I have recently read Vinoth Ramachandra's Gods that Fail: Modern Idolatry & Christian Mission, which was recommended to me by a contact at Princeton a few weeks ago. There are some similarities between his thesis and my own, as expressed in Political Visions and Illusions. I will be indicating some of these in future posts. But on this weekly celebration of the Resurrection I've chosen to highlight a passage from his book relevant to christian worship:
The gulf between modern Christianity and the spirituality of the Bible is . . . seen in our selective use of the Psalms, which were the song-book of the people of Israel and the New Testament church. The psalms not only reflect every human experience (e.g. confusion, anger, fear, anxiety, depression, uninhibited joy) but they force us to stop pretending that everything is fine with the world. The psalms of lament (e.g. Psalms 10, 13, 35, 86) are passionate complaints at God for the contradictions between his promise and the reality the people experience. These psalms are rarely used in Christian worship today. Yet these psalms are acts of courageous faith: courageous, because they insist that we must face the world as it is and give up every childish pretence; but also of faith, because they stem from the conviction that there is nothing out of bounds where conversation with God is concerned. To withhold any part of human experience, including the darkness of unanswered prayer and the negative aspects of life, from that conversation is to deny the sovereignty of God in all of life. So, paradoxically, it is those who suppress their doubts under a litany of jolly choruses who may well be guilty of unbelief: for they refuse to believe that God can handle their rage (pp. 42-42).
No comments:
Post a Comment