In the first months of my ministry in Stevenston: Ardeer I was told by a lady that she had received a postcard from a friend who was on holiday. Among other things she wrote that she was missing Church and looking forward to getting back. That was an encouragement to someone still finding his feet in parish ministry.
Later I came to know someone who had been a regular attender but severe emotional problems meant that this was no longer possible. It was a source of regret and the Lord’s Day always came around with a deep sense of longing.
It is this appreciation of the gathering for worship that we find in Psalms 42 and 43. The Psalmist has powerful memories of the worship of God’s people and what a blessing this was:
‘ . . . I used to go with the multitude,
leading the procession to the house of God,
with shouts of thanksgiving
among the festive throng.’ (42: 4)
But circumstances have now prevented this. He is ‘oppressed by the enemy’, taunted by those who say “Where is your God?” This results in great inner turmoil which comes through in both psalms as a refrain:
‘Why are you downcast, O my soul?
Why so disturbed within me?’ (42: 5; 43: 5)
Light and dark, sweet and sour, up and down jostle for possession of the Psalmist’s inner life. And in many ways we stand with him in this unique moment in human history. Circumstances are preventing us from gathering on the Lord’s Day, one of the vital sources of our spiritual health. Many years ago, in a book about preaching James S. Stewart shared a vision of worship that he longed for all preachers to grasp:
'Every Sunday morning when it comes ought to find you awed and thrilled by the reflection - "God is to be in action today, through me, for these people; this day may be crucial, this service decisive, for someone now ripe for the vision of Jesus.”
Well, our gathering for worship may have been affected but I cannot accept that God cannot still work through the resources we have to bring people to faith and strengthen the faith of believers. It may not be the same but again the Psalmist is our companion when he continues his internal dialogue and looks forward to a day of restoration and renewal:
‘Put your hope in God,
for I will yet praise him,
my Saviour and my God.‘ (42: 5)
‘Then I will go to the altar of God, to God, my joy and my delight. I will praise you with the lyre, O God, my God. Why, my soul, are you downcast? Why so disturbed within me? Put your hope in God, for I will yet praise him, my Saviour and my God.’ (43: 4-5)
This time will end and once again we will rejoice to be together as the family of God rejoicing in all that He has done for us in Jesus.
