10/11 fourth night

Westermann would have us listen to the song of rescue from Exodus 15, a victory song from Judges 5; a celebratory hymn to unexpected new life in 1 Sam 2; a royal exultation in 2 Sam 22. Why? He instructs: " Israel's earliest writingabout its history grew out of its declaration of praise for God's acts of deliverance". The articulation of praise can be an individual or a communal prayer but praise is not the only motif in the symphony the human heart raises to the heavens. Hearts pour out laments as well! Lost people, ignored leaders and an exiled nation utter songs of complaint and hymns of desolation: " Praise and lament are the two basic melodies which , like echoes, accompany god's actions on this long path of history".

Israel's prayer life dared to establish a much greater range in its faith -voice. Today we utter praise and thanks and forgiveness and petition-not a bad vocabulary for prayer. but Israel's lamentation showed a faith communication that dared to complain, confront and downright catterwall against the divine! This audacious voice lifted up to God combined prayer , poetry and the musicality of song: "an immediacy of speaking directly to God which connects reality in all its breadth , depth and harshness with the God who is the Lord of both the righteous and the wicked..." .

Westermann reminds us that worship is a response not a direct experience of the religious life. The religious experience happens not first in the Temple but in " the harvest fields..the battlefields, in the wilderness or in the homes, on sickbeds or in the streets" . This life experience with the divine could be articulated in a special holy place or that holy place could by extension transfer to all places the identity of a house of prayer. Time , too, had its sacred festival moments but it also found a way to reach out across the hours and days to consecrate all days as days for the holy. thus , place and time became consecrated. This is not unlike other tribal religious experiences. there is a tale told of an encounter between a native Shaman and a Christian minister. The minister was stressing the importance of keeping holy the Sabbath. the Shaman expressed surprise and declared that his people honored not just one but every day as Holy!