Prepared for Psalms Group on April 11, 2021
Psalm 94 is located in a group of psalms called “enthronement psalms” that express strong commitment to YHWH as king. Psalms 93-100 is a psalm group that emphasizes the theme of YHWH’s kingship, his reign and his rule as the king/judge of the earth. (See 93:1, 94:1, 95:3, 96:10, 97:1, 99:1)
Prepared for Psalms Group, March 21, 2021
Psalm 38 is an individual lament included as one of the 7 penitential psalms (6, 32, 51,102, 130 and 143). Its superscription states in Hebrew: “A David of psalm, to bring to mind.” This Hebrew infinitive lehazkir , “to bring to mind,” also appears in the superscription to Psalm 70, a psalm that is replicated in Psalm 40:14-18. (Alter, Psalms, 134)
Prepared for Psalms Group for Sunday, March 14, 2021
Psalm 25 is an alphabetic acrostic psalm that is notable for its brokenness. It is missing one Hebrew letter, repeats another Hebrew letter twice, and includes a final verse that doesn’t fit the acrostic pattern at all. “This brokenness reflects the way troubles break the pattern of life itself,” one commentator observes about Psalm 25. (Motyer, New Bible Commentary, 501)
Email to Psalms Group preparing for Sunday, 3/14/21
Though not one of the traditional penitential psalms, Psalm 25 shares in their candor about sin and suffering and their gratitude for forgiveness and hope.
Prepared for Psalms Group, March 7, 2021
One benefit of praying the psalms is how they keep reminding us of our own and every other person’s limited humanity. Seeing and/or experiencing human limitation can open our hearts to God’s ways of living:
He has told you, O man, what is good; and what does the LORD require of you but to do justice, and to love mercy (hesed), and to walk humbly with your God.
Micah 6:8
Preview email to Psalms Group for 3/7/21
Dear Psalms friends,
Doug and I ate dinner with my daughter Anne on the patio of Whiskey Cake last night, our first meal in a restaurant since last May, just before the Covid surge. It was a huge blessing in many ways, but especially having Anne all to ourselves with the rest of her family either skiing or “beaching.” It reminded me of the mystery of the Divine capacity of God to love each of us as if there were only one of us. May God continue to grace each of us with “glory sightings” (a la James Vaughan) as we continue our Lenten journey.
Sunday will be the third Sunday of Lent. Here’s our petition from the Collect for the third Sunday in Lent (BCP, 606): “Look with compassion upon the heartfelt desires of your servants, and purify our disordered affections that we may behold your eternal glory in the face of Christ Jesus.” Yes, we ask God to clear out all He finds undesirable in our “disordered affections.” We surrender ourselves again in ongoing repentance, abandoning our cherished dreams and resentments to God’s assessment.
Along with this Collect, we’ll include part of The Great Litany (BCP, 91) and and all of the Kyrie Pantokrator: A Song of Penitence (BCP, 81-82) in our opening liturgy. The Kyrie Pantokrator is a classic of penitential devotion. It is a prayer of repentance taken from The Prayer of Manasseh, found in The Apocrypha which we Anglicans read “for example of life and instruction of manners; but yet doth it not apply them to establish any doctrine…” (BCP, 774)
King Mannasseh is presented in 2 Kings 21:1-18 as the worst possible sinner and the basic cause of the downfall of Judah. In 2 Chronicles 33:10-17, while his wicked deeds are not in any way denied, Manasseh is pictured as praying earnestly and humbly to God during his year-long (?) imprisonment. Can someone as despicable as Manasseh (who probably had Isaiah sawed in half) be redeemed? “If he was irredeemable there might be doubt about who could repent and be heard, in other words, doubt about God’s measure of mercy being as great as God’s measure of justice. God is not only Creator and Sustainer, but also Redeemer—compassionate, long suffering and very merciful (v.7). God, therefore, appointed repentance not for the righteous, but ordained it for sinners, even for Manasseh (v.8).” (The New Oxford Annotated Bible, AP, 281)
Following our lectionary readings and our Lenten theme, our focus psalms this week will be two more of the penitential psalms, Psalm 143 and Psalm 6, both Davidic psalms.See pages 8 and 354 in The Songs of Jesus. Like last week’s Psalm 130, Psalm 6 is a cry of a person who knows that their own sin is the root of their problems; whereas Psalm 143 is a complaint of someone who clearly understands that he struggles with sin also, but who is currently being pursued and crushed by a strong and evil enemy. He is trusting God for urgent rescue, thirsty for God, depending on God to come through for him and lead and guide him. He wants God to teach him to do God’s will, and he wants God to silence and destroy his enemies. These psalms teach us how to ask God for mercy and for justice, for ourselves and for others.
Look for a lesson on Psalm 143 and Psalm 6 tomorrow, and may God continue to give each of us a strong sense of His presence as we journey with him to Easter.
In the grace and love of Christ,
Toni
Prepared for Psalms Group, February 28, 2021
Psalm 130 focuses specifically on the chaos churned up in our lives by our own sins. The 7 penitential Psalms (6, 32, 38, 51,102,130, 143) offer an honest portrayal of the damage done to humans by their own sins and by the sins of others. These psalms combine that truth about sinful human people and systems with the amazing truth of YHWH’s character. I sometimes think of YHWH as the “ideal parent” we humans long for: all-powerful yet unfailingly loving and merciful, all-knowing and wise yet overflowing with grace and forgiveness, consistently just and fair in discipline, and 100% committed to what is best for each one of us.
Email preparing for Psalms Group on February 28, 2021
As several of of us are still dealing with the aftermath of last week’s winter storm, others of us are receiving our second vaccinations. Life in this strange chronos time continues, but, thankfully, so does liturgical time— kairos time, with each of our lives “hidden in Christ with God.” (Col. 3:3) Last week many of us chose an 8 line stanza from Psalm 119 for daily reflection during Lent. How has your stanza impacted your life in Christ this week? Reflect and pray about what God might want you to share about that with the rest of us.
Continuing in Book 5, the last book of Psalms, we prayed through the Songs of Ascent this week, Psalms 120-134, those triads of psalms showing people in trouble (120, 123, 126, 129), turning to YHWH in faith/trust/dependence (121,124, 127, 130) and experiencing security in their covenant God (122, 125, 128 131). The last 3 Songs of Ascent are psalms of arrival, celebrating the Davidic Covenant and Zion/Jerusalem (132), rejoicing in the unity and community of YHWH’s covenant people (133), and beginning or ending their worship together in the “house of the LORD” (134). Which of these Songs of Ascent especially awakened your mind and heart as you read, meditated, and prayed them in the first full week of Lent 2021? Also, ask God to show you what He wants you to share with the rest of us about what He showed you.
Our focus psalm this Sunday will be Psalm 130, an individual lament that is one of the seven penitential psalms, as well as one of the Songs of Ascent. Psalm 130 confronts directly the depths of chaos our own sins create in our lives; also Psalm 130 displays the mercy and unfailing love of YHWH who forgives our confessed iniquities.
Following the lectionary, you will also read Psalm 143 on Saturday night, another penitential psalm showing our dependence on God’s merciful and loving character to face our own sin. But in addition, Psalm 143 shows how other people’s sins against us (think abuse, injustice) also create chaos in our lives. In Lent, we ask God to show us all of the brokenness, the sins and the wounds.
In his book The Great Lent, Alexander Schmemann describes Lent as “a school of repentance” to which we go to deepen our faith, re-evaluate, and change our lives. Lenten practices are effective when they lead us to increased awareness of “God with us” and increased trust in God’s power and love. They are effective when they help us recover the vision and the taste of new life in Christ, and when they show us how the old life challenges the new life and makes it seem impossible.
I look forward to being with each of you and sharing our Lenten Psalms journey!
In Christ,
Toni
Prepared for Psalms Group, February 21, 2021
Psalm 119 is called the “Great Psalm” because of its length; it takes up a big part of Book V of the Psalms. Some scholars think it is was an original conclusion of an earlier anthology, finishing off the theme started in Psalm 1, another wisdom/Torah psalm, as is Psalm 19:7-11.
Email preparing for Sunday, February 21, 2021
Dear Psalms friends,
Doug and I continue to pray for safety, warmth, and now water supply for each of you as God guides us through yet another strange, unprecedented event. This past year from February 2020 to the present has certainly shown us our human frailty and vulnerability, and it has spotlighted our human tendency to think and act independently from God. In 2021, we don’t need Lent to show us how desperately needy we humans actually are!
But I still need Lent. I need this slowed down, God-focused, simplified stretch of time to ask for grace to accept God’s unconditional and unfailing love and to invite our merciful God to search my heart, the hidden depths of me, and point out all that Father, Son, and Holy Spirit know that I am ready to face. (See Psalm 139:23-24.) What wounds and sins, what brokenness do I need to allow God’s saving light to reveal and start to heal in me…and in His Body the Church?
Lent awakens us to both our sinful human condition apart from Christ and to the grace and peace of life in union with God in Christ. Lent can clear our minds and hearts to grasp the necessity and glory of Easter Resurrection, Christ’s victory over sin and death and Satan. So I want us not just to “pass the time” chronologically in Lent 2021, to “get through it,” but to “use this time” as kairos time for holy purposes, a time set apart for ongoing repentance (conversion), a time of God’s grace changing us, redirecting us. (See Mark 1:14-15, Romans 13:11, and 2 Corinthians 6:1-2 for references to “kairos,” opportune time for change.)
This Sunday we will take a Lenten look at Psalm 119 and also to the Lenten instructions in the Book of Common Prayer pp. 542-552. The Kellers share thoughts and prayers about each stanza of Psalm 119 in The Songs of Jesus, pp. 304-325. Meditate on stanzas that are especially meaningful to you and that you might share with our group on Sunday morning.
I’ll send you a Psalm 119 lesson tomorrow about the different words used in Psalm 119 for God’s words to His people, “all things necessary for our salvation.” (BCP, p. 773, article 6 in The Articles of Religion)
May you be warm and hydrated, but not overly so! James and Julie’s welcoming kitchen, the one that many of us gathered in for our first and only official meal together back in Christmas 2019 (I think!), is basically gone because of hot water heater pipes bursting and caving in the ceiling. It was a special bonding time as they scooped up their kitchen together. No kidding. Prayers needed. I think Paula also has plumbing problems, as do we. Pray for plumbers and all of the people who need them. And of course, pray for the restoration of the sanctuary and the offices of Christ Church.
So here we are, with another opportunity to stay God-centered like Jesus did, and to praise and lament with the Psalms.
United with Christ and with you,
Toni