Blessed are those who walk hand in hand with goodness,
who stand beside virtue, who sit in the seat of truth;
For their delight is in the Spirit of Love,
and in Love’s heart they dwell day and night.
They are like trees planted by streams of water, that yield fruit in due season,
and their leaves flourish;
And in all they do, they give life.
the unloving are not so; they are like dandelions with the wind blows away.
Turning from the Heart of Love they will know suffering and pain.
They will be isolated from wisdom;
for Love knows the way of truth,
the way of ignorance will perish as
Love’s penetrating Light breaks through hearts filled with illusions:
forgiveness is the way.
Nan C. Merrill Psalms for Praying
Reflection:
Psalm 1 is like a beatitude. It invites us to receive torah (divine teaching) from the psalms. It lays out that this way of life, these moral teachings, these virtues are what has held the praying community together and will continue to be their way of life.
The psalm gives us a choice between being a rooted tree or being chaff or weeds blown by the wind. I know we are supposed to pick tree… but being stuck in once place doesn’t appeal to me at all. Although, being blown by the wind doesn’t have the kind of agency I would want in my travel plans either. But perhaps this psalm is not about agency of mobility but about choosing how to spend our lifetime. In that case, it is appealing to be a tree; to be connected to a life source; to be intertwined with family, friends, and neighbors; to give and receive nutrients; to provide fruit, shade, and a place to rest; and in all things, to give life.
We are interdependent. Let us choose forgiveness, love, and life.
Psalm reflections can be listened to on the Period Pastor Podcast series, Like One who Watches for the Morning. In the podcast I read both the NRSVUE and Nan C. Merrill’s Psalms for Praying in addition to the reflection you see here.
I began writing Psalm reflections during Lent of 2020 shortly after we decided to close the church building, work from home, and worship via zoom. It is a practice I have continued since. Many churches use the Revised Common Lectionary (RLC) that rotates scripture on a three-year cycle (A, B, and C). Starting in Advent 2019, Third Church decided to worship with the texts from Year D, which is still not circulated as are years A, B, and C. Year D was created with the goal of including scriptures that were left out or not used as frequently as others. While we were using Psalms in year D, most other lectionary followers were using Year A. In Advent of 2020 we rejoined those who use the lectionary in year B. Advent of 2021 year C. Advent of 2022 year A. Advent of 2023 year B.
I use the Vanderbilt Divinity Library’s resource for lectionary readings to make text selections.
Year B Psalms
Advent – Transfiguration: 1st Sunday in Advent Psalm 80, 2nd Sunday in Advent Psalm 85, 3rd Sunday in Advent Psalm 126, 4th Sunday in Advent Psalm 89, Christmas Eve or Christmas Day Psalm 96, Psalm 97, Psalm 98, 1st Sunday after Christmas, Psalm 148, New Year’s Day Psalm 8, Epiphany Psalm 72, 1st Sunday after Epiphany Psalm 29, 2nd Sunday after Epiphany Psalm 139, 3rd Sunday after Epiphany Psalm 62, 4th Sunday after Epiphany Psalm 111, 5th Sunday after Epiphany Psalm 147, Transfiguration Sunday (Sunday before Lent) Psalm 50
Lent: Ash Wednesday Psalm 51, 1st Sunday in Lent Psalm 25, 2nd Sunday in Lent Psalm 22, 3rd Sunday in Lent Psalm 19, 4th Sunday in Lent Psalm 107, 5th Sunday in Lent Psalm 51 or Psalm 119:9-16, 6th Sunday in Lent (Palm or Passion Sunday) Psalm 118 or 31
Holy Week: Monday Psalm 36, Tuesday Psalm 71, Wednesday Psalm 70, Maundy Thursday Psalm 116, Good Friday Psalm 22, Holy Saturday Psalm 31
Easter: Easter Psalm 118 or 114, 2nd Sunday of Easter Psalm 133, 3rd Sunday of Easter Psalm 4, 4th Sunday of Easter Psalm 23, 5th Sunday of Easter Psalm 22, 6th Sunday of Easter Psalm 98, Ascension Psalm 47 or Psalm 93, 7th Sunday of Easter Psalm 1, Day of Pentecost Psalm 104
Season After Pentecost (Ordinary Time): 1st Sunday after Pentecost (Trinity Sunday) Psalm 29, 2nd Sunday after Pentecost Psalm 139 or Psalm 81, 3rd Sunday after Pentecost Psalm 138 or Psalm 130, 4th Sunday after Pentecost Psalm 20 or Psalm 92, 5th Sunday after Pentecost Psalm 9 or Psalm 133 or Psalm 107, 6th Sunday after Pentecost Psalm 130 or Psalm 30, 7th Sunday after Pentecost Psalm 48 or Psalm 123, 8th Sunday after Pentecost Psalm 24 or Psalm 85, 9th Sunday after Pentecost Psalm 89 or Psalm 23, 10th Sunday after Pentecost Psalm 14 or Psalm 145, 11th Sunday after Pentecost Psalm 51 or Psalm 78, 12th Sunday after Pentecost Psalm 130 or Psalm 34, 13th Sunday after Pentecost Psalm 111 or Psalm 34, 14th Sunday after Pentecost Psalm 84 or Psalm 34, 15th Sunday after Pentecost Psalm 45 or Psalm 15, 16th Sunday after Pentecost Psalm 125 or Psalm 146, 17th Sunday after Pentecost Psalm 19 or Psalm 116, 18th Sunday after Pentecost Psalm 1 or Psalm 54, 19th Sunday after Pentecost Psalm 124 or Psalm 19, 20th Sunday after Pentecost Psalm 26 or Psalm 8, 21st Sunday after Pentecost Psalm 22 or Psalm 90, 22nd Sunday after Pentecost Psalm 104 or Psalm 91, 23rd Sunday after Pentecost Psalm 34 or Psalm 126, 24th Sunday after Pentecost Psalm 146 or 119, 25th Sunday after Pentecost Psalm 127 or Psalm 146, 26th Sunday after Pentecost Psalm 16, 27th Sunday after Pentecost (Christ the King) Psalm 132 or Psalm 93.
Sources and notes:
“The Book of Psalms begins with a beatitude. Not a prayer or a hymn, but a statement about human existence. Here at the threshold of the Psalter we are asked to consider the teaching that the way life is lived is decisive for how it turns out. This opening beatitude also serves as an introduction to the book. Its location as the first psalm is not accidental; the psalm is there to invite us to read and use the entire book as a guide to a blessed life.” Mays p. 40
“This first beatitude prompts the reader to think of the entire book as instruction for life and commends a kind of conduct that uses the Psalter in that way.” Mays p. 41
“…Psalm 1 invites us to expect and receive torah from the psalms, that is, to read them as Scripture. …. Indeed, Psalm 1 wants the whole to be read as instruction–instruction in prayer, in praise, in God’s way with us and our way under God.” Mays p. 42
Psalm 1 sets up the expectation that the righteous will prosper and the wicked will not. “The prayers testify that the righteous meet affliction rather than fulfillment in life.” Mays p. 44
“Placing first a psalm that is to be used outside the practice of worship indicates that the whole collection of Psalms was more than just some poems used for liturgy (though they never ceased to be that as well).” Creach p. 22
“…with a beatitude, good fortune is recognized as the natural outgrowth of life deemed “wise” by those who seek God’s kingdom, not as a result of the words of someone with power to “bless.” So perhaps a better translation of ashre is “happy” or “fortunate.”” Creach p. 23
“The wicked are those who deny, as the hymn writer has said, “God is the ruler yet.”” Creach p. 24
“The wicked are those who lose sight of their place as created beings, and arrogantly see the creature (i.e., themselves; see Rom. 1:18-32) as something more than it is. From this base of self-delusion, all manner of evil actions arise. Such a stance in life always leads to a fall, the psalmist asserts.” Creach p. 25
“…the fivefold organization of the Psalter seems to indicate a close association with the Torah in a narrow sense. However, torah as psalm 1 uses the word is not limited to one document. Torah communicates the body of all instruction from God, in whatever form (a sermon, or even a personal experience, to name two examples). The placement of psalm 1 at the head of the Psalter, therefore, may mean that those who put the book together inter readers to receive torah (divine instruction) from the psalms that follow. In time, the book of Psalms would become scripture, and would stand alongside the Pentateuch (Genesis – Deuteronomy) and the rest of the Old Testament as a written collection of God’s revelation. One of the teaching points of Psalm 1 is that attention to scripture and trust in scripture as a guide to life are requisites for righteousness. The righteous who love and live torah will find their happiness there too.” Creach pp. 25-26
Psalm 1 trees planted by water. Psalms 52 and 92 trees planted in the temple. “This is a typical Old Testament way of speaking about the Temple. It is probably not so much historical as poetic. That is, this language comes from the idea that the Temple is a paradise. The Temple was for ancient Israelites a kind of “oasis for the soul”. In the Temple, God’s presence and power could be felt, the chaotic world made sense, and God’s ultimate purpose for the world could be envisioned. The passages cited above imagine the righteous like one of the trees planted firmly before the throne of God. The righteous always have in their sights the will of God and God’s rule over the world. Psalm 1:3 draws upon the trees-in-paradise image, and perhaps the trees-planted-in-temple image as well.” Creach p. 27
“Two observations can be drawn from the simile of the righteous who are like trees planted in and around the Temple. Both rely on the assumption that Psalm 1 understands the stability that the righteous derive from meditation on torah. First, torah does for the believer what the Jerusalem Temple did: provides access to the presence of God, reveals the order of God’s kingdom, and depicts the long-term wisdom of following the path of the righteous instead of the wicked. Second, since this psalm was probably written after the Jerusalem Temple was destroyed (in 587 B.C. by the Babylonians), the psalm may imply that torah has replaced the Temple.” Creach pp. 27-28
“For the psalmist, that foundation is to delight in and to meditate upon torah, to be constantly open to God’s instruction. Taking such a stand or such a stance enables one to live with purpose and integrity in a world of confession… It enables one to live with hope in a world full of despair, and it enables one to perceive the mystery of life where others may perceive only the misery of life.” McCann p. 35
“It has everything to do with delighting in and meditation on torah; it has everything to do with being open to God’s instruction; it has everything to do with being open to God’s presence in the face of unimaginable option and open to God’s power to transform the most hopeless of situations. In short, it has everything to do with having a “place to stand”.” McCann p. 36
“Psalm 1 does not bargain or allow for ambiguity. It is the voice of a community that is familiar with risks, dangers, costs, and boundaries. It fully appreciates the givenness of God’s world and has confidence that the torah is the only thinkable response to the givenness of creation. It probably is also a tract for socialization, by which the adult community firmly conditions the young into a “right” morality. This community trusts its morality to be a way to fend off trouble. It is life and death, and the young had better lean it while there is still time (cf. Prov. 8:32-36).” Brueggemann The Message of the Psalms p. 39
“…the tree’s apparent lack of mobility, its inability to make moral decisions, makes it a poor symbol for human subjects, a facet of the metaphor to be discarded. But it is equally possible that this irritating rub is part of the truthful communication it subtly offers us. The tree may also remind us that we are less in charge than we may like to think. …. A tree is very interdependent, receiving and giving. We may feel a little more in charge of our own destiny than is good for us. The tree metaphor asks us to ponder the possibility. …. The trees, healthy and thwarted, invite us to ponder our capacities for receiving as well as giving, for reabsorbing vitality as well as promoting it.” Green pp. 34-35
Alter Alter, Robert. 2007. The Book of Psalms: A Translation with Commentary New York: W. W. Norton & Company
WBC Allen, Leslie C. 1983. Word Biblical Commentary: Psalms 101-150. Vol. 21. Waco, TX: Word Books, Publisher.
Bonhoeffer, Dietrich. 1974. Psalms: The Prayer Book of the Bible. 8th ed. Minneapolis, MN: Augsburg Press.
Bourgeault, C. (2006). Chanting the psalms: A practical guide Audio Book. New Seeds.
Brueggemann, Walter. 2007. Praying the Psalms: Engaging Scripture and the Life of the Spirit. 2nd ed. Eugene, OR: Cascade.
Brueggemann Brueggemann, Walter. 2014. From Whom No Secrets Are Hid: Introducing the Psalms. Edited by Brent A. Strawn. 1st ed. Louisville, KY: Westminster John Knox Press.
Brueggemann, Walter. Davis Hanskins, Editor. 2022. Our Hearts Wait: Worshiping Through Praise and Lament in the Psalms Westminster John Knox Press, Louisville KY.
Brueggemann, Walter. (2002). Spirituality of the psalms. Augsburg Pub. House.
Brueggemann, Walter. (1984). The Message of the Psalms: A Theological Commentary. Minneapolis: Augsburg.
Chilson, Richard, ed. You Shall Not Want: A Spiritual Journey Based on the Psalms. Ave Maria Press, 2009.
Chittister Chittister, Joan. (2011). Songs of the heart: reflections on the psalms. John Garratt Publishing.
Cudjoe-Wilkes, G., Wilkes, A. J., & Moss, O. (2022). Psalms for black lives: Reflections for the work of Liberation. Upper Room Books.
WBC Craigie, Peter C. 1983. Psalms 1-50–Word Biblical Commentary. Vol. 19. Waco, TX: Word Books.
Creach Creach, Jerome Frederick Davis. 1998. Psalms: Interpretation Bible Studies. Louisville, KY: Westminster John Knox Press.
DAFLER, J. (2021). PSOBRIETY: A journey of recovery through the psalms. Louisville, KY: WESTMINSTER JOHN KNOX.
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Green Green, Barbara. 1997. Like a Tree Planted: An Exploration of Psalms and Parables Through Metaphor. Collegeville, MN: Liturgical Press.
W Hopkins, Denise Dombkowski. WISDOM COMMENTARY: Psalms Bks. 2-3. Edited by Barbara E. Reid. Vol. 21. Collegeville, MN: Liturgical, 2016.
NIB Keck, Leander E. 2015. The New Interpreters Bible Commentary. Vol. 3. Nashville, TN: Abingdon Press.
Lewis, C. S. (2017). Reflections on the Psalms. Harper One, an imprint of Harper Collins Publishers.
Mays Mays, James Luther. 1994. Psalms. Louisville, KY: John Knox Press.
McCann McCann, J. C. (1993). A theological introduction to the book of Psalms: The Psalms as Torah. Nashville, TN: Abingdon Press.
McCann, J. C., & Howell, J. C. 2001. Preaching the Psalms. Nashville, TN: Abingdon Press.
Merrill, N. C. (2020). Psalms for praying an invitation to wholeness (10th Anniversary Edition ed.). London, England: Bloomsbury Publishing.
Miller Miller, Patrick D. 1986. Interpreting the Psalms. Philadelphia, PA: Fortress Press.
Morgan, Michael. 2010. The Psalter for Christian Worship Revised Edition. Westminster John Knox Press.
Schlimm Schlimm, Matthew Richard. 2018. 70 Hebrew Words Every Christian Should Know. Nashville, TN: Abington Press.
Spong Spong, M. (Ed.). (2020). The words of her mouth: Psalms for the struggle. Cleveland, OH: The Pilgrim Press.
WBC Tate, Marvin E. 1990. Word Biblical Commentary: Psalms 51-100. Edited by David Allan. Hubbard and Glenn W. Barker. Vol. 20. Waco, TX: Word.
Weems, Ann. 1995. Psalm of Lament. Westminster John Knox Pres
OTL Weiser, Artur. 1998. Old Testament Library: Psalms. Translated by Herbert Hartwell. 3rd ed. New York, NY: Manchester University Press.
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