05 Sharing the Psalms

Speaker 1: Thank you for listening to the Wednesday in the Word podcast. I'm Krisan Marotta. Today, our guest at Scully will be teaching on how to share the Psalms with others. For more talks on the Psalms, please visit our website, which is wednesdayintheword.com. So glad you joined us. Speaker: Picture this scene for a moment. Crowd of uh or Congregation of Israel coming together. Uh possibly a religious festival or one of the major feasts. The congregation is waiting expectantly for things to begin. They're in the sanctuary. Worship is going to commence soon. A priest or musician rises, perhaps the director of music, summons the people to sing, summons the music to begin. And we read in Psalm 81 Sing for joy to our God, our strength, shout aloud to the God of Jacob. Begin the music, strike the tambourine, play the melodious harp and lyre, sound the ram's horn at the new moon. And when the moon is full on the day of our feast. This is the decree for Israel, an ordinance, an ordinance of the God of Jacob. So begins Psalm 81. The stage is set. Do you have this sense that something big is going to happen? Something major. And indeed it is. God is going to speak in the Psalm. And this is really what our topic is about today: setting a stage for God to speak. As teachers, what do we want to do? How are we going to enter and get people's attention and say, now, focus your attention on what is going to happen? And it's God that's going to be doing the speaking. So it's how do we prepare our message for the people? And how do we prepare people for the message? More accurately, how might God, you might allow God to use us to do these things? We uh talked a bit in the past few weeks uh about our goal as teachers, just to review why, what is our goal as a teacher? What are we really trying to do when we teach scripture uh to people? What's our our main focus? What's the outcome, the objective? Change lives. Change lives is one of the biggest things, right? We want to impact people's lives. Okay. Um we've talked about uh teaching psalms, and what are some ways, you might think of specifically, what are some of the ways that we want to change people's lives when it comes to psalms? Uh when you think about getting to know a psalm or getting to teach preparing to teach a psalm or thinking about how a psalm might impact uh impact your life, uh what how does that look? What are some of the things that you would like the people in uh that come to hear uh leave and then begin doing in their life? What are those things? Obviously what we say generally we want to impact our life, but what is it when it comes to psalms that we want to impact? What are some of the things we would hope they do? Pardon me? The prayer life, that's okay, the prayer life, that's what attracts. So it might be uh uh doing something more prayer or even praying the Psalms or Okay, learning more about the Psalms. What else that they would do? So praying is one. What else would you do with the Psalms? What else? Speaker 5: See God's priorities in life. Speaker: Okay, seek God's priorities in life so that they're going to uh be reoriented in their thinking. Speaker 3: How about just see God? Speaker: Okay. Speaker 3: And that's what Jim. See God, learn more things, yeah. Speaker: Right? And then uh it's hard sometimes to think about the specifics of what you want someone to do. And what what helps is as you go through the process with a psalm, uh you're gonna come to a point where you're gonna realize this changed me in some way. And if it changed you in some way, it it had to do more than just change your thinking. Uh there's something that's going on that's different, uh, or you really haven't changed this. You have an intellectual learning or knowledge, that's all that you gained. Uh when we look at uh the scripture, really, we have the text and we have life. We keep talking about this is our purpose, and we've spent most of our time over here so far. Okay? We've talked about how we interpret the text, how we can make it real uh to our life and things. Uh but but we've been talking a lot here. What's the difference between a theologian and a teacher? Where is a theologian sitting all the time in the text, okay? Studying the text. Uh I always wonder how can you be a theologian and not a Christian that's, you know, but you can be. You know, it doesn't really have to affect your life. You can be over here intellectualizing about scripture all the time. And some of us, when we when we teach, this is what we like. We like the information. We like to discuss it. We want to learn a lot of things, a lot of information. Um David did his first talk, um, he gave four purposes of the Psalms. I just want to read those. Four purposes. Where do they fall? Relate honestly toward God. Evoke an emotion. Make us participants in the story. It's a guide to worship. The importance of reflection and meditation. Is it here? It's over here. So we talk about here's our purposes, here's our goal, here's what we want to do, right? Uh but often we come and this is what we're really looking for, or this is what we want to spend a lot of our time doing. So we have to reorient, we have to think, okay, we keep saying we want to impact lives, we want to change. Information alone won't do it. Uh we know that because you can be a theologian and may not impact your life at all. So we have to look at what it is uh that can impact the life and uh how that works itself out. I think when we think of Psalms in particular, we might think of things like prayer, which was mentioned. With the Psalms, what else would we want them to do with the Psalms? unknown: Praise. Speaker: You know, praise, okay? Prayer and praise, that could be part of prayer, right? In other words, we want them to pray the Psalms. What else do we want to do? We want them to read them, right? Maybe they'll read them more, okay? Or study them. Meditate. These are some of the actions we're hoping that's going to be very specific in their life now. After teaching and talking about the Psalms, that they'll use the Psalms for their prayer life. Uh they'll read the Psalms more. Uh they'll meditate. Something we do in church, service, and at home, maybe. We sing some of the Psalms, don't we? We get them, put them to music and sing. These are things we're doing, and these things impact our lives when we do them. And uh the basic thing we want to do here you have your text and you have your life. The teacher's job is to connect these two. Okay? Somehow you're gonna translate the meaning of the text into life. Somehow you need to prepare people and help them see their need for the text. And it goes back and forth. And so this is basically what we want to happen uh in teaching. We want to impact the life, and that we want the text to do that, which means we can't just have a the theological discussion without consciously thinking about how we can bridge this to people's life. Now, I know we're we're right now preparing for Wednesday in the Word. There's kind of a 45-minute talk and then groups, and and we can easily fall into that that thing of, well, the first 45 minutes is this, and then the next 40, the 15 minutes or half an hour of the group discussion is over here. And uh that way I can get up and do all the great information, and I'll leave it up to everyone else to do uh this aspect of it. Okay. Uh and I think that can be uh a fallacy in their thinking because we're not consciously then trying to connect the text to life. This is something that's going to happen if we talk about oh, giving background information, we talk about the main part of your lesson, and we talk about summary or closure, whatever you do at the end. Each one of these things you need to be connecting. Some people say, oh, well, I'll give my information at the end, I'll tack in five minutes of application. Okay. It doesn't sound like the purpose is to impact your life. Doesn't sound like that. Sounds like your purpose is to give information, and you hope somehow they take on the task of impacting life. So it's not so much the teacher's going to do it, but the individual will do it on their own. And we leave it all up to them. Okay? So what we want to do is talk about how can we get people's lives and text connected. And one of the biggest things that we'll talk about over and over again is think about how it's changed you, and share that, and then get them to experience that change. And also ask yourself what is it that I um want them to do? And are you doing that in your teaching? Okay? In other words, you're practicing it, you're doing it with them. Um what we want to do today really is focus on uh how to do just this. Um I mean, it's really great to have someone come up at the end of a lesson, if you're teaching a lesson, for them to come up and say, that was really interesting. You know, that was great, thanks. You know, I enjoyed listening. Um but it's far better, and if uh you've taught for a while, you may have had this experience, but it's far better when someone comes up and says, you know, because of something you said, you know, I read this more, or I do this more in my life, or now I do this. And when you when as a teacher you hear those kinds of feedback, you go, wow, that's really a compliment if you're thinking in terms of a compliment. But that's really what your goal is. Because of what you said, now I'm doing this. So when you evaluate your lessons, you want to look at, okay, has there been a life impacted? You know, are we just leaving it up to them or the group leaders to deal with that? Or are you as a teacher doing that when you teach? Uh so to order in order to understand, there's really three things we have to do. We have to understand how we engage a person in the text so they can do some of these things in the context of a lesson. We have to know something about the learner. Who is this person? How do they think? Uh and of course, we need some sort of format or put it all how we put it all together, and those are the really the three things uh we want to address today. Let's look first at how we actively engage people. And with that, um, I'd like to come back to Psalm 81, which I read the beginning of. You don't need to look at it right now. We'll look at it in a minute. Um but one of the things we want to do and talk about, and uh I have to say I have to, I'm gonna try to go quickly through this because a few years back we did the six-week thing on this, and we didn't have a specific contact like Psalms, which of course adds some nice content to work with. Um so I've been doing nothing but trying to pare down, pear down, pair down. I've got three major things to go through, all of which would be really one day's uh thing. So we'll we'll kind of hit some of these. We're gonna try to spend enough time on it to get a good sense and then and then move on. Um but let's uh uh think of this psalm for a moment and think of meditation in particular. If I'm talking and you're sitting there listening, are you engaged? Well, you might be. Speaker 7: Okay? Speaker: You might be actively thinking about, pondering, uh, processing the information. Or you might not be. You might you might be wondering, or you might be thinking in about something else or what you're going to be doing later. Um can you as a teacher ensure that people are engaged? Uh and that notice, how can you actively get them involved? Um one of those things comes back to what do we want them to do in their life? Can we do this in our lesson? So let's say we introduce this particular song. Maybe we introduce it the same way I did. We just simply opened up and just didn't know who knows where we are, but we just got this scene. And then we just say, let's meditate on this. Let's take us through a meditation, and we just basically ask you to sit and close your eyes. Just go ahead and take a minute, close your eyes. Uh you don't have to bow your head if you want. You can even face your head up towards heaven. But either way, you're going to just simply relax for a moment. And then picture this scene. Picture this scene. You're there. Okay? And let's do this for a moment. Okay? Let's close our eyes and picture the scene of being in the big congregation, the great congregation of Israel. All the people around you brushing up against you, they're excited. Things are coming, uh, leading up to a moment. Uh and uh a great hush comes over the crowd, and uh you're in that crowd. And then a musician or priest stands up and starts uh the music. And now you hear the harps and the lyres playing. You can hear that tambourine beat. You hear it? Okay, in your mind. It's it's coming, and it's all building, this crescendo leading to something great, something's gonna happen. And then God speaks, and as soon as he does, there's this hush, and suddenly it's like it's just you and God. And he's talking to you. You're gonna ponder each phrase he says. Here are some of his phrases. Meditate on them. Picture something in your life that this reminds you of, or create an image of this happening. Here's what he says in Psalm eighty-one. I removed the burden from your shoulders. Your hands were set free. In your distress, you called, and I rescued you. I answered you. If you would not listen to me. Those who hate me will be punished forever. But you, I will satisfy with a feast. Okay. What were some of your images? What happened emotionally to you through that experience? What was that like? You experienced it at me, so you have to tell me. Speaker 3: Well, um one time I felt sad. Speaker 7: Okay. Speaker 3: The part about what was it about not following me? Not listening to me. Right. I was I was, you know, in there and then that, and I thought, how sad. Speaker: Yeah. Speaker 3: Because we've all done that at times. Speaker 7: Right. Speaker 3: And then to open the mouth took me to a completely different thing. Recently, when I was at my parents, there was a cardinal's nest right outside one of their windows, and there was one baby bird, and we watched as the mother would come, and the baby had the mouth open and would start making a noise even before the mother got there. And I thought, if that baby didn't open its mouth, it would have died because it wouldn't have received what the mother was bringing. And and at one point we thought the baby was too big for the nest and was going to fall out, and the father came and pushed it down. So I thought about that bird. Speaker: Good, good. Good images. What else? Others or emotions. Doesn't need to be a picture. It might be a picture like that that suddenly comes to mind. Speaker 2: I'm very active and as a chairperson for the Good News Geom Ministry. And we just recently had our banquet, which financially was not where it needed to be. And when you started saying, I'll take your burden. You're right, Lord. It's not my job. It's your job. All I have to do is obey. Then when we got to the part where you said, um, listen, but you won't listen. And I thought, do I always understand what you're saying? And sometimes it's so hard to really exactly know what he's saying. Is it because I'm lazy and don't want to do it, or is it because he's telling me not to do it? You know? Speaker: Mm-hmm. Okay. Excellent. So there's sections in there that troubled you. There's sections that gave you relief or peace. Different emotions. Anything else? Anybody else? How long does that take to do? Not long at all. Is everybody engaged? Well, yes, they may be sleeping. They might not be engaged. But nevertheless, as the more we do this, if this is something we want them to do with the Psalms, why don't we do it when we teach? And only takes a minute or two, right? And we just simply get them to meditate on it. Picture themselves being there. Now, if we actually look at Psalm 81, you'll see I changed some of the words. I made it more personal. It was always about they and or they have not listened to me, that kind of thing. And I just changed it to make it personal. Because I want the person to experience the psalm themselves, as if they're there. Okay? How did it hit you? And you go through kind of much the role of the emotions. We were kind of built up that God's going to speak, something's great, gonna happen. And sometimes we just think this is gonna be a great song on the mountaintop. It's gonna be a lot of praise. Um but uh you know, psalms many times are in our face with with like a mirror, and saying, Well, wait a minute, things aren't all that great. And uh and it focuses on us. So again, we when we look at um Psalm 81 um as just one example of uh this was one of the uh covenant psalms, I believe, according to Bill Wilder when he gave out the sheep there, and about talking about a relationship. Really, it's he's going through um what has happened with uh the people of Israel and how they have rejected him. Now, of course, this is a feast, this was a feast day. And it ends. The very last line of the psalm is I'll satisfy you for the feast. Actually, it talks about honey and bread and all this kind of thing. Uh so it kind of brings us back to that same concept uh of the feast uh where we started this celebration. Um but that's one one technique, one way of engaging. Uh let's let's look at a couple others that we might have. Um, meditating, just doing it in class, right? Uh obviously we want them to read the psalms. And it's been mentioned before, reading different translations. Um another suggestion is to uh Eugene Peterson has this book just called Psalms. Um and I guess as he's talked to people and uh asked them to meditate or pray the Psalms, um people would come back and say, Well, the language is too hard. It's almost a blockage. So he kind of rewrote the Psalms in modern-day language. Um let me read you 81, just since that's one we just talked about, uh, and how he's uh how it comes across here. Psalm 81. A song to our strong God, a shout to the God of Jacob, anthems from the choir, music from the band, sweet sounds from lute and harp, trumpets and trombones and horns. It's festival day, a feast to God, a day decreed by God, solemnly ordered by the God of Jacob. He commanded Joseph to keep this day so we'd never forget what he did in Egypt. I hear this most gentle whisper from one I never guessed would speak to me. I took the world off your shoulders, freed you from a life of hard labor. You called to me in your pain, I got you out of a bad place. I entered you from where the thunder hides. I proved you at Moribba Fountain. Listen, dear ones, get this straight. Oh, Israel, don't take this lightly. Don't take up with Don't worship the latest in gods. I'm Yahweh, your God, the very God, who rescued you from doom in Egypt, and fed you all you could eat, filled your stomachs. But my people didn't listen. Israel paid no attention. So I let go of the reins and told them, run, do it your own way. Oh dear people, will you listen to me now? Israel, will you follow my map? I will make short work of your enemies. Give your foes the back of my hand. I'll send Yahweh haters cringing like dogs, never to be heard from again. You'll feast on my fresh baked bread, spread with butter and pop pure honey. Take a quick look at Psalm 81. You'll see, of course, what the regular language of that is. But sometimes just a fresher way to look at it, too. And again, this these readings can be done from different people uh in your group just getting in to read them. Um reader's theater, okay? We want people to read the Psalms, get into rhythm. Okay. Reader's theater is just a technique where you can talk about um uh or arrange different people to uh read different parts of a pattern. Take a look at Psalm 19 for a moment. Psalm 19. Just take a look at verses 7 to 9. Just that short section in Psalm 19, verses 7 to 9, very familiar section. A reader's theater would work like this. You'd have different groups reading different parts, and it works really well when you have either a parallelism or kind of two parts to a to a verse, and like these are structured. And basically you would have one group read this part out loud and the other group read the next part, okay? And kind of alternate, just kind of alternating back and forth. So let's uh say we just take uh everyone from you know here over and then everyone from here over, uh, and uh we'll start with this group and just reading the very first part of that verse seven, um, and uh the law of the Lord is perfect, and then the other group would read Reviving the Soul. This group over here would then read the statutes of the Lord, okay? And back and forth. Let's just try that for a moment, okay? Starting with the first group? Speaker 7: Verse verse. Speaker: Verse, okay, that's a good question. What do we have? Speaker 2: I've got the New King James. Speaker: New King James. Okay. That one I should I should have copied this and handed it out. Sure, put it on overhead. I wish it had an opaque, I could stick it on there. Oh well, let's just we'll just try it anyways. Read it in your own words and see what see how it comes out. It'll be interesting to hear. Speaker 4: Was it verse 7 and 8? Speaker: Verse 7, 8, and 9. Those three, okay? Let's start anywhere. Just read your version. Ready? Over here. First? Speaker 4: The law of the Lord is perfect. Speaker: Reviving. No, over here. Speaker 4: Reviving is converting the soul. Speaker: Converting. Good. Okay. Next. Speaker 4: This is the Lord. We need a law symbol. Speaker 2: The precepts of the Lord is our heart. The conventional. Speaker 4: The feeling of the Lord is enduring. Enduring forever. Eduard. Speaker: Alright. Obviously, you want you want the same thing. So you either put it up or you get it copied. But the idea is is that getting the group engaged and psalms that have those patterns. Just take a quick look at Psalm 136. Anyone know the refrain in 136? This one works well with a reader's theater idea as well. His mercy endures forever, or is love endures forever, whatever it might be, okay? Again, someone reading one section, another group reading the other section. And it kind of resonates more, okay, rather than just somebody reading the whole thing. So different ways of reading. These songs can be uh songs can be put this to music, okay? Why not sing them? I think this one was. You look at that first couple verses there, sounds like the words of a song. Gives thanks to the Lord for his goodness. Love endures forever, right? And I think it was right actually the words of the song. Michael uh W. Smith has got a lot of these that he's put to music. Maybe bring one in, okay? And play it play from music, okay? And let them let them hear this, uh, see how it comes out. Um, singing, meditating, reading, how about praying? Um not easy if it's a different language. You're not used to the language. Uh you might use it into more contemporary language. Um but let's look at uh Psalm 13 for a moment. As a prayer. I picked a short one here. Um 13. Oh, thank you. Okay, would someone like to just read that, whatever translation you might have for everybody to hear? Speaker 4: How long, O Lord, will you forget me forever? How long will you hide your face from me? How long shall I take counsel in my soul, having sorrow in my heart daily? How long will my kingdom be exalted over me? Lest I sleep in the sleep of death. Lest my enemies say, I have prevailed against him. Lest those who trouble me rejoice and removed. But I have trusted in your mercy, my heart shall rejoice in your salvation. I will say to the Lord, because he has dealt boundfully in me. Speaker: Okay, now you could take a psalm like that and have people pray it. Uh but let's uh suppose we take everyone back to a moment in your life where you had suffering, or when you might have felt this way. Um felt actually that uh God didn't seem to be acting in your life and you needed him. How long must I wrestle my thoughts every day uh and triumph? Um and then moving into, but I will trust in your unfailing love. And supposing we just say, let's let's alter the words personally for you a minute. Take a pencil and maybe we uh rewrite this for yourself. Speaker 7: Okay. Speaker: Um take a minute and just think about that. And maybe just take one of those sentences and how you might substitute some words to make it personal for you. Okay, just look through the psalm. What might be a verse that you might reword because this is how you felt. Verse 2 is a good place to do that. Any thoughts? Speaker 2: I go back to enlighten my eyes because that's a big question. Speaker: Okay. Uh the end of verse 3 there. Speaker 2: Less I sleep and sleep of death. In other words, less I miss what you're trying to tell me. It's how I'm thinking it. Speaker: Okay. Uh let's supposing, let's just look at verse 1 and 2 for a moment. How long, oh Lord, will you forget me? How long will you hide your face from me? Supposing I said now a personal line, the next verse. I've had this disease for months now, and I've received no help from you. And then go on with the verse. Um, just substituting something in to to feel the pain uh and to share in the lament, okay, to make it yours. Um things like that. So another way of praying the psalm. So it's one thing to pray verbatim, and then also this is going to be our instruction on how we pray, and why not in our group do some things where, okay, have everybody write something down. I'd like you to take this lament. Here's the form of a lament, write your own psalm. Uh I want a lament, and and here's the structure of a lament, or just give them a psalm like this, and just say, just change a verse here or two, so it's personal. Maybe then in their small groups, they can share them with each other. You know? But you uh as a teacher is doing this with the group, right? And you're connecting them with the text. Okay? You're bringing their life right smack into the middle of the text and getting them to think and weigh it out, right? Uh so three different things. And all I really tried to do myself is think of what have I heard the last few weeks that we want to do with the Psalms. I've heard people talk about meditating or reading them, praying them, singing them. So I said, okay, let's think about those. How can we do that in class? What kinds of activities can we create so that we are doing those things here? We're kind of practicing. Because once you do it, then you'll do it at home. Okay? You'll do it in your own private uh time with God in your study, personal study time. Um engaging, okay? That's the first thing. How do we engage the life into the text? How do we draw them in? Okay. Uh identify what it is you want them to do. Now, maybe in your particular psalm that you choose, there's something completely different you want them to do. Okay, it's not these, but it's something that is a real message of the psalm. And it maybe it is a new perspective, but it works itself. Try to see how does it work itself out in life? What does it look like if you really have been changed? What's changed? Okay? Find something really specific and then try to bring that into your lesson. So they're actually experiencing that uh in one way or another. Uh having them just simply stop and write, take a minute to write this down, is one very important way to get everybody engaged now, everybody thinking, everybody applying it. Um write down how this might uh you know, how this might affect you. Put in your own sorrow or lament in verse two. Uh and then maybe do the same thing in verse five or six, uh, where you are now trusting in God. Rewrite that in your words and how you're going to deal with uh the sorrow or suffering that you're going through. Okay. All different things that uh uh ways to engage. Okay, that's the first of three that we want to do this morning. Um second thing I want to look at is uh any any comment on that or other ideas? What are the things you you're thinking about? That here's a way of engaging somebody in the text. Um I just picked a couple. Yeah, there. Speaker 6: I was thinking of very um a lot of the psalms talked about to enemies people have trouble getting along with. Speaker 7: Right. Speaker 5: Um we could easily stop and have them think of the person they have trouble getting with and apply this psalm as the teaching goes on to that situation. Speaker: Right. And put you can put the name in the psalm for that matter. At least in it. Yeah. Well, if they're sharing it or something else. Uh otherwise no name. Very good, yeah. It's just a matter of thinking about it, right? It's just a matter of coming up to terms with how how will this relate to me. We want to get away from the general and to the specific. We tend to talk about what needs to impact your life and apply it to your life, and when you're suffering, do this. But now get specific and get them to think of okay, here's a case where I have suffered, or here's a case where I've uh had a difficulty with an interaction with somebody, and and and let me use this psalm to help me work through that. Um that's the goal. That's what we're trying to do. Okay. Um let me get these out here. I've got um some handouts on on this, actually. So um I'll just pass it all around. Speaker 4: What was the psalm that you had on what we say? Speaker: The first one? Speaker 4: No, the reading alternate alternate. Speaker: Um we did uh the you mean the the second one? There was 136 which says love endures forever? unknown: No, the other one. Speaker: Uh that was 19. Psalm 19 with the statutes and okay. Okay. Um on the the sheet going around, just in terms of what the three things we're looking at here uh today, how to engage the learner. Um think about are you keeping them actively involved? And secondly, are you doing something in class which is what you want them to be doing? Okay? And just that's how, and get them active. It doesn't take long. It's not gonna steal a lot of your meat, right? What it's gonna do is it's gonna enrich it. unknown: Okay? Speaker: And you're gonna be making these connections right throughout. Uh if you think of your lesson as chunks, I'm gonna do a 10-minute instruction, and then I'm gonna tie it into their life. And I'm gonna do a 10-minute, and then I'm gonna do something, some little two-minute activity that ties it into their life. Uh it gets them thinking, pondering, writing, talking, meditating, whatever it might be. Okay, understanding the learner. Um there's a lot that can be said here, and uh what I want to do is just kind of touch uh in very general on some of these, and some of these will go in a little detail, but uh um in the interest of time, just the idea of keeping these things in mind. Knowing who this person is, what stage of life are they in. Okay? So uh in your group, you might have people who are single, married, divorced, single parent, not a parent, empty nester parent, uh, any number of scenarios, okay? And thinking about that when you want to make your connection. So when you're saying we're gonna we're gonna pray a psalm, okay, if you're aware that your group has got certain, you know, what whatever their needs are, whatever it might be, their situations, suggest some of those, prompt some of those. Okay, so maybe uh we integrate where they are in their stage of life into this and being aware of what the issues are at that point. Um stages of faith, I just like to touch on very briefly. Um there's some interesting literature on this that uh okay. I don't want to be in the way here, but uh can you see? Okay. Uh Fowler did uh that's great. Uh study with uh not a study, but so much uh in terms of research on what are the stages, came up with six stages of faith development. This is an important one just to think about in terms of the people in your uh in your group, because people are gonna be in different places in in terms of their spiritual maturity. Um the first two stages that he had here um relate more to uh children, uh where parents are the primary uh caregivers, and uh that's pretty much all that they're uh talking about or dealing with. But when we get to page uh three, or number three, the third stage, uh this is identification with a particular denomination. Uh, and it's often uh, for instance, children that grew up in a particular church, they think a particular way uh with that particular denominational uh creed or or uh associate with a particular seminary or particular doctrine. Uh obviously our church does, all churches do, okay? But this would be that kind of blind kind of uh, okay, well I go here, this is what we believe, that's that's all there is to it, uh kind of a thing, and just accepting that. So it's a stage where now uh they've gone from uh whatever my parents tell me, uh it kind of dictates my faith, to now the church is giving me instruction, the church is is is helping, and I have a question I wanted the pastor to tell me what I should believe, okay, uh, about this. And um that would be uh this stage here, the uh particular denomination area. Um at stage four is where it kind of becomes uh their own. Now, in order for it to become their own, uh someone has to question where they are. And this is why it gets hard for us, okay, as teachers, especially when we're coming from one particular perspective. Because in one sense, to get them to grow, we have to encourage them to think outside our one way of thinking. And it's important to question some of the actual tenets, the points, because we want them to grow and think about these. And then it has to come to where they choose it. I mean, it's it's it's just like anything else in life. You know, as a parent, we can tell each, well, this is what I want you to do, this is what I want you to do. And in some ways, we wish we could just kind of control them and and they would just do everything we say, right? But there comes a point where they just have to kind of find out from themselves. And then when they do, it becomes their own. Okay? So there's this aspect of faith growth where people uh actually become uh faith becomes their own at this level. This is uh often begins around age 17 and right up to adult. Investigating faith on their own uh begins that process of examining your faith, making those questions. Uh people here take their faith very seriously. It's not just I go to this church, so therefore I'm a whatever, you know, Lutheran or whatever it might be. Um they can stand on their own their faith. Um many adults, that's as far as they get, which is which is good. I mean, their faith is their own, and they they have accepted this and are pursued it. They don't necessarily resolve certain tensions, uh, but this is where they are. Um it's the tensions that cause us to push a little harder, because just that doesn't necessarily answer these things. Stage five, um, usually uh associated with more middle age on a maturing Christian, um, this idea that all truth is God's truth. Um, no denomination, no church, no theological creed has all the answers exactly right. Uh there might be some better than others and good ways of looking at it, not good ways of looking at it, or better ways of looking at it. But this idea that it's God's God's truth, and if it's true, it belongs to God. And uh and this is this is taking us beyond being uh I'm of this theological persuasion, to uh these are the things that I really find dear or hold dear in this theological persuasion. And I might have this point and this point where I differ because I'm finding you know there's just some other areas here uh that don't speak to that. It might be that you adhere completely to a theology, you don't have to have differences. But the it's not that your motivation is what the denomination is saying, your motivation now is God's truth, God's word, and this is where I'm going uh going with this. Um this is a very high level of maturity. Uh the last one, uh Fowler says uh you don't see too often. This is that kind of communion with God stage where uh somebody's basically uh uh in this deep, joyous communion with God. Uh they're beyond analyzing and fifth-year theologizing. Uh it's it's basically communion. Uh they reached a whole different state, you know, and you might think of different people in the Bible who may have reached uh that particular level that we might admire or look look to. Um ultimate truth and ultimate reality are known not just through the media uh mediation of scripture, but also through direct experiences with God at this level. Okay. Um so it's it's one that uh where we're going. But the the purpose here is to look in terms of you want people to move in this direction. Okay. So as you're teaching and as you're talking about things, uh, and people raise the question, well, what does the church believe on this point? And you want to answer the question, this is what the church believes in that point. But you also want to leave some things open-ended so that people will realize I have to pursue this thinking on my own. So maybe it's read this book. Here's a good uh approach to this. So here's three different views on that. Uh and I think that's something that's just a very healthy way to do it. Sometimes it's difficult because we don't there's a risk. The risk is they might decide, no, I don't think I agree with that. And and particularly in a denominational situation, we're wanting them to adhere to a certain doctrine, right? But if it's not their own, what good is it? Okay, so it's a matter of of bringing that out and taking that risk uh with them on those things. So those are stages of faith, and that's uh something that um that you want to keep in mind as you're uh are teaching as well, in terms of understanding where people are. Um there's uh I mentioned also here moral development. Um I won't say too much there um with the exception that uh um the studies on on women in particular um found that uh two significant uh differences between men and women. The women described themselves in the context of their relationships in terms of what's right and wrong. In other words, if it was hurting somebody, then there was something wrong with it, or if it hurt the relationship, then there was something wrong with the behavior in terms of what's right and wrong. Uh the understanding of Morality was rooted in this sense of responsibility to care for people. And many times men were more abstract, it didn't matter, and they were looking at more just these principles kind of thing. So but they tend to be more rooted in that uh uh situation. So what you have uh there is at an early level of moral development, you're basically self-centered, and if you're cared for, your needs are cared for, you're happy. But with maturity, you get to a point where uh you know it's it's a matter of being good, caring for others, self-sacrifice. So rather than self-centered, it becomes self-sacrifice. And then, of course, as time goes on, this doesn't hold up because you start getting resentment, maybe, that you're sacrificing and no one else is, or you're you're good, but you feel guilty that you're not good enough, and basically to resolve this tension, uh you grow. And so usually growth is occurs when we resolve tension, whether it's a growth in our faith or growth morally speaking, to where we have some general principles, whether it be honesty with each other. So for women anytime it's dealing with relationships, honesty with each other, uh, you know, uh listening to each other, uh, the interdependence of people and truth. So um, those things are uh how we would relate to uh stages of moral development. Okay. Let me t uh touch on quickly. I'm just gonna go down these very quickly, but it's the uh question. Speaker 6: Yeah. On both this one and the last one, the point of understanding the different stages is to know your audience and to make sure that you're addressing the concerns that your audience would have. Speaker: Know your audience, know where that people are at different levels, okay, at different places. And so when a question, say you're in a situation a question is raised, um, many times a question might indicate where they're what kind of answer they're looking for. They may want just a simple, direct answer, tell me what to believe, right? So if that's that's what it is you want it you'd be able to push that to, well, let's look at different ways of looking at that issue, right? Which might cause some tension or you know, kind of thing. But you what you're doing is you're trying to push them to a higher level of thinking, and not just don't look to me to tell you what to believe. Look to me to maybe give you direction on things, you know, areas to examine. So it's a matter of being aware that there are different levels, uh, and that whatever your particular level is isn't necessarily where everyone else is. Uh they could be further along or not as far. Speaker 5: So certainly this would make a difference if you're teaching uh sixth-grade model study versus a youth group. Yes. Speaker: And the kinds of questions and issues that they're going to have, how they evaluate right and wrong. So for the person in the middle stages of moral development, uh if it's the consequences many times. So if you can get away with it, it's okay. And of course, many adults never get out of that way of thinking. It's just a matter of what kind of get away with in life, right? Um, but as they grow, well no, it's just a matter of what they get away with it, there's a right and wrong either way, even if nobody knows, kind of thing. Uh that's a higher level. And so it kind of tells you where people are, and there are adults who are at all these levels, self-absorbed adults who are still at level one, just as long as I'm taking care of me first, and I mean we promote that in our society, really, you know, is that that perspective. So you're aware of that perspective that that's actually a way of looking at that moral thinking, and and you want to push ahead on that. So when you if you see something that way, well, this is how I look at it. You know, if that doesn't please me, then I'm not interested. All right, so let's examine that. Let's see if we can't push that up the scale kind of thing. So it's understanding that these are all factors that contribute to impacting a life. Okay? If we're talking about we want to impact the life, we can say, well, what does this have to do with the text? Well, what it has to do with is this over here. It has to do with, and why we are we developing in faith? Are we growing in our faith? This is one of the things we want to do. So, what does that mean? How do we grow in faith? What happens when a person grows in faith? What where do they become? And so these are just ways of looking at that uh to help us help us with it. Let me get uh one other perspective, and that's uh types of learners. Um people approach learning differently. They they just learn differently. You kind of have these four different categories, very general, right? Uh but basically uh you've got to be careful you're not addressing only one of these types of learners. Generally, people will fall into one of these four categories. The first type of learner is what we call this answer. The answer likes the traditional lecture approach. The answer is most teachers, at least school teachers, favorite students because they're they just they they just want more, they take notes, they take it in. Uh they learn well by lecture, by listening uh and recording and reading and processing and doing whatever they're supposed to do, the assignments kind of a thing. Uh very, very strong learner. Many of the times these are the ones who come to our classes because our classes often are just presenting information. So we attract this type of learner. Some people uh we had this discussion a couple years ago, and we had the comment, well, at Trinity, you know, we're more intellectual university-oriented church. I think we're just about more of these people, you know. Uh but it's not true. I tell you, first of all, a lot of the answers are married to dancers or related. And uh one of them's coming with the other, and they're totally not interested and don't like the class, and they go, oh my, I like that. Was that great? No, I didn't like it at all, you know. And uh they're all they're we've got them all here, and uh just no matter who's coming or who's getting anything out of it. Uh see a traditional lecturer, maybe you're hitting 25% of your people uh if you get up and basically present in a lecture. You're not making those connections. The dancer, uh most of your per drops in school are dancers. These are people that learn by doing. They learn by doing. Uh they're spontaneous, uh, they're impulsive uh often. Uh they need hands-on things, right? The dancer is a good one to role-play. Can you roleplay a song? Of course you can. A lot of these songs, some of them are abstract, a lot of them, it's really, sure, you can role-play the lament, you can role play this whole 181 that we were doing in terms of the music going in. Uh, uh, in a sense, the meditation is almost a role play, uh, is an internal role play. But the dancers need to do something. They're the ones you want to get out of their seats somehow, uh, get them engaged. Uh we uh we don't attract a lot of dancers to our classes, right? It's just they're not getting anything out of it. And they're they're bored, they can't attend uh to what's being said, uh, and they're not there. Uh relators. Relators prefer the discussion. They like a good discussion in the uh in the class. Uh they learn more by hearing different ideas and and putting them together. Uh they're concerned with harmony, they're concerned with personal interactions, um uh and that relating is how they learn best. Uh they learn more when the teacher gets off the topic and we get into this discussion than they do when the teacher's presenting information. Okay, because there's just this. So, in one sense, to for the relater, you want to get off the topic. When someone raises an issue and a question and it's not it's a little off topic, so what? Get into it. You're gonna really relate, the only relators will be will be really listening and learning a lot. Just tie that into as best you can to what you're discussing. The debater is a highly motivated uh learner. Biden he wants to learn just because he wants to know the debater. Works well independently. These people usually are the ones that raise questions, analyze a lot, um, give me information uh they're gonna approach learning by a highly debative kind of style. They like to get one-on-one with somebody and discuss this issue down to the nth degree kind of thing. Um different learning styles. If we have them all there, when we plan a lesson, we have to think of am I appealing only to answers? What about the dancers in my crowd? A good example of the dancer. Um years back, I um did a class with uh the youth group on C.S. Lewis's uh Great Divorce. And in his Great Divorce, uh, if you're familiar with the story, basically there's a line of people waiting to get on the bus in hell to go up to heaven, and Lewis is on the line, the author, and uh he goes up and he kind of overhears different conversations, and when he gets to heaven, they're at the very fringe of heaven, you know, because their bodies couldn't stand to walk on the grass, uh, so they have to be at the very edge of heaven. And but they all start meeting people that come to meet them to kind of persuade them to, you know, change and stay, you know, to stay. It's gonna be hard, but stay. Anyways, each one of these scenes he meets somebody, okay, and they discuss these uh this discussion that gives you tremendous theological insight as well as personal insight into how we think and how we can be misled in our thinking. Um but I thought these would be great little skits to do. Okay. Uh and uh it's it's interesting because it isn't necessarily your best student that's jumping up and saying, I'll do it. But uh, and I always wonder, well, you know, I'm not the one that wants to get up and do a skit in front of a group, you know. So I wouldn't do it. Am I going to get any volunteers? You know, but at the time was Randy Drawn that was here, and he assured me, oh, I can just see the kids. I know the kids will just love this, you know. So I said, okay, and I'll do this. And so I uh said I need some volunteers. I had the scripts already, and dang, they'd be one, two, three, four. And uh I remember Randy telling me later, you know, I can't believe, you know, these are it was so nice to see these are the kids that were never they're never involved in anything, they're never discussing the things. They kind of come, you know, because they're brought, but now they were involved, and these are they were the dancers, you know, they they needed to be involved in some way. Um so uh keep that in mind as to look and think about how do I reach people like that. The relators uh certainly uh in the discussion, you have discussion groups in your sessions already, so you're you're built in there for that that person as well, uh, and the debater in terms of raising the uh the issues and the uh analyzing. So four four ways of uh of learning, really, different learning styles that can occur. Okay, I want to uh we're gonna stop there uh with with that part and go on to our third section here. Um on your sheet, I mentioned um not only uh four types of learners but processing differences, and that's really just rooted in um multiple intelligence theory uh that talks about rather than two types of intelligences, which is generally how we test intelligence, we test linguistic ability, we test mathematical ability. Uh there's really just two of about eight different types of intelligences. And when you understand the different intelligences, you can think about uh different strategies. Uh, I brought a handout on this that I just give out, I think, rather than cover. Um and uh this sort of thing is very helpful. Let me just pass this around. Let me get one. Uh it's very helpful in planning a lesson as well because not only do you have answers, dancers, um, debaters, and relators, uh, but you've got some people who are gifted linguistically. You have other people who are gifted uh mathematically or logically, some that are very spatial, some bodily kinesthetic. These are just simply uh techniques or strategies you can do that appeal to these people. So did everyone get one? Did you get one? Speaker 7: Here's one that you'll do. Speaker: Okay, okay. Um, for instance, linguistic. To appeal to the linguistics, storytelling, brainstorming, journal writing. So you could have them journal about the psalm that they read, okay? This would appeal to this person. They would like to do that kind of a thing. They would be good at it and they would process information well. The logical, mathematical, calculation quantifications, maybe they count the meter or they count the rhythm. They would be interested, interested maybe in the structure of the psalms. Classifications and categorizations, they would like the these this they would appeal to this whole immense, the these different categories, these different structures. Uh the science, the Socratic questioning uh would be a technique again to use uh for them. Spatial learners, and not lay learners, I shouldn't say spatial learners, these are processors. This is how we process information well. You know, so you're you're gifted spatially, for instance, if you're an artist, you know, you just have this gifted spatial view of things. Uh and that might be never measured on an intelligence test, but the research is now showing more and more that these are actually just as bona fide measures of intelligence as a linguistic uh measure might be. Uh bodily kinesthetic intelligence, you're gifted athletes, as you might think of, for instance. Dancers. Um, you could dance a song. Okay? Uh you could so there's different ways. Is there a way to express this psalm and dance? Which of our four learners are we going to appeal to? The dancer, obviously, right? I mean, he would love to get up and somehow be able to express that that way. Um don't go by what you would like, all right? Because you have your own set of strengths and weaknesses. What do we do as teachers? Our strengths become our weaknesses. Right? So if I'm a relater, that's my teaching style. We're discussing everything, we relate, and I'm reaching all the relators, but that's about it. If I'm an answer, I get up there and I like to give out the information because it's how I love it. I just want more information the better. And I like to dish it out, and if I know if I was a student in my class, I'd be eating it up. And all the answers are loving you. But it's in terms of think about it, it could be your greatest weakness, too, okay? Because you tend to rely too much on that particular area. So look at these other areas, interpersonal intelligence is people who are very good, obviously, with relationships. So peer-sharing, cooperative projects, simulations. Intrapersonal is more within yourself. So this is someone who ponders on their own. They like to take the walk by themselves, they'd rather go by themselves. Uh the person that maybe when they're going through a lament or a grief would rather be alone. You know, and and the interpersonal person doesn't understand, say, Oh, we can't be alone in this situation. We have to make sure he's always somebody with him. You know? Um I remember going to that experience myself at times, you know. And it was um actually when my mom died, you know, it was like it was I was never left alone because and it was because the people were cared. And I just sometimes I just wanted to be alone, you know. Well, but like you don't let them be alone in there, you know, if you're going in. And it was uh very hard in one sense because relators were think or intrapersonal people were thinking, hey, you know, I I would never want to be alone, so I gotta make sure I'm with this person. They don't understand it. So no, I really would just like to be alone. Uh and I I can process what's going on better. Um the naturalist is uh kind of this kind of nature-gifted person. So anytime you deal with Psalms of creation, think of things you might do for the naturalist. These are people who just have a knack for it's like that green thumb, you know. We don't know what it is, but for some reason there's that part of the brain where people have this knack for things with nature, uh, or even plant identification. They may not know the vocabulary because they haven't had the education, but they just recognize, oh, I know that's the same tree that's in the backyard at so-and-so's place, you know. Uh or I recognize that blossom, or they see it in a print and they say, Oh, that's the blossom that's in my garden. Um just all this uh common uh common things. But these are techniques to use. So when you're teaching, you look at this, say, okay, I've got all this different kinds of intelligence in my room. I could tap from this, you know. So you kind of want to try to do different things here, okay? Basically, when you're when in terms of doing your lesson. Okay, lastly. Flip over to the back sheet there. One of the main things is the uh lesson format itself. There is no one lesson format you should have. I'm not saying this is the lesson format you should do. I wonder where the rest of my notes are. Had an overhead for this. Oh, here we are. Um I was going to talk a little bit about research on women, but the main thrust of it is uh connecting experience is a big, big thing for everybody, and it really came out with women. If you start your lesson with some sort of emotional connection or personal connection, better than emotional connection, um this is on that second sheet of your handout. Um, it's on the first sheet as well. I put a little time time schedule there in terms of how many minutes you might spend on each of these. Um but uh starting with a personal connection, uh, you'll see this chart on the back. That second sheet, you'll see this chart. Um basically I just kind of put parts of this lesson into this chart of how we think of the text in our life, and uh basically laid out a reference guide for when you're planning a lesson, kind of thing, right? So if you want to start with a that says emotional, but I like the word personal connection better. You're you're starting right in in experience, okay? You're doing something that's saying to them, have you ever? Okay, for instance, different ways to start. You're prompting them to relate with the text right away. We're starting right here. First thing, this is the most important we should be starting right here. So your initial thing is prompt them uh with some sort of personal connection. It could be a rhetorical question. Have you ever felt that God left you alone? Ever felt that way? That could be an introduction to maybe a limit that you're going to be studying. Um have you ever wanted to get back at somebody? Have you ever felt guilty about wanting to get back? These are rhetorical questions that you could ask. And just simply prompt. Give them some time to think about that. Maybe give them a piece of paper and let them jot some things down, some thoughts down, just for their own purpose. But you're getting them actively engaged and you're getting them to think and start off with a personal connection. So your knowledge of the psalm, you know what you really want them to get out of this. So you generate what is it that personal prompt I can give them right here? How can I get them to connect personally with this? It could be an interesting thought you just provide. It could be something you share with them. It could be a challenge, an inspiration. You might begin Psalm 81 with just simply uh put them in that environment, and here's the music playing, and it's all beginning, and something big is gonna happen, and we're gonna find out what it is. We just kind of get them all keyed up for it. Um there could be a brief story you're sharing about yourself when you study the psalm. You know, we're studying, and just you're sharing that with them, but you're somehow getting that personal connection. There could be something they write, write down three experiences you've had where this happened. But you somehow you start there. And once you start there, you now have meaning to go here. Okay? This is your springboard to get over to the text side. All right? You would need to just provide your background information. All I did on this side is I took everything from the last few lessons and I kind of jot it down, okay? Just for a reference you here. So it's kind of like your lesson thing. So your background. You want to start now up here, of course, I've got review. So if you're teaching three or four lessons in a row, you want to always do a review that's tying it together so we know where your thing fits in in the whole. A lot of you are doing a one-time psalm, so the review wouldn't necessarily be part of your what you're doing, just coming up for a one-time. Um, but if you are, then you certainly want to do the review. So then you get into uh background. This is where you want to fill in the historical background, cultural context, find out what they know. So when you do this, use questions, right? You ask, what do we know about uh the feasts if we're doing Psalm 81? Okay, what do we know about that? And just get them talking about what they know, get the input, and then you fill in the gaps, okay? Um this is where you might talk about the category of your psalm or the structure, the poetic structure of your psalm. You're not spending a lot of time here. This is just five minutes, maybe ten minutes, if there's a lot of information to uh to do. You want to also let them know where you're going with this, right? But the main part of your lesson is here. And of course, here's all the points that we discussed or has been discussed over over a while. Looking to the structure, raise questions. David did that a few times with Psalms, where we underlined certain phrases that were common. And let's look at the structure. Why is this verse here? Uh why is that different? Related to other psalms in the genre, that's helpful for interpretation. So you don't necessarily do that all the time, but if it's helpful, then you might bring that in in your lesson. Examine Old Testament and New Testament references. I think Dil Weiler gave out a good sheet on that. Um excellent sheet on that to help with that. Uh note the internal unity of the Psalms. So that's where you're saying, well, why did the Psalm begin with a feast and end with a feast? Why did it begin with this but end with that? Uh it's like that one, Psalm 137, you know, begins with one thing and ends with babies. Um, which I wanted to use that one as a model type, but we're not going to get to it. Um but we have uh the uh what is the what is the change in this pattern? So that's all there, okay? How does this fit with the broad message of scripture, which basically can be summed up usually in gospel and kingdom? The message either is about the gospel or it's about God's kingdom on earth, so one of those two. Um and what does it tell us about the character of God? So those are all things that came up. But look on the other side, this is more where I want your attention here because this is what we're focusing on. You know, share your personal struggles, your questions through the process that you had when you study this passage. Ask questions throughout. You know, that engages people. Just keep asking questions. Why this, why that? They don't have to answer. It could just be questions for them to think. But give them time to think. Ask questions throughout. Provide illustrations from your own experience, right? Solicit illustrations from them. Um engage everyone throughout. So alternating modalities is kind of am I talking the whole time? Or then don't talk the whole time. Get them to write, get them to read, get them to act out, get this whole just changing. Take a look at that multiple intelligence thing and just do different kinds of things in your group. Um's application with activity instruction. Relate it in the to the different stages of life in the group. You know, we kind of talked about that where people are. Encourage high levels of faith, moral development. So you want to boost that, you want to encourage that. Okay. Do in class what you want them to do at home. Read it, pray it, meditate it, sing it, personalize it, write about it, journal about it, whatever it is, do it in your session, and you'll get them doing it at home. Uh finally, the the summary at the end, you always need to allow a little time for closure. Um, and you want to tie into your key broad themes again of your study. Okay, um, what have we learned? Um, maybe you assign something, maybe but try to make it a spiritual application. Try you know, avoid moralizing in your conclusion, so we should all be doing this, you know, kind of thing. Um promise you'll do this, but you do want to purpose something in their heart, as it says on the right side. Come back to your initial question. So if you when you made that personal connection in the very beginning, at the very end, come back to that. Okay? Come back to that and say, okay, remember when I asked you, had did you ever experience this? Now, what has the psalm taught us about that? How would you now answer that question of your own? Get them to reflect on that. Um, reflect on the meaning of the psalm in your life, um, the purpose in your heart. Yeah, I think that pretty well does our time. Um but it would be fun that you take this psalm, just kind of go through here in terms of preparing a lesson. You don't have to do all this in the this is just kind of a general guide of things to cover, techniques to use, and how you might apply them uh as teaching your lesson. Okay. We close in prayer then. Let's pray. Lord Jesus, we thank you so much for the opportunity just to study your word. And Lord, for the opportunity also to share it, uh to share it with others, to be your channel, uh, to speak to others. Speak to us, Lord, through this process. As we go forward in this, Lord, uh, we ask that our lives will be fishing. We will be changed in what we do. That we will listen to you, and we will follow you.