5th night ;10/18

The sadness and joy of real people constituted the tonalities of Israelite and Jewish worship.Like the hugs at wakes and the embrazos of friends at weddings -the Psalms are the love songs of a deeply bonded community. Imagine a people with an idea of God so great and all-encompassing that" all great gifts around us come from heaven above "( Godspell) and the tragic shortfalls are those moments of puzzlement that call forth from the faithful hearts of a believing community - a Why? a Where? a How long? Westermann from his existentialist perspective (finally a chance to use this adjective correctly) sees in the Psalms: " The individual's joys and sorrows between birth and death,...toil and celebration,...sickness and recovery...anxiety and trust,temptations to despair and comforts received."(p 24).


This sadness and joy, this basic rhythm, marks the genre delineation of the Psalms: " Praise is joy spoken to God; lament is sorrow poured out to God". Like all human life, the emotional life is lived out alone and in our relationships with others. thus, Westermann would have us look at these faith-songs as the ballads of individuals and the choral songs of a community. In the genre of praise , we find celebrations of specific acts of rescue[ ps 124 and 129] and psalms that " praise God in the fullness of ...(god's ) existence and activity"[ ps 8,103].

The Community Psalms of Lament: Psalm 80

Westermann notes: " No worship observance in Ancient Israel is as well known...as is the special rite of lamentation...a fast(som)". The community would be gathered by a summons( Ez 21:12) and acts of purification- abstinence, mourning garments,ashes,weeping were as much a part of the observance as the community psalms of lament. Not a regular part of liturgical life, instead they represent the spontaneous prayerful response to crises: drought , plague,attack or defeat. Our Psalter shows many fewer lamentations than the Jewish Scriptures note . Westermann believes this is a result of the post-exilic editing of the Hymn book which emphasized repentance over and against lamentation. This is the theological debate between the Deuteronomist theology and the Wisdom theology found in the Book of Job. Lamentation , some would say , can stand before God in faithful complaint while repentance can only neurotically internalize blame for life's troubles. The author of Job understood that true faith possesses the nerve to confront undeserved suffering with a faithful affirmation that declares: This cannot be what a Good God would want!

Ps 80

We will follow the commentary in Westermann pgs 31-34

The structure of the community lament:

1) The call to God

2)The Complaint

3) The Review of God's Acts

4)The Petition

5) The Divine Response

6)The Vow to Praise