These materials were shared with the Psalms Group, a fellowship group with a special interest in learning about, reading and praying the Psalms daily.
Prepared for Psalms Group, November 22, 2020
A new favorite, fun fact! It’s obvious that “clapping the hands” in Psalm 47:1 is an act of joyous response, but the circumstance is more complex because the idiom employed normally means to “strike the hands” with another person as confirmation of a contract or agreement—like shaking hands or, better yet, like a “High Five.” (Gerald Wilson, the NIV Application Commentary: Psalms, Vol. 1, p. 726, but the “high five” is my idea.)
Psalm Group email for November, 22, 2020
Dear Psalms friends,
We celebrate Christ the King this Sunday. Christ the King Sunday functions like a prelude to Advent which kicks off our new liturgical year on November 29, 2020. You will hear this Preface for Christ the King during Eucharist this week as we give thanks to the Father: “Through your only begotten Son Jesus Christ, the King of kings and Lord of lords; for you have seated him at your right hand in glory, and put all things in subjection under his feet, that he may present them to you, O Father, perfectly restored in beauty, truth, and love.” (BCP, p. 155)
Prepared for Psalms Group, November 15, 2020
Psalm 34 is an individual song of thanksgiving written as an imperfect alphabetic acrostic (easier to memorize and learn) to encourage and teach wise living. The New Bible Commentary entitles Psalm 34, “An ABC for a Crisis.” The psalmist uses his personal experience of God’s rescue as an opportunity not only to give thanks (todah=a thank offering) to God, but also to offer wisdom for living to his hearers.
Email preparing for Psalms Group on November 15, 2020
Dear Psalms friends,
Both the Old and New Testaments call on people living by faith in God to make “sacrifices of praise” to him. Individual songs of thanksgiving in the Psalms provide us a template for how to do this. In our recent lectionary readings,, Psalms 18 and 21 are royal thanksgiving (given by or for the king), and Psalms 30, 32, 34 and 40:1-10 are individual songs of thanksgiving. Some theologians call these songs of thanksgiving “songs of declarative praise.” In our Psalm group, we have reflected recently in lessons on Psalm 30 (7-12-20) and Psalm 40 (9-20-20) on this temple practice of giving public thanks and the deep commitment it requires and evokes. Doug’s hard work makes it possible for you to access those previous lessons on our website!
Psalms Group, November 8, 2020
In his short chapter, “The End,” Dietrich Bonhoeffer observes that our hope as Christians is directed to Jesus’ return and the resurrection of the dead. Bonhoeffer also observes that “life in fellowship with the God of revelation, the final victory of God in the world, and the setting up of the messianic kingdom are objects of prayer in the psalms.” The Psalter reminds us to pray for, find comfort in, and praise God for his rescue plan for all his creation and our part in it. Here’s how Bonhoeffer describes psalms like Psalms 2 and 149 in “The End”:
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.”
“Hanging Out with the Humbled” describes living in community with others who are seeking transformation into the humility of Christ. (Philippians 2: 1-11; St. Benedict’s Ladder of Humility, PDF below)
“Hanging out with the Humbled” describes both the means and the evidence of contentment in our journey with God in Christ. Experiencing humility with God and in community creates and evidences contentment. Think about where you are in your own experiences with humility, community and contentment as you read and reflect on Psalm 119:57-64, Psalm 131 and Psalm 33.
If Psalm 108 is “a recipe for an hour of need,” what are its ingredients?
Dear Psalms friends,
We have skipped right past Psalm 108 each time we have read and prayed our way through Book 5, the concluding book of Psalms. Its superscription states that it is “of David,” and it appears that David composed this community lament using material from two previous psalms: Psalm 57:7-11 (an individual lament) and Psalm 60:5-12 (a community lament).
So what is the flow of thought in this new arrangement? What seems to be going on? What groups of people are involved? What is God’s place in this psalm?