Dear Psalms friends,
Following the Daily Office Lectionary, we are once again finishing up with Psalms 149 and 150 and starting over with Psalms 1 and 2 in our commitment to daily reading and praying the Psalms.
Also, we are doing this as we enter the western Christian season of Allhallowtide—the triduum of All Saints’ Eve (Halloween), All Saints’ Day (11/1), and All Souls’ Day (11/2), as well as the International Day of Prayer for the Persecuted Church (the first Sunday in November). Allhallowtide is a time to remember the dead, including martyrs and saints. All Saints and All Souls are combined in Anglicanism and Protestant churches and offer a special time of remembrance for all faithful departed Christians, as the church sings “For All the Saints.”
Here are links to that hymn, with all of its 11 verses, and to the Anglican Bishop, William Walsham How, who wrote it in 1864.
Our focus psalms this Sunday morning will be Psalm 149, the psalm most often used in the All Saints’ Day liturgy, and Psalm 2, which pictures the nations conspiring against the LORD and his anointed king. Psalm 2 helps us understand the shocking call for “the godly” to execute God’s vengeance in Psalm 149:6-9. Psalm 149 speaks of the relation between Yahweh and the nations, as does Psalm 2.
This time of transition from the end of the Psalms back to the beginning is a good time to recall the structure of the Psalms. Look again at its five books with a doxology at the end of each book and its ending crescendos of praise (Psalms 146-149) leading to its ultimate doxology in Psalm 150. Then we head back to the Psalter’s introduction in Psalms 1 and 2, calling first for individuals and then for nations to choose which of the two ways of life each will pursue—the way of “the righteous” or the way of “the wicked.”
So we can ask ourselves, “What about me? What is ‘my way’ of doing life? What is my understanding of the two ways? What is my practice? How much congruence is there between my understanding of the two ways and my practice? How does daily exposure to the Psalms help me understand and practice the cruciform, narrow way of Jesus Christ?
Look for a lesson on Psalms 149 and 2 to arrive by Saturday evening for our Sunday morning, 9 am gathering… of select saints!
Grace and peace,
Toni