[OBW]

Several years ago now, for the first Sunday of advent the sermon was titled "Advent Starts With the Blues" or something like that. Israel in a less egregious captivity, but still in bondage, longing for the coming of the Messiah. And upon the birth, light shone. But it was into a dark place.

Sometimes it is probably good to consider that we still live much of each day in a dark place no matter how much we try to remain always praying or whichever description of staying connected you like best. Those who claim otherwise are lying and need to repent just as much as me.

The Psalms are the Word of Christ when we are in a dark place. They are his help to us to recognize our dark places and repent. To cry out to God for his mercy. All of those poor experiences of man are just what we need to recognize that the Christian life is not from success to success, but from frailty to frailty. It includes "forgive us our trespasses" in every prayer.

Or it should.

We may not like the forms of the older liturgies, but we need to join them in declaring "Lord have mercy . . . Christ have mercy" because we always need mercy.

The man who mocked the Psalms will now be mocked with his own words.

"His mercy endureth forever, and ever, and ever, and ever . . . ."