“Star light star bright, first star I see tonight, wish I may wish I might have this wish I wish tonight.”…Last Thursday I drove to Washington to pick up my baby daughter, Barbra, and bring her and her very few possessions, to Boston in preparation for flying to Iraq to serve the humanitarian effort there for the coming year.After loading my car up and leaving Barb in the capable hands of her friends and colleagues in DC to spend the evening in a farewell celebration, I headed off to find a motel.After several unsuccessful stops and as the evening turned to night I finally found one on the outskirts of Arlington VA.After registering, I returned to my car to get my bag.In the growing darkness a single star or perhaps a planet was shining.“Star light star bright, first star I see tonight, wish I may wish I might have this wish I wish tonight.”Guess what my wish was… or was it a prayer?Perhaps it was both.The Psalmist cries… “Answer me when I call, O God of my right!… Be gracious to me and hear my prayer.”(Expletive deleted!) If there is one universal truth about life it is that there are periods of our lives when we are deeply happy and satisfied - when everything seems to be going right.We have family and friends gathered round, jobs go well, relationships flourish, we are healthy, wealthy, and wise or at least relatively so.For some of us these may be old school days or perhaps a time of great camaraderie such as serving with a military group, for others it might be early years of marriage when love is sufficient to bolster the worst of situations.Or perhaps it is the richness of looking back on a job well done in providing for a family or completing a project and being able to rest from one’s labors.Whatever the time or place – in hindsight there are just about always some events that stand out as times to remember. Then, there are times that are not so wonderful. Events can verge on tragic; the burdens of daily life become overwhelming. Life threatening illnesses or accidents can place us deep sadness, where there seems to be no way out and no end of despair.These are the times we might reminisce about the times on the mountain top - in the experiences of our youth.We might even indulge in melancholy and pray for better times ahead.“Star light star bright, first star I see tonight, wish I may wish I might have this wish I wish tonight.” Poetry, whether it is in childhood rhymes or Shakespearean sonnets speak for our longings when we are unable to speak them ourselves.From Yeats’ world spinning out of control to Longfellows’ anticipation of a gleeful “Chlidren’s Hour” that brings respite from the cares and work of the world poetry reaches into the depths of our souls and touches on the joy and pain, the remorse and the compassion that is found there and gives us a tool for understanding and expressing what we are experiencing and feeling.That is the beauty of the Psalms also.We say them, we sing them, we chant them- because the Psalms get at the heart of what it means to be human.This Psalm in the lectionary today seems to bounce around as the feelings roll over the writer.And that roller coaster of emotions is in itself a very human trait in the midst of pain. Psalm 4 at the outset, seems to be seeking some sort of deliverance from an outside enemy – perhaps in follow-up to Psalm 3 in which David prays for God to deliver him from his enemies.But it could just as easily be the cry of an individual who having suffered in exile longs for the restoration of a peaceful life in a Jerusalem almost forgotten in the long captivity.From the opening verse the cry for help goes out to God.We get the sense that the Psalmist feels that this suffering is completely undeserved and that he wants God to respond to his pleas for help right now.For whatever reason he seems to believe that God has not been open to hearing his cries for help.For sure most of us in this room have been in that place before.Whether it is a life-threatening diagnosis, a pink slip from an employer, a phone call in the middle of the night when son or daughter is out, or the uneasy feeling about a relationship on the skids, we all know what it is like to feel abandoned by God - to feel that we are so isolated and alone that our only alternative is to grasp onto any semblance of control that we can muster. This Psalmist responds to that feeling of helplessness with anger and indignation.How long will you people listen to lies and useless promises.And almost in a pleading voice – the Lord knows who is faithful, the Lord hears me when I call.And perhaps because of his faith in God to answer, the Psalmist reminds himself and others that when these tough times come, we need to be vigilant about not becoming bitter or vengeful – turning to separation from God instead of holding onto faith.It is this internal conversation that we have.When we are at once angry and yet somewhere deep down we know that what had happened is not our fault, it is not God’s fault, it is just what it means to be human.Suffering is part of the human condition and turning away from God in these times will not make it go away.With this realization, the Psalmist is able to acknowledge that it is in God alone that we are able to find safety and rest.For this person who is so distraught and caught up in despair, in the end he is able to verbalize in poetry that God does answer prayer, God does stand with us in our suffering and strengthen us when we are not able to stand on our own.God is compassionate and forgiving of us and God is the source of true Peace. At the very heart of the Gospel is the understanding that God loves – adores even – those who are the weakest and the most long-suffering of us all.The Gospel tells us that God stands with the poor, the marginalized.The common ground between the cry of the Psalmist and the reassurance from Luke that indeed God has overcome the sting of death. Luke tells us that when all around is turmoil and confusion, the risen Lord appears to his disciples and they are both startled and terrified, but his words give them assurance of the strange news they had heard about his appearing to certain individuals. Their disbelief and dismay are countered by their joy at meeting their risen Lord, even as the psalmist’s faith led him to great joy. Jesus offers comfort and assurance that Peace is theirs and that whatever pain or suffering they must bear they will in the end find safety in Him.This Gospel lesson is fleshy, it is about the realness of the resurrection.Jesus talks to the disciples in the way he has talked to them before, he eats with them, he helps them to understand what the words and witness of the prophets meant in light of God’s action in the world, and he names them as credible witnesses to that action because of their knowledge of Jesus himself, implying that as witnesses to the mystery of the resurrection they are to be the window through which God’s Peace is known.What lies before them is a difficult task,- not unlike the psalmist as in his own confident faith - he too struggled against daunting times. These texts today challenge us on both an individual and a communal level to consider how we respond to suffering.Do we throw up our hands in despair or strike out in anger or try to deny that anything is wrong or try to wish it away with children’s rhymes?None of these responses speaks truth in light of this third Sunday of Easter.Jesus asks us to carry forth the truth of God’s presence and power in the midst of suffering, tragedy, grief, fear, despair and death.These are not ultimate realities – God is!God’s intent is faithfulness and the redemption of a hurting creation.The Risen Christ makes himself known to us in fleshy, personal and intimate ways.In our faithfulness, we like the disciples are to be witnesses to His presence.Amen