Receive my love, O Beloved, You who hear my voice and my supplication.
You incline your ear to me, and I call upon You with trust both day and night.
When the snares of fear encompass me, when pangs of loneliness envelope me,
I suffer distress and anguish.
Then I call upon You, my Rock:
You come to my aide, Your strength upholds me.
Gracious are You, just and true;
Heart of all hearts, You are merciful and forgiving.
You preserve the simple; when I am humbled, You life me up.
Return, O my soul, to your rest;
for You, O Loving Friend, bestow grace upon grace, a balm for my soul.
You raised me up to new life;
You dry my tears, and guide my feet on straight paths.
Now, I walk hand in hand with Love in the land of the Awakened ones.
I keep my faith, even in times of great turmoil;
I invite others to Awaken to the joy of your Presence.
What shall I render to You for all your goodness to me?
I will drink the chalice of Love and praise You, who have done wondrous things;
I will bear witness to You, O Bread of Life, in the presence of all the people.
Precious to You are all whose will decreases,
who abandon themselves into your Will.
O Beloved, consider me your friend; I long to co-create with You.
For You have loosed the bonds of fear in me.
I will offer to You the gift of gratitude and
acknowledge your Loving Presence with joy.
I will bear witness to You, O Giver of Life, in the presence of all the people,
In the Sacred Altar of my heart, in your midst, O Beloved.
Praises be to You! For You dwell within the heart of everything!
Nan C. Merrill Psalms for Praying
Reflection:
Psalm 116 is associated with the rituals around the Passover Seder (Jewish tradition) and the Eucharist (Christian tradition) because of its reference to a cup of salvation. The psalm recounts a salvation narrative that is not specific in terms of an exact event, but is specific about salvation and new life coming from God. Gratitude and praise are main aspects of the psalm and from this overflowing gratitude the psalmist expresses a desire to live fully aware of the presence of God in all of life.
I particularly like Walter Brueggemann’s sentiments about how gratitude can undermine our individualistic, self-achievement tendencies (check out those quotes in the notes section below). Gratitude can shift us from consumer culture to a culture that recognizes the abundance we already have and how it can be shared for the good of our neighbors. When we wake up to the awareness that we rely on the generosity of the divine and each other, we, like the psalmist, respond to that generosity with thanks and praise, and with co-creating a better world, where we do not fear one another but live together in love and joy.
O Beloved, consider me your friend; I long to co-create with You.
For You have loosed the bonds of fear in me.
I will offer to You the gift of gratitude and
acknowledge your Loving Presence with joy.
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:
“Psalm 116 is the fourth of the Egyptian Hallel psalms, one of those read while drinking the fourth cup of wine at the conclusion of the Passover Seder. It echoes many of the themes the reader or hearer encounters in Psalm 115, suggesting that the two should be considered “twin” psalms, with Psalm 116 responding to questions and/or statements posed in Psalm 115 (see especially 115:6 and 116:2; 115:1 and 116:5; 115:7 and 116:8, 17). Psalm 115 is a call to trust (see vv. 9-11). Psalm 116 is an individual hymn of thanksgiving, in which a psalm singer praises God for deliverance from some trying situation (oppression, war, sickness, etc.).” W p. 138
“Psalm 116 is a song of thanksgiving. It is the praise of one whose prayer for help has been answered. The heart of the song is a narrative of salvation. In a past predicament of life-threatening trouble (vv. 3, 10 , 11), prayer was made (v. 4); the LORD heard and helped (vv. 1, 2, 6, 8, 16). In the prayer, vows of sacrificed and praise were made. Now the one who has been saved cones to the temple bringing sacrifice (vv. 13-14, 17-19) and singing this song as thanksgiving to the LORD (vv. 8, 16) and as testimony about the goodness of the LORD (vv. 5, 6, 9, 15) to the people of the LORD.” Mays pp. 368-369
“The affliction that was the occasion of prayers for God’s help is not identified. Instead, it is characterized. For the purposes of the song of thanksgiving, it does not much matter what the clinical or social particulars were. The song does not diagnose or record; it interprets and gives meaning. It uses a vocabulary that renders experience in terms of the soul’s relation to God. The thematic word is “death”. This terrible, final word is used in all three parts of the psalm ( vv. 3, 8, 15). The psalm speaks of death in a special way that is found in a number of prayers for help and thanksgiving psalms.” Mays p. 369
“Though Psalm 116 was composed for use by an individual in a service of thanksgiving, it came in time to play a liturgical role in celebrations of the larger community. The text of the psalm reused an occasion when a cup and a sacrifice figured in the rituals of celebration. it found two closely connected occasions. The first was the celebration of Passover. Psalm 116 is the fourth in the sequence of psalms, “the Egyptian hallelujah,” that were read during the course of the Passover meal. According to the Mishna (Pesachim 10:1-9), reporting on the way the meal was ordered, four cups were raised and blessed in its progress. Psalm 115 – 118 were recited in connection with the fourth cup, which supplied a trial reference for “the cup of salvation”. The recitation of the psalms was introduced by a thanksgiving to the LORD, who “brought us from bondage to freedom, from sorrow to gladness, and from mourning to a Festival-day, and from darkness to great light, and from servitude to redemption” (Pesachim 10:5). Introduced in this way, the psalm’s language is turned into thanksgiving for the salvation celebrated at Passover. The psalm becomes the thanksgiving of every participant in Passover who thereby acknowledges that each was delivered in the salvation of Exodus.” Mays p. 116
“The second occasion was the Lord’s Supper. In the development of Christian liturgical practice, Psalm 116 came to be used in the celebration of eucharist, in particular and always as the psalm connected with the Communion observed on Holy Thursday. Paul called the Communion cup “the cup of blessing that we bless,” an expression associated with the Passover cup in Jewish tradition (1 Cor. 10:16). Through the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, Passover was transformed into eucharist, and Psalm 116 was reread as a thanksgiving for the promise of life given in Jesus’ salvation from death. The psalm becomes the voice of Jesus and the congregation, the one providing the cup and sacrifice, the other united by them with him in his death and resurrection.” Mays p. 372
“Those who are thankful can “count their blessings” and identity the gifts of God. Thus in Psalm 116, the speaker can remember and recount the prayers of petition previously uttered in a circumstance of need (vv. 1-3). The “snares of death” refers to some circumstance in which the speaker was left helpless. But now, after the crisis, the speaker has been “delivered by God” (v. 8) and is restored to “the land of the living,” that is, to the full bodily well-being and social acceptance (v. 9).” Brueggemann From Whom No Secrets Are Hid p. 3
“This psalm indicated that the utterance of thanksgiving is done in a liturgical setting in which appropriate liturgical action would have accompanied the utterance. Thus the speaker remembers having pledged an offering to God if delivered and now “pays my vow,” a “thanksgiving sacrifice.” This is an act of gratitude and at the same time testimony to the congregation that God has indeed performed a wondrous deliverance the transcends beyond all categories of self-sufficiency.” Brueggemann From Whom No Secrets Are Hid p. 3
“The alternative to the drama of gratitude is a sense of self-sufficiency that corresponds, in our society, to free-market ideology in which there is no gratitude because everything is an act of self-accomplishment, achievement, and possession. It is a world in which no gifts are given, no wonders are enacted, and no transformations are noticed. It is a world where one is alone with one’s resources and capacities. but this is to act the fool, a dread mistaking of the true nature of reality.” Brueggemann From Whom No Secrets Are Hid p. 146
“In sum, gratitude is a sense of being “rich toward God” in response to God’s richness toward us. And as it happens, the Eucharist, the church’s exposition of Israel’s thank offering, is an act of defiance and resistance against the self-sufficiency championed by the consumer culture in our society. Thanks is a recognition that we live by divine generosity to which we can, as we are able, render and enact commensurate gratitude.” Brueggemann From Whom No Secrets Are Hid pp. 146-147
Alter Alter, Robert. 2007. The Book of Psalms: A Translation with Commentary New York: W. W. Norton & Company
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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.
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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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