Awaken, O you people! Entrust your hearts to Love.
For the Beloved reigns supreme; let all the earth give thanks!
Your unseen Presence is great in the land; You sit with the leaders of nations.
Let them be silent and guided by your Voice! Holy are You!
You are mighty and love justice, You establish equity;
Out of the Silence, your Word can be heard in the land
inviting the nations to live in peace.
Listen O you people!
Open your hearts to the Beloved, that the Truth may be born anew!
Many who have gone before you followed the Beloved’s Voice,
the unknown saints of all generations.
They surrendered themselves into the Beloved’s hands,
and walked with confidence.
They were guided through difficult times,
keeping to Love’s way, and trusting in Love’s promises.
O Heart of all hearts, You answered their prayers;
With mercy, You forgave them their wrongdoings, always inviting the to new life.
Sing praises to the Beloved, and aspire to ascend the holy mountain.
Holy are You, O Giver of Life!
Nan C. Merrill Psalms for Praying
Reflection:
God’s reign of justice establishes peace.
God’s justice is about restitution, reparations, and later, reconciliation, forgiveness, and after some work love and peace.
We can’t be at peace when others suffer, even if they are our perceived enemies because we belong to God and we belong to each other.
God’s justice is transformational and restorative.
Check out other psalm reflections in the links below or find more of my writing published in Presbyterian Outlook or listen to my experiments in podcasting on the Period Pastor Podcast. Follow me @periodpastor
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. Many churches use the Revised Common Lectionary (RLC) that rotates scripture on a three-year cycle (A, B, and C). Starting in Advent 2019, the 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. When we returned to in person worship, we took the psalm reflections out of the order of worship. I continued to write them for the blog. Advent of 2022 year A. I left church work in July of 2023 but continued the practice of writing psalm reflections. Advent of 2023 year B.
I use the Vanderbilt Divinity Library’s resource for lectionary readings to make text selections.
1st Sunday in Advent Psalm 25, 2nd Sunday in Advent instead of a Psalm the lectionary gives Luke 1:68-79, 3rd Sunday in Advent instead of a Psalm the lectionary gives Isaiah 12:2-6, 4th Sunday in Advent Luke 1:46b-55 or Psalm 80, Christmas Eve or Christmas Day Psalm 96, Psalm 97, Psalm 98, 1st Sunday after Christmas, Psalm 148, New Year’s Day Psalm 8, 2nd Sunday after Christmas Psalm 147, Epiphany Psalm 72, 1st Sunday after Epiphany Psalm 29, 2nd Sunday after Epiphany Psalm 36, 3rd Sunday after Epiphany Psalm 19, 4th Sunday after Epiphany Psalm 71, 5th Sunday after Epiphany Psalm 138, 6th Sunday after Epiphany Psalm 1, 7th Sunday after Epiphany Psalm 37, Transfiguration Sunday (Sunday before Lent) Psalm 99
Lent: Ash Wednesday Psalm 51, 1st Sunday in Lent Psalm 91, 2nd Sunday in Lent Psalm 27, 3rd Sunday in Lent Psalm 63, 4th Sunday in Lent Psalm 32, 5th Sunday in Lent Psalm 126, 6th Sunday in Lent (Palm or Passion Sunday) Psalm 118 or 31
Easter: Easter Psalm 118 or Psalm 114, 2nd Sunday of Easter Psalm 118 or Psalm 150, 3rd Sunday of Easter Psalm 30, 4thSunday of Easter Psalm 23, 5th Sunday of Easter Psalm 148, 6th Sunday of Easter Psalm 67, Ascension Psalm 47 or Psalm 93, 7th Sunday of Easter Psalm 97, Day of Pentecost Psalm 104
Season After Pentecost (Ordinary Time): 1st Sunday after Pentecost (Trinity Sunday) Psalm 8, 2nd Sunday after Pentecost Psalm 42 and Psalm 43 or Psalm 22, 3rd Sunday after Pentecost Psalm 77 or Psalm 16, 4th Sunday after Pentecost Psalm 30 or Psalm 66, 5th Sunday after Pentecost Psalm 82 or Psalm 25, 6th Sunday after Pentecost Psalm 52 or Psalm 15, 7thSunday after Pentecost Psalm 85 or Psalm 138, 8th Sunday after Pentecost Psalm 107 or Psalm 49, 9th Sunday after Pentecost Psalm 50 or Psalm 33, 10th Sunday after Pentecost Psalm 80 or Psalm 82, 11th Sunday after Pentecost Psalm 71or Psalm 103, 12th Sunday after Pentecost Psalm 81 or Psalm 112, 13th Sunday after Pentecost Psalm 139 or Psalm 1, 14thSunday after Pentecost Psalm 14 or Psalm 51, 15th Sunday after Pentecost Psalm 79 or Psalm 113, 16th Sunday after Pentecost Psalm 91 or Psalm 146, 17th Sunday after Pentecost Psalm 137 or Psalm 37, 18th Sunday after Pentecost Psalm 66 or Psalm 111, 19th Sunday after Pentecost Psalm 119 or Psalm 121, 20th Sunday after Pentecost Psalm 65 or Psalm 84, 21st Sunday after Pentecost Psalm 119 or Psalm 32, 22nd Sunday after Pentecost Psalm 145 or Psalm 98 or Psalm 17, 23rdSunday after Pentecost Psalm 98, 24th Sunday after Pentecost Psalm 46.
Sources and notes:
“Psalms 93 and 95-99, along with Psalm 47, are categorized as enthronement psalms. …. The enthronement psalms have five basic characteristics: 1. Concern with all the earth, all peoples, or all nations 2. References to other gods, 3. Songs of exaltation and kingship 4. Characteristic acts of YHWH: making, establishing, sitting, judging, etc. 5. Expressions of the attitude of praise before the heavenly king.” W p. 19
“… the declaration that the Lord is the God of Zion, who establishes justice, equity, and righteousness in Jacob (v.4), resuming the promises issued in Psalms 96:10, 13; 97:2; 98:9, but adding the note that while YHWH is God over all peoples (v. 2), Israel has become God’s special possession (vv. 6-8).” W p. 37
“The whole seems a wondering, awed exclamation that the God of all peoples works justice and answers prayers for this particular people who are permitted to call him “our God” (vv. 5, 8. 9).” Mays p. 315
“In the vocabulary of the psalms, righteousness and justice are the attributes and acts of God in his ruling and judging to enforce his rule. Whether his judgements were salvific or punitive with respect to Israel depended on the case at hand, but the emphasis is on their restorative and redemptive effect.” Mays p. 315
“… the psalm points to his answering the cry of those who represented his people. In the royal ideal of the ancient Near East, it belonged to the ethics of kingship that a king should respond to the petitions of the helpless.” Mays pp. 315-316
“In its three parts, the psalm defines holy: in supreme majesty, in justice, and in responsibility. “Holy” becomes a notion that means more than the fearful and fascinating divine; used to praise the LORD, it take on connotations that the people of the LORD have come to know in this experience of his rule. The hymn is a liturgy for the vision that Isaiah saw in the temple when he felt the foundations tremble and heard the threefold “holy” sung in praise (Isaiah 6).” Mays p. 316
“A popular notion of sovereignty equates it with the fundamental sense of holiness–that is, absolute freedom, transcendence, and unapproachability. Thus it is significant that Psalm 99 pushes toward a redefinition of holiness in the direction of involvement and committed, forgiving love.” NIB p. 561
“… Psalm 99 is incarnational” NIB p. 561 God with us.
“Psalm 99 is used traditionally on Transfiguration Sunday. The association of Psalm 99 with the transfiguration may be due to the Gospel accounts’ mention of Moses and the could (see Matthew 17:1-8; Mark 9:2-9; Luke 9:28-36), but there is a deeper connection. The transfiguration is a scene that partakes of the fundamental sense of holiness; Jesus is set apart and unapproachable, and the disciples are terrified. In each Gospel, however, the transfiguration follows immediately Jesus’ first announcement that he must go to Jerusalem to suffer, die, and be raised. Like Psalm 99, this juxtaposition pushes toward a redefinition of holiness and sovereignty in the direction of committed involvement and suffering love. Defying the conventional notion of holiness and the world definition of royal power, God is the Holy One who is persistently present in our midst (see How 11:9). Because the Holy One is committed to being with us and enacting justice and righteousness among us, it is fitting that Jesus taught us to pray, “hallowed by thy name; thy kingdom come, thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.”” NIB pp. 581-582
“This psalm sounds the same themes of new governance, but in a different form. In this psalm, the specifically Israelite traditions are more visible.
1. The hymn begins with the enthronement formula we have come to expect: “Yahweh reigns.” The appropriate response is cosmic trembling, because this king shakes loose all old governance.
2. The celebration of Yahweh’s kingship is articulated in verses 1b-5. Vers 1b is in fact a parallel to the opening line. But we treat it with what follows, because the reference to the cherubim links the new enthronement to the Jerusalem temple (cf. Kings 8:7). This section of the psalm nicely interweaves the two basic traditions of Israel. On the one hand, there is the Jerusalem tradition of presence. This is carried in the reference to cherubim, to Zion, and to the “footstool.” This tradition affirm God’s attentiveness to the Israelite establishment. On the other hand, there is the Mosaic tradition of liberation, which is expressed as “lover of justice,” agent of “equity, justice, and righteousness” , and by allusion to Jacob. This tradition asserts that where God comes, there is radical social transformation. the kingship of Yahweh combines the assurance of presence and the abrasion of liberation, and the tradition refuses to let us choose between these accents.
3. Verses 6-7 link Yahweh’s kingship more decisively to the oldest torah tradition of Moses and Aaron, with reference to the wilderness sojourn and to the Sinai commandments. There is also reference to Samuel, because Samuel is remembered as the one who insisted on the kingship of yahweh in order to resist all human kings, whom he regarded as pretenders and as threats to and disminishments of the kingship of Yahweh (cf. 1 Sam 8:7; 12:15, 25). It is striking that this liturgical piece, no doubt sponsored by the Jerusalem dynasty, should invoke the name of this resister to dynastic principle. The basic verbs here of “call” and “answer” (cf. Isa. 65:24) articulate what is most important and characteristic in Israel, since the initial cry of Exod. 2:23-25. It is Israel’s most normal business to cry, and it is Yahweh’s most faithful preoccupation to answer. The center of this faith is God’s attentive responsiveness to this community in need.
4. The last element of the psalm (vv. 8-9) states the two-sidedness of this awesome kinship: God forgives, and God punishes. Both sides affirm that this God is a free person who is never captive. It is not known in advance how god will be present in forgiveness and punishment. The juxtaposition of the two themes is reminiscent of the foundational creedal statement of exodus. 34:6-7, which posits God as both the one who save and the one who judges. But the last statement of Mosaic juxtaposition is resoled in verse 9 with one more summons to worship. This call to the temple, for God’s overriding characteristic is holiness. It is the temple that provides the means and opportunity for a meeting with the holy one. This psalm rather remarkably draws together the key elements of Israel’s faith tradition. God’s enthronement makes holy presence accessible and makes righteous will more urgent. Neither emphasis can be minimized without distorting who this ruling one is.” Breuggeman The Message of the Psalms pp. 148-149
Brueggemann Chapter 5 Enthronement Psalms in From Whom No Secrets Are Hid: Introducing the Psalms.
“Two things are clear about the imaginative, liturgical world of ancient Israel. First, that world was peopled by many gods. There are many indicators in the Bible that Israel’s religious world was not monotheistic but consisted in a plurality of gods who sometimes cooperated and sometimes competed. Second, it is clear that the community of gods was not a democracy but was organized into a hierarchy that was often competitive.” Brueggemann, From Whom No Secrets Are Hid: Introducing the Psalms. p. 49
“When we come to the book of Psalms, it is clear that YHWH’s victory in the exodus is just one instance of an often-repeated lyrical celebration of YHWH’s victory over many things: (1) the gods, with the establishment of YHWH as king over all other deities who must submit to YHWH; (2) the threat of chaos; and (3) over all the powers of evil and death. Thus this God is peculiarly allied with Israel but is at the same time celebrated as the cosmic king over all creation. This interface of Israelite particularity and cosmic sovereignty is a regular feature of Israel’s psalms, an interface that constitutes one of the wonders and one of the quandaries of Israel’s faith.” Brueggemann From Whom No Secrets Are Hid: Introducing the Psalms. p. 49
“Six psalms are regularly identified as hymns that celebrate the kingship of YHWH over all gods and all creation and are, of that reason, termed “Enthronement Psalms” (Pss. 47, 93, 96, 97, 98, 99). Each of these six palms identify YHWH as “king,” a claim that evokes celebrative doxology in Israel that constitutes , in each case, the body of the psalm. It is the establishment and acknowledgment of YHWH’s kinship aha makes the world safe. Because of YHWH’s triumph, the other gods are either subordinate agents who cooperate with YHWH’s rule (as in the “council of the gods” in Psalm 82) or are completely defeated, humiliated opponents. Thus the lyrical imagination of Israel manage dot acknowledge a commonly assumed purity of gods while at the same time asserting YHWH’s superiority among the gods.” Brueggemann From Whom No Secrets Are Hid: Introducing the Psalms. pp. 49-50
“The other gods are advocates of other social policies, characteristically policies of greed and violence. One primary reason for jubilation is that teach god brings with him or her a set of norms and social policies. YHWH always comes with policies and norms of neighborliness.” Brueggemann From Whom No Secrets Are Hid: Introducing the Psalms. p. 53
“Insofar as the Psalms are scripts for dramatic, disciplined, intentional reperformance, we are belated particpants in this generative act of enthronement. In the liturgy, we, not unlike ancient Israel, regularly reassert that the world is under the governance of the God of justice and righteousness. In this way, the Psalms have immediate implications for social practice and policy. Since we live in a culture decisively out of sync with God’s divine governance as lived out in the Psalms, singing these poems is at one and the same time an act of hope (that God’s rule will prevail) and an act of resolve (to participate here and now in that new governance). Psalm 99 sounds the note of forgiveness that is the ultimate gift of this rule. O Lord our God, you answered them; you were a forgiving God to them. (Ps 99:8) That is the kind of governance the world yearns for and that it so much needs in our day and age, time and place.” Brueggemann From Whom No Secrets Are Hid: Introducing the Psalms. p. 55
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, 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, 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, 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, James Luther. 1994. Psalms. Louisville, KY: John Knox Press.
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, 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, Matthew Richard. 2018. 70 Hebrew Words Every Christian Should Know. Nashville, TN: Abington Press.
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 