Learning to Pray

If I get accepted into Divinity School I will most likely start course work in this fall. In preparation for this my friend, who is a priest, gave me a book to read, “Under the Unpredictable Plant”, by Eugene Peterson. It was very helpful to get a real worldview of the life and challenges of being a parish pastor. One thing I have come away from the book with is that I must develop my own routines around my own faith and spiritual development. Peterson calls this askesis, or an ascetic practice. Part of this practice is to read and meditate on the book of Psalms each day, something I have started to do. Getting into a new routine with anything is difficult, and even trickier with two pre-school age children in the house. Yet, when I take the time to devote to a Psalm I am rewarded with wonderful poetry and a sense of deeper meaning that I can savor and chew on. I am using a New King James Version of the Bible, which is not everyone’s cup of tea. Sometimes the archaic language proves to be a stumbling block for understanding, but for me, when reading the Psalms it flows with a wonderful elegance, like Shakespeare. From Psalm 9:18-20

For the needy shall not always
Be forgotten;
The expectation of the poor
Shall not perish forever.
Arise, O Lord,
Do not let man prevail;
Let the nations be judged in
Your sight.
Put them in fear, O Lord,
That the nations may know
Themselves to be but men.


Reading this I thought of the hubris of American political intervention and corporate interest. Wow.