Ken Medema had his reasons for dodging the psalms.
A child of devout parents, Ken knew he was going to be a musician by the time he entered first grade. When he was eight, some friends asked his parents to store their piano for them. After a few weeks listening to Ken’s unending banging, they decided he needed lessons. They found a piano teacher Ken describes as a wonder. Soon she was teaching him music history, music theory, and a wide range of styles. She read him excerpts from Plato, Alfred North Whitehead, and Sartre, inspiring in him an intellectual restlessness that helped him declare himself an agnostic in tenth grade.
It wasn’t until he met a Baptist minister’s daughter during his university days, that he reexamined his faith. An outrageously good musician, wonderful pianist, and thoughtful person she was unfazed by his questions. In fact, she professed to have the same ones. Ken assumed “Christians don’t ask questions.” She disagreed, “Christians doubt, just like everyone else does,” she said. “Often they aren’t even sure about who or what God is”. (Read more at Reformed Worship http://www.reformedworship.org/magazine/article.cfm?article_id=155) Ken remembers, “As I sat in her home listening to her family’s conversations, I realized they were asking the same questions I was. The only difference was that they, like the ancient writers of the psalms, were asking the questions from inside their faith. Questions were not a threat, but theological play. You could ask all the questions you wanted and have many remain unanswered but in the end trust trumps certitude every time. Their attitude brought me back to faith.” Gradually Ken started attending church again with his reflective friend, who eventually became his wife.
(Part One…)