Praying the Psalms
“Lord Jesus, I’m lost right now and I’m sad and I’m mad at you and I don’t know how to get un-mad at you. Where are you?”
Each month when our team of volunteers leads worship at the prison, we invite the women to record their prayer requests, so we can intercede for them. They know we take the work of prayer seriously. They also know that others in our congregation - including staff and deacons - will join us in praying for them throughout the month.
“Please pray for me to continue my faith. Sometimes it’s hard to believe that God is listening to me.”
Month after the month, the vast majority of the women’s requests focus on their families - children and grandchildren, parents and partners - revealing the helplessness they feel during this extended period of separation from their loved ones. Addiction. Cancer. Dementia. Accidents. Deaths. Funerals.
“Please keep me in prayer. I lost my son, my firstborn, on Friday night.”
Their requests for themselves usually center on what comes next, especially if they are nearing the end of their sentences. Work release. Home plans. Clemency. Custody of their children. Restored relationships. Continued sobriety.
“Please pray for me and my three children. I get out in five months and I don’t really know where I’m going yet, but I’m in a drug treatment program and I’ve taken every class I can to change for the better and I go to all the AA and NA meetings so I can focus on being a better mother, because they need me and I need them.”
While requests for physical and mental healing for themselves and others are most common, each month some of the women dare to describe their own spiritual struggles. Prison can be a place of spiritual transformation, a liminal space where women encounter the Living God in life-changing ways.
“God, please help me forgive myself for what I’ve done and what I caused. Help me learn to live with myself and help me gain the fruits of the Holy Spirit and help me use my story for your glory. God forgive me. Help me love myself again.”
This month our senior pastor experienced his first opportunity to preach in one of these services. He began by thanking the women for the prayers they submit to our team each month. The women were deeply moved as he shared how he keeps the printout of their requests on his desk so he can reference them frequently. Our pastor likened their prayers to Psalms.
Photo by Aaron Burden on Unsplash
I was profoundly struck by this image - the words of incarcerated women held in parallel with Scripture. Their prayers certainly replicate the full range of expression found in the Psalms: cries of lament, declarations of faith, pleas for help, proclamations of gratitude, appeals for guidance, entreaties for protection, songs of praise. Yes, their prayers are holy. Yes, their words are sacred.
After the sermon, the women were invited to respond to God through an exercise where they contemplated verses from the Psalter and made them their own. Let’s call them fill in the blank psalms.
Psalm 3:3 - “But you, O Lord, are a ______________________, the one who _____________________.”
Psalm 22:2 - “O my God, I cry by day, but ______________________.”
Psalm 142:7 - “Bring me out of ________________________ so that I may _________________________________.”
After we sang our benediction and the women departed from the chapel, I looked at the slips of paper they left behind. Their personal psalms were poignant. I quickly jotted down several on the back of my order of worship.
“My God, I cry by day, but you don’t answer."
“O Lord, bring me out of depression, so that I may be your instrument."
“But you, O Lord, are the one who brings me out of darkness.”
“O Lord, bring me out of this misery, so that I may praise you more.”“My God, I cry by day, but I still feel so lost and misunderstood.”
Photo by Kelly Sikkema on Unsplash
Praying the psalms is an ancient practice. In our congregation, this daily discipline is one of the five spiritual practices in our Rule of Life (Via Karis). Praying the designated psalm for the week from the Revised Common Lectionary as individuals on a daily basis enhances our corporate worship on Sunday, when we pray the psalm together.
Do you pray the Psalms? Have you ever adapted a verse to reflect your longings and laments, your doubts and fears, your praises and thanks?
“Answer me when I call, O God of _______________! You gave me _____________ when I was __________________. Be gracious to me, and hear my prayer.”
