You won't find Psalm 151 in the Bible. The title for this morning's service came from the fact that we spent some time as part of cafe church writing our own psalms. You'll find instructions and a couple of examples below, but first some reflections on being loved by God.
Psalm 139:13-18
For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother’s womb. I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well. My frame was not hidden from you when I was made in the secret place, when I was woven together in the depths of the earth. Your eyes saw my unformed body; all the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be. How precious to me are your thoughts, God! [How amazing are your thoughts concerning me!] How vast is the sum of them! Were I to count them, they would outnumber the grains of sand - when I awake, I am still with you.
Romans 8:38-39
For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
We are fearfully and wonderfully made, crafted in a way that evokes respect and amazement. Artisans don’t labour over work they despise, so how else could we have been made but in love? God’s thoughts about us are vast, so many they outnumber the grains of sand. We give our attention to those things that are precious to us, so what else could inspire those thoughts but love?
We are loved. Loved more than we think we deserve. Loved more than we could ever imagine. Loved more than we understand is possible. And that love is unconditional and unshakeable. Life cannot deny it and death cannot end it. No power can stop it and no distance can break it. And that love comes from the source of all love which is beneath and beyond all things, from God who is love itself from the beginning to the end of time. So tell yourself this truth until you believe it, and until it shapes your life and being. You are loved.
I want to share something I wrote over six years ago, which I often come back to and remind myself of. I can remember sitting in the sun on my lunch break, shortly before I left that job to start training for ministry, a time that felt so full of change it was both frightening and holy, trying to make sense of the ways in which God was present to me and which I experience God’s love. And then I’m going to hand over to you to think about your own experience of the presence and the love of God.
I have been trying to describe to myself what it feels like to experience the presence of God, and I had the most profound sense of it being like looking at someone you love and seeing their love for you written across their face as plain as day. Like the surge of joy that comes when their heart speaks to yours, and you understand how truly and deeply you are loved and wanted. Like knowing in every moment and every atom of your being that they love you, but just for a moment that love filling you so that it is the only thing that matters. Sometimes it is the most perfect sense of calm, and sometimes it is energy coursing through you like electricity. Sometimes it is a sense of things falling into place, and sometimes it is a righteous fury against all that is still wrong in the world. But just sometimes it is all the love in the world being lavished on you by the one who knows you best and loves you the same.
I invite you to fold an origami heart, or simply draw and decorate a heart of your own design. As you do, reflect on the ways in which you have felt God’s presence and seen God’s love in the world and in your own life. If you feel comfortable, share some of your thoughts with those you are sitting with.
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How to Write a Psalm
Write six short phrases that express how you feel about God or life.
Number them 1 to 6.
Write them out in the following order:
Stanza 1 - 1, 2, 3, 4
Stanza 2 - 2, 5, 4, 6
Stanza 3 - 5, 3, 6, 1
Congratulations, you have written a psalm!
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Thank you God for your inexhaustibe love
For always being there
Thank you for all nature
You are faithful
For always being there
You care and suffer with us
You are faithful
God is love
You care and suffer with us
Thank you for all nature, make us better stewards of your world
God is love
Thank you God for your inexhaustible love
You walk with me in both the good times and the bad
You hold me in your hand
I rejoice in your amazing creation
I despair that we do not care for it as we should
You hold me in your hand
I am so fortunate and privileged
I despair that we do not care for your creation as we should
You love me even though I don't deserve it
I am so fortunate and privileged
I rejoice in your amazing creation
You love me even though I don't deserve it
You walk with me in both the good times and the bad
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