This morning we gathered, as we do every Wednesday, for a celebration of Morning Prayer with Holy Communion.  Having come from a Roman Catholic tradition where Morning Prayer and Eucharist would not be combined, this is one liturgy in the Episcopal Church that I've become accustomed to over the years.  We are a small but faithful crew on Wednesday morning.  Morning Prayer always features a selection from the Psalms.  The Psalms are very beautiful ancient prayers.  In the early days of Christianity, praying the Psalms, also known as the Psalter, became a practice of those seeking a closer relationship with God.  There is a treasure trove of prayer, divinity and humanity in the Psalms.  Today we prayed Psalm 109.  Give it a read: 

Psalm 109

For the director of music. Of David. A psalm.

 ¹ O God, whom I praise,
       do not remain silent,

 ² for wicked and deceitful men
       have opened their mouths against me;
       they have spoken against me with lying tongues.

 ³ With words of hatred they surround me;
       they attack me without cause.

 ⁴ In return for my friendship they accuse me,
       but I am a man of prayer.

 ⁵ They repay me evil for good,
       and hatred for my friendship.

 ⁶ Appoint  an evil man to oppose him;
       let an accuser stand at his right hand.

 ⁷ When he is tried, let him be found guilty,
       and may his prayers condemn him.

 ⁸ May his days be few;
       may another take his place of leadership.

 ⁹ May his children be fatherless
       and his wife a widow.

 ¹⁰ May his children be wandering beggars;
       may they be driven from their ruined homes.

 ¹¹ May a creditor seize all he has;
       may strangers plunder the fruits of his labor.

 ¹² May no one extend kindness to him
       or take pity on his fatherless children.

 ¹³ May his descendants be cut off,
       their names blotted out from the next generation.

 ¹⁴ May the iniquity of his fathers be remembered before the LORD;
       may the sin of his mother never be blotted out.

 ¹⁵ May their sins always remain before the LORD,
       that he may cut off the memory of them from the earth.

 ¹⁶ For he never thought of doing a kindness,
       but hounded to death the poor
       and the needy and the brokenhearted.

 ¹⁷ He loved to pronounce a curse-
       may it come on him;
       he found no pleasure in blessing-
       may it be far from him.

 ¹⁸ He wore cursing as his garment;
       it entered into his body like water,
       into his bones like oil.

 ¹⁹ May it be like a cloak wrapped about him,
       like a belt tied forever around him.

 ²⁰ May this be the LORD's payment to my accusers,
       to those who speak evil of me.

 ²¹ But you, O Sovereign LORD,
       deal well with me for your name's sake;
       out of the goodness of your love, deliver me.

 ²² For I am poor and needy,
       and my heart is wounded within me.

 ²³ I fade away like an evening shadow;
       I am shaken off like a locust.

 ²⁴ My knees give way from fasting;
       my body is thin and gaunt.

 ²⁵ I am an object of scorn to my accusers;
       when they see me, they shake their heads.

 ²⁶ Help me, O LORD my God;
       save me in accordance with your love.

 ²⁷ Let them know that it is your hand,
       that you, O LORD, have done it.

 ²⁸ They may curse, but you will bless;
       when they attack they will be put to shame,
       but your servant will rejoice.

 ²⁹ My accusers will be clothed with disgrace
       and wrapped in shame as in a cloak.

 ³⁰ With my mouth I will greatly extol the LORD;
       in the great throng I will praise him.

 ³¹ For he stands at the right hand of the needy one,
       to save his life from those who condemn him.

... is that true to life or what?!! Note how the psalmist begins by sharing with God his feelings of being falsely and unfairly judged and persecuted.  In verse 4 he affirms, "I am a man of prayer." As the psalm continues, we also see that the psalmist is very human.  We go from "I am a man of prayer" to verses 6-19 in which every type of evil, loss, bad fortune and tragedy is wished upon the oppressor/enemy.  This desire for bad things to happen to one's adversary is pretty understandable and part of what makes the psalms so real and compelling.  Jesus prayed with the psalms daily, as did all devout Jews during that time period. 

If you haven't done so lately, I encourage you to spend some time with the psalms.  We can often see our humanity in its fullness in these beautiful prayers that express so eloquently the goodness of God and the search of the human heart for union with Him.