How glorious is your dwelling place, O Blessed Architect of the universe!
My soul longs, yes, aches for the abode of the Beloved;
All that is within me sings for joy to the living Heart of Love!
Even as the sparrow finds a home, and the swallow a nesting place,
where its young are raised within your majestic creation,
You invite us to dwell within your Heart.
Blessed are they whose hearts are filled with love, who sing praises to You with grateful hearts!
Blessed are they who put their strength in You,
who choose to share the joy and sorrows of the world.
They do not give way to fear or doubt;
they are quickened by Divine Light and Power;
they dwell within the peace of the Most High.
They go from strength to strength and live with integrity.
O Eternal Lover, hear my prayer; give ear, O Divine Comforter!
Forgive what is unholy within me; free me from my illusions!
For a day within the Heart of Love is more to be desired than a thousand elsewhere.
I would rather be a servant in your dwelling place,
than live in riches among those who know not Love.
For the Beloved is as radiant as the sun, as strong as a steel shield,
and invites each one to come to partake of the Banquet.
Who will accept the goodness of Love? Who will seek for spiritual treasure?
O Loving Creator of the universe, blessed are all who put their trust in You!
They bless the world.
Nan C. Merrill Psalms for Praying
Reflection:
I was in my late teens when the 1997 worship song “Better is One Day” by Matt Rodman was at the hight of its popularity. It still gets stuck in my head when I read Psalm 84. The song itself is repetitive and more than that, it was used in nearly all of the youth programing and contemporary worship I attended in high school and college. The messaging that would go along with this was song often “prayed” during a long instrumental introduction or at some instrumental break was about how much better it is to be in worship than anywhere else, with the usual examples of sex, drugs, and rock n’ roll as places to avoid. I’ve heard more than one bro -y worship leader brag about his spirituality saying something like worship and other church sponsored events are the only events he attends, that’s how much time he wants to spend in God’s presence. Sometimes pro church messaging is well meaning, but it can be manipulative.
Worship spaces, camp and conference centers, and christian music festivals are certainly places where people feel God’s presence, but the more life experience I have the more I can find God in every place, even in “non christian” spaces. Christians do not have exclusive access to God. High control religious groups and so white christian nationalists will claim that they are the only true believers or true church or claim to have special access that grants their salvation (and therefore everyone else is wrong and will be punished for being wrong). It is a dangerous claim. We can see how dangerous this claim is in the current climate of American politics. It seems as if the more “godly” a christian candidate claims to be the more likely they are to have policies that hurt women, queer folks, and minorities. I hardly recognize the Jesus they claim supports their speeches and actions.
All this christian noise has made silent contemplation so appealing. I would rather be in God’s silent presence than listening to the garbage that is passing for christianity in America.
But even silence is difficult. I would rather be in God’s presence than chasing the thousands of afflictive thoughts and obsessive commentary running through my mind. The spiraling stories I tell myself on repeat are judgmental and unhelpful as I remind myself I’m alone, unlovable and not good enough. My ego distracts me from my true (and good) self with an endless to-do list. The mind is designed to think and so that’s what it does. The practice of silent contemplation is really a practice of letting go of those thoughts and creating space in which God’s presence can be experienced. Occasionally I glimpse the loving God who dwells within my inmost heart. It is that presence that I wish to dwell with more than anything else my mind creates.
I begin silent practices with a few deep breaths and a short prayer consenting to the awareness of God’s presence and action within me. Usually, its a very short prayer, but if I was going to base a prayer for that practice on psalm 84 (taking phrases from Nan Merrill) it might go something like this:
O Eternal Lover, hear my prayer; give ear, O Divine Comforter!
Forgive what is unholy within me; free me from my illusions!
Help me to let go of doubt and fear and accept the goodness of Love.
Guide me into an awareness of your presence in my heart.
How glorious is your dwelling place, O Blessed Architect of the universe!
My soul longs, yes, aches for the abode of the Beloved;
All that is within me sings for joy to the living Heart of Love!
Blessed are all who put their trust in You! They bless the world.
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:
“Many interpreters assume that Psalm 84 offers a “happy image.” Could this psalm, like Psalm 42-43, express instead a taunting memory of past experience of temple worship that is not now available to the psalmist? …. The words of Psalm 84 give us mixed signals in this regard.” W p. 324
“Birds as a metaphor for the psalmist occur several times in the Psalter. [ex. Psalm 11:1, Psalm 55:6, Psalm 102:6-7] In each case birds symbolize the vulnerability, defenselessness, and suffering of the psalmist. These are not “happy” images.” W pp. 324-325
“The canonical arrangement of the Psalms, from a preponderance of laments to hymns of praise and thanksgiving, suggests “a dynamic of happiness that finds a way through misery rather than around it.” W p. 326
“The repeated use of the epithet “LORD of Hosts” for God in vv. 1,3,8,12 (see Pss 24,46,48,59,80,84,89) reinforced by “my King” in v. 3d, suggest the image of God as Divine Warrior who leads Israel’s army and the heavenly armies (see 1Kgs 22:19). Taking this together with the bird imagery that implies the psalmist’s homelessness and suffering, one can imagine that psalmist in a situation of war, separated from the safety and protection of God’s presence in the temple and desperately longing for it. This probably setting invites as inter text the story of the unnamed Israelite serving girl in 2 Kings 5. As “a young girl captive” (v. 2), this little girl is truly homeless, plucked fro her family in the land of Israel to sere the wife of the commander of the Syrian (Aramean) army, Naaman. Syria was a constant threat to Israel in the ninth century BCE. The little girl’s “marginality as a child captive in enemy territory represents the weakness of the northern kingdom of Israel, which was unable to protect her and no doubt many others liker her in time of war.” Unfortunately, many interpreters romanticize this little girl by focusing on her wish in 2 Kings 5:3: “If only my lord were with the prophet who is in Samaria,” which they take as evidence of her compassionate choice to love rather than hate her enemy. Like Rahab in Joshua 2, she becomes a paradigm for healing in the midst of war and death. This expectation of her is perhaps more than her tiny shoulders can bear and does not accord with the stories of many children traumatized by war today or in the ancient world.” W pp. 326-327
“As a little slave girl prays Psalm 84 in her captivity she fills it with the pathos of her situation far from home.” W p. 328
“The carefully arranged and thoughtfully chosen words of Ps 84 do more than simply describe a place. They transport the psalmist and her audience to Zion, to the divine court, the temple, enveloped in the presence of God. The words of the psalm orient devotees in time and space, appealing to religious traditions and spaces to help negotiate power. It is clear from the psalm that the place described is not the place form which the psalmist longs to be. The mixed metaphors of Psalm 84 are a subtle commentary on the psalmist’s situation. She dreams of idyllic Zion but the shadow side of her situation is an ugly reality. Her psalm is a subversive condemnation of her situation. The words of the psalm provide a cognitive “map” for those who want little more than to flee.” W p. 328 excerpt from Amy Beth Jones
“Again, core testimony intends to remind God of who God is and prompt God to action. Her longing for God is painful and deep.” W p. 328-329
From my reflection on this psalm from August of 2021: The psalmist longs for the temple and being in the safety of God’s presence. She writes as someone who is not in the temple, but longs to be back in the temple. It is interesting to imagine this Psalm being prayed by the unnamed servant girl in 2 Kings 5 (see notes above). While many interpreters and preachers (myself included, see Unexpected Mercy) see this little girl as choosing to love her enemy, this may not be her reality given the trauma she has experienced as a young woman taken captive. Her prayers, as Psalm 84, are about longing to flee to be somewhere, anywhere else, but mostly to be in the presence of God. Given the news about Afghanistan (I’m writing this in August 2021), it is hard not to also imagine the young women praying something like Psalm 84, and longing for protection from the Taliban that is unlikely to come.
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.
W de Claisse-Walford, Nancy L. WISDOM COMMENTARY: Psalms Bks. 4-5. Edited by Barbara E. Reid. Vol. 22. Collegeville, MN: Liturgical, 2020.
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.
Period Pastor Pad 