Day 2 - Psalm 2 - The Divine and the Intimate

He who sits in the heavens... laughs.

Psalm 2 reminds us that God is sovereign. He is Lord. He is greater than what we see. Kings vainly try and go to war against God and His Son. The nations falsely believe in their power that they can overtake the Lord.

I do not know if this passage is speaking of earthly nations against the nation of Israel. The nation of Israel surely had it's human enemies and often was at war with them during the writing of the Psalms. Or it may be speaking of the spiritual battle. How evil desires to dethrone the Lord so that they may be king and not under the authority or lordship of God. I will need to check that out :-)

The psalmist, of whom we do not know their name, reminds us that God is God. He is over all. And those who seek to war against Him will be "broken with a rod of iron," and "shattered like earthenware".

At the end there is a calling to return to worship God.

"Worship the Son....How blessed are all who take refuge in Him."

When I was a child, I was brought up in the reverence of the Lord. I sat in cathedrals and sanctuaries for weekly mass. It was beautiful and amazingly ornate. The pews were hard and there were kneel-ers to pray on. There was no creative fun children's program. The priests came into the mass in a procession. Serious. Altar boys would hold banners and objects that their robes told us we were not to touch. There was an altar and beautiful objects of gold. It was raised above us and we did not go up there. There was a line between the seemingly holy and the ordinary.

My earliest memories of church was of me playing on the kneelers untying my father's shoes. I have one memory of me walking to the parking lot with my mom and asking her if I had been good in church. :-). 

St. Anne's Church, Barrington, Illinois, where I grew up....

My next memories of God include learning my prayers in parochial school with my friends. I remember receiving my first rosary and how beautiful it was. I remember my white communion dress and veil and how special that ceremony was. I remember the nuns of my early years in school, like Sister Margaret who was so warm and loving. My principal Sister Lorraine was a peaceful and kind woman.

I remember as a child learning that God was "other"...in a good way. He was not like man. He was to be respected. You did not run in church. You sat and listened. You stood and you knelt. But I also remember I did not fear Him. He didn't seem scary. He seemed "other". Maybe that was because of the kindness of the priests and the nuns I saw each day. Well, at first Father Thane seemed a little strange. He was very old and would speak over you when you said your recitations :-) But as you saw him, he was very kind as well.


As I got older in school, I also saw the stricter side of the clergy but in all honesty, I was fortunate to have good people of the clergy around me as a kid.

I remember receiving palms on Palm Sunday. We did not play with them. I remember helping my friend Genie Godula to change out the candles in the sanctuary and being able to get a little closer to the "holy things".

Later, in my junior high years while I was still in parochial school we as a family stopped attending mass and began to check out this new kind of church that met in a little theater. The theater's name was Willow Creek. The church's name was Willow Creek as well (convenient, huh?)  I sat at 12 years old and listened to pop music and saw stories on the movie screen and heard a young guy in jeans speak about God. I don't remember much about what was said, only the experience of it. I liked it. We went our first time and then didn't go to any church for a while.

One Sunday morning my mom grabbed me and took just me to that little theater. I remember after service my mom standing with some of our family friends and my mom was crying. I didn't know why, but I do know that is where we continued to go to church each week.

A year later I went to Willow Creek's summer camp with about 90 junior highers.

I only knew the daughter of a family friend but it was OK as I was a pretty social little girl. That week, I opened my new Bible for one of the first times. We didn't learn to read the Bible for ourselves in mass as the priests brought us the teaching. That week at summer camp I learned about Jesus in a new way. He who came to die (I did know that) also came to break down the walls between the holiness of God and sinful man. It was because of Jesus we could pray to the Father. It was because Jesus' sacrifice that we could also not only respect God but be friends with God.

That week  I "received Jesus in my heart". It was a day when the desire to know and learn about God took off in my young life. God was even more to me. Touchable. I was able to pray to Him, conversationally. I read the Bible for myself. I loved highlighting verses in my Bible and knowing more for myself what it said. God whom I knew and followed my entire life became close.

But He still remained "other". Meaning, I knew He was God. I still was in parochial school but everything we were now doing and learning from the priests and nuns seemed so much nearer, personally received. I knew the passages they were reading. I knew the stories myself. I felt knowledgeable and closer to the things of faith and God seemed very near.

After I graduated in 8th grade from my parochial school, I wasn't a part anymore of my childhood liturgical church. We have been a part of more contemporary communities of faith. My church services have involved everything from drama to videos to lighting to full music bands. I love the community of friends I have made over a lifetime, serving and learning in His Word together. We have laughed and done life together. I don't think I would have known or come to know my Savior and have had this journey of faith without these places.

Willow Creek Community Church, what I call my "home church" from when I was 12 until I moved away.....

But even to this day, I still love the cathedrals and the quiet places of faith. I do like walking into sanctuaries and sensing the "other-ness" of God. It reminds me that He is God and I am not. I am still very thankful for being rooted in truth of God's holiness. It is because of that truth of His holiness I stand even more amazed that God is also near and intimate and gracious revealed through the Person of Jesus. That the God of universe desires to know me and that I can talk to Him is incredible.

This reading of Psalm 2 has brought me back to my first memories of things holy. It spoke to me that God is still God and He will not be mocked. He "laughs" at wickedness who believes they will win war against Him. This Psalm reminds us that do not mistake His tenderness for weakness. For He is still God over all and He is a God of justice. I think that's why that line, "How blessed is the man who takes refuge in Him!" is so amazing. The King of Kings has made a way to His side, to His heart. It's through Jesus, who came near to show us the Father. It is His deepest desire that we would be in relationship with Him. He paid an amazing cost, the tortuous sacrifice of Jesus to tell us that.

He is holy. He is near. He is God. He is Father.

"How blessed is the man who takes refuge in Him!"