you, thank you
card. God is in this moment youwill provide the thing that is
needed for each person listeningright now for them to be able to
transition. To that kind ofconfession. I will sing to the
(09:08:28):
Lord because He has dealtbountifully with me. Can we
trust, your participation thatwe are being entwined with you
as we vocalize these words ofagony, these words of pain,
these words of request thesewords of hope, these words of
fear these, these expressions,we trust that that there is no
(09:08:51):
better place than to expressthese things. Although painful,
although imperfect, although notall resolved. We trust that it
is a faithful it is a soundplace it is a welcome to place
it is a perfect place to be withyou in the midst of these words,
(09:09:12):
these words that are not justwords, but these words that are
representative of realexperiences, these words that
each of them sometimes wordsthat are felt over a years.
Answer oh god and provide whatis needed so that we, that
(09:09:33):
person, all of us will be ableto confess I will sing to the
Lord because He has dealtbountifully with me. move us to
that place. move us to thatplace to sing move us there we
(09:09:53):
cannot get there on our own moveus to that place of a new
orientation in Jesus name amen
Hey, what's up Beloved's? I wantto do something different. See
these? Maybe last several weeks,we've been talking about
movement, right journey, andmore specifically this journey
towards Sabbath rest. And thisweek, I found myself flipping
(08:55:10):
through a couple pages of thisbook by Walter Brueggemann,
who's a Old Testamenttheologian. The book is called
the spirituality of the Psalms.
And, and one of the, in part, hetalks about the moves of
orientation, that are seen inthe Psalms, and really can be
seen throughout the Christiannarrative, and specifically,
(08:55:30):
even in, in Jesus's life,orientation, disorientation, and
new orientation. It says thatthere's psalms of orientation,
there's psalms of disorientationand psalms of new orientation.
It's very easily seen inPhilippians, two, even when in
(08:55:51):
refer in reference to to Jesus,where you see the orientation,
that though he was in the formof God, right, that reference,
then you see disorientation Heemptied Himself, and the new
orientation. Therefore, God hashighly exalted Him, those three
moves of orientation. He pointsout that the Psalms,
(08:56:16):
specifically what makes them,part of what makes them so
powerful, is the fact that theywe have the words of real people
that were that are no longeralive. And we have an account of
the words they spoke the thingsthey said, their communication
with God, in moments ofdisorientation. And it gives us
(08:56:39):
potential language, for showingup in that space with God and
finding that in the midst ofdarkness, he is actually
present. In his book, he says,that much of Christian piety and
spirituality is romantic andunreal, and it's positiveness.
(08:57:02):
Right as, as children of theEnlightenment, he says that we
have censored and selectedaround the voice of darkness and
disorientation that we seek togo from strength to strength
from victory to victory. Butthat way, only ignores the
Psalms. And it is a lie in termsof our experience. So when I say
(08:57:24):
I want to do somethingdifferent. What I mean by that
is, I just want to create aspace for you to be present in
disorientation. And I just wantto be with you, as God is with
you in that disorientation andpropose a way that we can be
(08:57:46):
together in this moment, becauseI hear and I sense, the
different disorientation goingaround us whether that
disorientation is coming fromheadlines in the news, whether
that disorientation is comingfrom betrayal, feeling
misunderstood, unheard, unseen,lonely, having expected one
(08:58:09):
thing of your life at thispoint, and being in the middle
of something totally different.
I know so many people are goingI don't know what I'm doing. But
I'm just trying my best. I'mtrying to give what I have. I'm
trying to stay above water. I'mtrying to keep moving forward
(08:58:31):
because I got people who needme. I got people who am who I'm
trying to serve who I'm tryingto love, who've I don't show up
for who's who will. I just needyou to know the Lord sees you.
He sees us in this psalm is foryou. So voice it with me. Voice
(08:58:56):
in your own words. But let's sitin this disorientation trusting
that the light is still with us.
When I say that I'm actuallyreferring to John chapter one,
starting in void in verse four.
When it says the word gave lifeto everything that was created
(08:59:19):
in his life brought light toeveryone. The light shines in
the darkness and the darknesscan never extinguish it. We
don't hear about darkness beinggone or eliminated right there.
We just hear about the lightbeing present and darkness being
(08:59:44):
unable to extinguish it as youare removed are present in the
reality of like darkness ispresent, it is not gone. Know
that the one who is the LightJesus who is the Light is also
not gone, has power over thedarkness and sits, stands, leads
(09:00:09):
beside you, I encourage you tolisten to this one, when you're
in a position to where you cantruly listen. And I think that
it would be best served to be inthe moment of it. I'm going to
read verses from Psalms 13. Andin between those verses, I will
(09:00:30):
pray, I'll add new words. I'llfill in the gaps. And the
attempt there is to not add tothe word but to help you add
your own voice, your ownlanguage, your own confession of
the soul to God, or helping youas you step into an imagination
(09:00:51):
of someone else who may be inthis place. That's why I invite
you even if you are not in astate of disorientation, I still
invite you to listen. Becausethis would be a good practice.
In stepping into a state thatsomeone else may be in, to
intercede for them, to expressto God on behalf of them. Even
(09:01:18):
if you're not there in thismoment. But if you are there
then receive and if you are notthen join in. Let's read let's
walk through psalms 13 How longoh Lord. How long? Oh Lord. God,
(09:01:40):
we are waiting. We are waitingfor your response. We're waiting
for you to eliminate thedarkness. We're waiting for you
to eliminate and clear the fog.
There is a sense that we havebeen here for too long. There is
a a feeling like this has goneon for far too long. Time has
(09:02:06):
surely passed enough time has ithas to be enough. It has to be
enough. Surely enough has beenenough. And time has come to
fullness. There's no need forany more waiting. Surely waiting
(09:02:27):
can be done now. We confess ourfrustration with words and
encouragement that say just waiton the Lord and back to it. We
say how long Oh lord. Psalmsaid, the Psalm is says who we
(09:02:48):
go, how long? Oh, Lord, will youforget me? Will you forget me
forever? How long will you hideyour face for me? Go we confess
that the time has ticked on forso long. We've watched the long
hand of the clock move. We'vewatched it, tick and tick and
(09:03:11):
tick. We've watched the samebrokenness. We've watched the
same suffering. We've watchedthe same injustice. We've
watched the same fear overwhelm.
We've watched the same cycles ofbrokenness, addiction. We've
(09:03:33):
heard the same arguments overand over and over again and time
goes on and on. And it seems asif you have forgotten and we say
where are you? Where are you?
Are you hiding? Do you want tobe found? Where are you? First
Tues? How long? Must I takecounsel in my soul, and have
(09:04:01):
sorrow in my heart all the day?
Are the things that are mostpresent to us right now. Our own
thoughts, our own reasonings ourreasoning surrounds us so hard
to fight back your own reasoningit's so hard to fight off the
(09:04:24):
pain and the emotion that risesup to the surface. Our reasoning
God has overwhelmed us. Thevoice that is cleared lead to be
heard is the is my own voice inmy head that questions where you
(09:04:45):
areand when we will appear again
The voice in my head isbeginning to question my brother
and my sister. It's easier nowto assume to be skeptical of
them and paranoid of what isnext to come. We are paranoid.
There's an unease, a tension,because the counsel that we're
(09:05:05):
such aware of, is our own. Howlong must I take counsel in my
soul? How long shall my enemy beexalted over me? Tired of the
same battle? And seemingly thesame defeat? Verse three,
consider and answer me. O Lord,my God. Light up my eyes. Least
(09:05:34):
I sleep the sleep of death.
Consider and answer me O Lord,my God. Light up my eyes least I
sleep, the sleep of death. gottahear our desperation. This is a
(09:05:55):
matter of life and death, lifeand death, math, the door of
life and death and wonderingabout choosing death. Answer,
oh, God, am overwhelmed. Deathwants to consume me and if you
don't intervene, it will. VerseFor least to my enemies say I
(09:06:15):
have prevailed over him. Leasemy foes rejoice because I am
shaken. Shake we are asking youto shake that which is trying to
shake us the very ground wherewe walk on Phil's unsteady that
if you don't answer, our enemywill assume victory. We will
(09:06:38):
have to admit defeat. Fear not.
Fear not. Just hear this wordspoken over you Beloved's Fear
not. Fear not. Fear not. First,fight five. But I have trusted
in your steadfast love. My heartshall rejoice in your salvation,
(09:07:02):
but I have trusted in yoursteadfast love. My heart shall
rejoice in your salvation, yourgospel, secures us, you will not
leave us abandoned, you will notleave us alone. You've made this
covenant with us, Jesus, that iscommitted, committed to pulling
(09:07:24):
up out of the pit of despair.
You've made this commitment, notonly with me, not only with us,
but with others who are notlistening, who are also going
How long, oh, Lord, you've madethis commitment to them. For
that reason, we've put our trustin your steadfast love, that
(09:07:46):
that kind of love you providethat is radical, that does not
make sense. That removes all thebarriers, trying to prevent your
love. You come rushing in versesix, I will sing to the Lord,
because he has dealt bountifullywith me. I will sing to the Lord
(09:08:07):
because He has dealt bountifullywith me. Thank you, thank you
card. God is in this moment youwill provide the thing that is
needed for each person listeningright now for them to be able to
transition. To that kind ofconfession. I will sing to the
(09:08:28):
Lord because He has dealtbountifully with me. Can we
trust, your participation thatwe are being entwined with you
as we vocalize these words ofagony, these words of pain,
these words of request thesewords of hope, these words of
fear these, these expressions,we trust that that there is no
(09:08:51):
better place than to expressthese things. Although painful,
although imperfect, although notall resolved. We trust that it
is a faithful it is a soundplace it is a welcome to place
it is a perfect place to be withyou in the midst of these words,
(09:09:12):
these words that are not justwords, but these words that are
representative of realexperiences, these words that
each of them sometimes wordsthat are felt over a years.
Answer oh god and provide whatis needed so that we, that
(09:09:33):
person, all of us will be ableto confess I will sing to the
Lord because He has dealtbountifully with me. move us to
that place. move us to thatplace to sing move us there we
(09:09:53):
cannot get there on our own moveus to that place of a new
orientation in Jesus name amen
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