Eugene H. Peterson, Answering God: The Psalms as Tools for Prayer. San Francisco: HarperCollins, 1989, p.98.
Our hate needs to be prayed, not suppressed. Hate is our emotional link with the spirituality of evil. It is the volcanic eruption of outrage when the holiness of being, ours or another’s, has been violated. It is also the ugliest and most dangerous of our emotions, the hair trigger on a loaded gun. Embarrassed by the ugliness and fearful of the murderous, we commonly neither admit or pray our hate; we deny it and suppress it. But if it is not admitted it can quickly and easily metamorphose into the evil that provokes it; and if it is not prayed we have lost an essential insight and energy in doing battle with evil.
3 comments:
If we want to have a real relationship with God, we need to admit our real feelings, even the ugly ones. The psalms remind us that this is all right. God can handle it, and we will be changed if we offer our hatred, jealousy, and nasty feelings to God. As long as we are honest, God can help us move through these dark feelings to transformation.
Loving God, help me to offer all of myself to you. Give me the courage to include all of myself in my prayers. Help me to be honest and whole as I stand before you.
Dear God, How can I pray my hate to you? Right now, you know that I am viscerally upset by a death that occurred as the result of a stupid game of road rage, a young man running over his antagonist, who threatened him by getting out of the car and standing, blocking the young man's. I hate that this happened. I hate the occurrence and acceptance of so much anger and arrogant territoriality in our streets. And I am afraid.
Thank you for sharing your prayers with us Jeanne. I keep you in my prayers.
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