Rev. Dr. Otis Moss III | "Spiritual Formation: Hiding God's Word in Our Hearts" 10/21/26

Main message: The sermon teaches that poetry helps us see God, suffering, and beauty more deeply, and that the Psalms should be read as living poetry that meets us in different seasons of life. It focuses on Psalm 23 as a guide through orientation, disorientation, and reorientation.

Key points:

• Poetry frames mystery and can express what ordinary prose cannot, especially about the sacred.
• Black poets like Dunbar, Grimké, Sterling Brown, Hughes, Brooks, and Hayden use imagery to speak truth about suffering, resilience, freedom, and dignity.
• The Psalms can be understood in three modes: orientation, disorientation, and reorientation.
• Psalm 23 is both a statement of trust in God and a text that reads differently depending on what a person has been through.
• Slowing down to notice creation helps lower anxiety and restore the soul.
• Believers are encouraged to read Psalm 23 slowly, reflect on their own “valleys,” and even write their own poetic response.

Scriptures mentioned: Psalm 8, Psalm 13, Psalm 23, Psalm 124, Job 1–42, Exodus 14-15