Dear God, I found the podcast I was looking for yesterday from Voxology Podcast. It’s called “The Only Way Out is Through.” I first heard this back at the end of December, and it really helped me to think about the seasons of life with you. I am pretty sure I journaled about it back then because it impacted me so much. My wife and I were talking about it the other day so I wanted to listen to it again, but I had a hard time finding which one it was. But here it is. I found it. The discussion of “orientation, disorientation, and reorientation” begins at about the 21-minute mark.
They tie this Walter Bruggeman’s work on the psalms and how he ties them to these three categories (sometimes a psalm can be in more than one category). Examples would be a psalm of orientation (life is good) would be Psalm 45. A psalm of disorientation (life hurts) would be Psalm 13. A psalm of reorientation (there is surprising new life) would be Psalm 30.
Between this and all of the psalms I read during Lent, you have given me an appreciation for them that I have never had before. You know that I’ve never particularly liked a lot of psalms. Some of them are nice. Psalm 1. Psalm 23. Psalm 51. Psalm 138. The ones that feel like they fit within my theological structure are easy for me. But then there are the ones that call for the death of my enemies through many generations and stuff like that that really bother me. But I’ve learned to see these passages as “descriptive” and not “prescriptive.” They aren’t telling me to feel that way. They aren’t saying you endorse those sentiments. The psalmist is letting me in on his (I think they were all men) feelings at that given time.
I have a pastor friend right now whom I know is going through a difficult season. I have mentioned a woman whose son is suffering from addiction and in bad shape. I have another friend dealing with cancer. Still another has a son who has a tumor that is difficult to remove. Then I have my own disorientation, although, interestingly, I feel the disorientation less and less and feel reorientation more and more. And I suppose that’s the way it goes. When you are young and are fortunate enough to not have experienced disorientation yet, you feel naively secure. But into every life a little rain must fall, and sooner or later we all fall into a time of disorientation. That can often come about very suddenly. But reorientation doesn’t happen overnight. I don’t get rid of disorientation all at once. It’s a process of becoming reoriented. Right now, from the disorientation that started for me 15 years ago, I am mostly emotionally adjusted to, although the sorrow still remains. It’s just that the sorrow doesn’t disorient me like it used to.
I find myself still typing here, so this must be important for me to work out with you. One of the things they mentioned in the podcast is going through disorientation in community. We should not go through it alone. That’s important.
Another thing they mentioned was that the modern church with contemporary music tends to only have Sunday morning songs of orientation. But those songs do not fit what everyone is experiencing. There is disorientation in the room. There is reorientation in the room. The Book of Psalms includes all of this. Our modern contemporary churches mostly do not.
Father, help me to use the disorientation and reorientation of my life to be a blessing to others. Thank you for walking with me through this. Thank you for the man who, several years ago as I lamented over my disorientation (that’s not what I called it at the time), labeled it for me as being “disappointed” with you. I was disappointed with you. I was scared and frustrated. I was hurt and confused. But you were gentle with me.
I am reading Nancy French’s memoir Ghosted: An American Story. She doesn’t use this language, but applying what I’ve learned here to what I’ve read of her book, she describes being disoriented by a sexual assault by a church leader when she was 12 years old. She was disoriented for a long time. It wasn’t until she met her future husband when she was 20 that the reorientation started to happen. I don’t know enough of his story to know if he had experienced disorientation up to that point, but shortly after they started dating he experienced a health scare that could have killed him–disorientation. But they walked through it together with each other and their community of friends. That’s about where I am in the story, but I can see reorientation happening. I also know enough of their story to know that more disorientations are coming. They are for all of us.
Okay, Father, I have to get to work, but I have enjoyed this time with you. I’ve enjoyed hearing your voice. Thank you for being with me yesterday for that Sunday school lesson. I pray that your Holy Spirit found fertile soil in which he could plant good seeds. I pray that people will remember the words spoken and not me. And I pray that if I was wrong about anything you will correct me and help them to forget those words. Thank you for gently reorienting me. I know there will be more disorientations to come. Help me to not be afraid, but to simply walk through the valley of the shadow of death with you.
I offer all of this to you in Jesus and with your Holy Spirit,
Amen