Territorial Bloggings

Every so often, a blog posting comes along that is the perfect balance between content and presentation. It’s so good that two of the first emotions that flash through your mind are anger & frustration, at the fact that someone else thought to write so well on a subject so (obviously, in retrospect) meaningful. And the post doesn’t have to be lengthy to achieve this status. No, it just has to be good.

Ryan, over at Backward Kingdom, has produced such a post — “Taste and see” — in which he deals with the beauty and utility of the Psalms as a practical prayer book. Obviously, the Psalms are worthy of such lofty consideration - they are Just. That. Good. It shouldn’t be necessary, but it certainly helps to be reminded of that fact every once in a while.

Now, even if all he did was briefly remind us of that fact, Ryan would’ve done right by us. But he not only nailed the content requirement, he also nailed the presentation aspect, by putting into wonderfully meaning (and snarky!) words something that I wish I had written, namely (emphasis mine):

I can’t remember what it was that got me digging into “the Bible’s prayerbook”, but once I started I couldn’t quit. I’d try to pray with my own vapid heart-utterances, but it wasn’t cutting it.

I’ve always thought extemporaneous prayer to be a very, very dangerous thing. It’s almost impossible to do well, but yet it’s almost impossible to ignore the temptation to do it. It’s easy enough for me, as I dislike it — I’d rather stand on the shoulders of folks more theologically astute than I — though others seem not to have a problem with it, and even view it as a litmus test of sorts. That’s why I just am beside myself with glee about being able to add a phrase like “vapid heart-utterances” to my arsenal! It just works so well on so many levels. I really do wish I had thought of it myself…

Kudos to Ryan — I think he’ll do quite well at the Fort!

-ghp