Common Ground Christian Church

The Psalms

When Our Pain Becomes Prayer

What do we do with our pain? What do we do with grief that lingers, with family fractures that will not heal, or the anxiety we carry with our children? What do we do with our anxieties around finances, our health, and the future? What do we do with loneliness in a world that seems to offer so much connection? Or the shame we cannot seem to shake, the prayers that feel unanswered? And how do we navigate life in a world marked by violence, injustice, polarization, and outrage? Is there a pathway to joy in the midst of our pain?  

For the next six weeks, we are going to slow down and enter the Psalms. These prayers were formed through the long journey of Israel, a story full of pain and also a story of resilient faith in a God who is reconciling all things. This is a story that is marked by slavery and deliverance, wilderness and waiting, covenant and failure, exile and return, worship and longing. The Psalms do not pretend and they don’t teach us to ignore our pain or explain it away. The Psalms teach us to bring our whole lives before God until, by God’s grace, pain begins to become prayer and prayer.

We will also have the privilege of experiencing the Psalms through a diversity of teaching voices, each with very different lived experiences. Each Sunday, these pastors will unpack the text from their unique perspective, helping us all to learn together as we navigate the joys and sorrows with the God who is with us through it all.

Missed a sermon? Catch up on the series now!