Congregation at Prayer

Catechesis Notes for the Week — Psalm 74—The Prayer of the Church During Pestilence and When Persecutors Seek to Destroy Her—Psalm 74 is a prayer against those who attack the Church and try to destroy the sanctuary of the Lord where His people gather to worship. How strangely and eerily appropriate this psalm is for our current crisis. On the one hand, the civil authorities are trying to protect the population from the spread of disease; on the other hand, enemies of the Gospel would like to use the crisis to destroy the Church. The psalm begins with the questions, “O God, why have You cast us off forever? Why does Your anger smoke against the sheep of Your pasture? Remember Your congregation, which You have purchased of old…” Psalm 74 is an example of how the circumstances of life provide the proper interpretation of the psalm: “The enemy has damaged everything in the sanctuary. Your enemies roar in the midst of Your meeting place…They said in their hearts, ‘Let us destroy them altogether.’ They have burned up all the meeting places of God in the land.”  This devastating description of the Church under siege is quickly followed by our cry to the Lord to take action and remember His promises for the sake of His congregation: “The day is Yours, the night also is Yours; You have prepared the light and the sun. You have set all the borders of the earth; You have made summer and winter. Remember this, that the enemy has reproached, O Lord…Oh, do not deliver the life of Your turtledove to the wild beast! … Arise, O God, plead Your own cause…”  Sometimes we are prone to imagine that the Church has never endured the kinds of distress that we experience in the world today. It is not true. At times like these, we commend ourselves and the world to the mercy of God in Christ, take up God’s Word daily, and pray the psalms most fervently.CP240825

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Notes for the Week — Psalm 146: A Confession of Faith in the Lord—To confess the truth of who the Lord is and what He has done and continues to do for us is the source true happiness, well-being, and contentment. It is also the foundation for proper praise of the Lord which gives all glory to Him because He has done all things for us. The God who made us is also the God who saves us. Our redemption in Christ restores us to what God called us to be. The forgiveness of sins in Christ makes all things new. Thus, the psalmist confesses this faith in a song of praise: “Praise the Lord! Praise the Lord, O my soul! While I live, I will praise the Lord; I will sing praises to my God while I have my being.” Politicians and princes cannot save. “Happy is he who has the God of Jacob for his help, Whose hope is in the Lord his God, who made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that is in them; Who keeps truth forever.” The Lord executes justice for the oppressed in the cross of Calvary. Christ’s redeeming work then becomes the fountain and source of all blessings. “The Lord gives freedom…opens the eyes of the blind…raises those who are bowed down…loves the righteous…watches over the strangers…relieves the fatherless and widow.” For all this we “Praise the Lord!”

Catechesis Notes for the Week — Psalm 50: A Song of Praise for the Proper Worship of the Lord—The true worship of God is not faith in ourselves, our own sacrifices, or our works of love that we offer to God in an attempt to earn His favor. Instead, the true worship of the Lord is a faith which desires to receive His forgiveness and help as a gift of His grace. Psalm 50 criticizes the sacrifices that were so often made in the Old Testament Church, not because they were bad (they were given to Israel by God), but rather because they were offered to God as their own good works to earn His favor. The true worship of God is a repentant heart that clings to His mercy for forgiveness, life, and salvation. The Lord alone is perfect and righteous. Out of Zion, His holy Church, He shines forth in the beauty of His righteousness to save repentant sinners. He calls us to faith in His gift of righteousness to offer to God thanksgiving and to pay our vows to the Most High. “Call upon Me in the day of trouble; I will deliver you, and you shall glorify Me.” True praise and worship of the Lord honors and gives all glory to Him who gave His life for us. “Whoever offers praise glorifies Me; and to him who orders his conduct aright I will show the salvation of God.”CP240811

Catechesis Notes for the Week — Psalm 92 — A Prayer of Daily Thanksgiving for the Love of the Lord—There is so much evil in the world. It is foolish and senseless to deny the existence of God and the goodness of His love. Enemies abound who reject the Lord God, but He never fails to uphold, strengthen, and lift up His people who trust in Him and to make them glad by the works of His hands. As believers in the Lord and in His sustaining grace, we commend the wicked and all workers of iniquity to Him who will judge the wicked and bring their evil plans to an end in His good time. In the meantime, “It is good to give thanks to the Lord, and to sing praises to Your name, O Most High; to declare Your lovingkindness in the morning, and Your faithfulness every night.” The humble, faithful, regular morning and evening prayers of Christians are a balm for the soul in the face of the evils of our age. Daily prayer focuses our attention upon what the Lord has done and continues to do for His people. In such regular meditation upon God’s Word, anxiety is dispelled and confidence in the Lord is strengthened. The righteous walk by faith in the Lord’s promise and do not live in despair when we see the wickedness of the world around us. “The righteous shall flourish like a palm tree… They shall still bear fruit in old age; they shall be fresh and flourishing.”CP240804