Rejoice in the Beloved, O you holy ones!
Praise is a grace of the loving. Praise the Beloved with strings and reeds,
Give praise with dance and leaps; sing a new song, and shout with joyful heart!
For the work of the Creator is truth,
and all creation reflects the faithfulness of the Beloved.
Justice and mercy we render the the Holy One,
To the universe filled with Love Divine.
Through Love Consciousness the heavens and earth were created,
And all who dwell on earth by the Creator’s breath of Life.
All creation from the distant stars to the depth of the seas,
Is held together by the Oneness of Love.
May all the earth reverence the Beloved, may everyone stand in awe of Love!
For when the Beloved speaks, it comes to pass;
As Love’s way guide and directs, thus, it stands.
Without Love, the nations’ counsel comes to nothing,
the plans of the people are futile.
The counsel of the Creator is eternal available to every generation.
Blessed are all people who respond to Love’s Way.
For, the Beloved dwells in every heart that is open and receptive;
Into our hands, into our hearts, does the Beloved surrender,
that we might do with Love what we will.
Do we not know, that the nations are not saved by military might,
just as generals are not saved by their own strength?
All such arms are the outward expression of greed in fearful hearts;
they will reap only despair, death, and destruction.
Behold, the Love of the Beloved is stronger than ten thousand bombs,
more to be desired than the wealth of all nations.
Do we not know the two dwell in the heart of the Beloved
Is the promise to every nation, the birthright of all people, the journey to life eternal?
Our soul yearns for the Beloved, for peace, joy, and assurance.
Then will our hearts be glad and sing songs of gratitude,
Praising the name of the Holy One!
May every nation come to live in the steadfast Love and Wisdom of the Spirit of Truth!
May all peoples work with Love Divine!
Nan C. Merrill Psalms for Praying
Reflection:
One of the simple breath prayers people recite when learning contemplative practice is the Jesus prayer, “Lord Jesus Christ, son of God, have mercy on me, a sinner.” It exists in different forms and is sometimes shortened to “Lord have mercy.” It is a prayer that can be said when we don’t want to use a lot of words as we enter a silent practice or it is a prayer that we say when we have no idea what else to say. It’s one that I find on my lips when I’ve reached the end of my ability to cope.
I use another similar prayer when I can tell that I’m over-functioning in an unhealthy way. “You are God and I am not”. One of my favorite sins is believing I can control things that are out of my control. I’m sure there are those of you out there who really like to be in control too. Overworking and over-functioning are symptoms of my need for control when things feel unstable. If I can get something just right, or if I can work hard enough, or have the perfect plan in place, then everything will go exactly as I want it to go. But the truth is that kind of perfectionism leads to isolation and burn out. Acknowledging that I need to rely on a higher power or trust that other people will do their part too (and I can’t make them) helps keep my control-freak energy in check. I am not all powerful all controlling or all important. I am not God.
And while I have my own control issues, our collective sin also speaks to our illusions of how we can coerce power and control. We think we have systems set in place that will protect us, and that we can trust human wisdom, power, and virtue to solve the world’s problems. We trust flawed human leaders to tell us what is right and true, we trust weapons and counter measures to keep us safe, and we believe that getting the right politicians in power will usher in a new age that we will personally benefit from. But all of these things are illusions, they are false hopes, they are unsatisfactory, unstable, unreliable, things that have no real power or control or care for us. These things are not God. I am not God. You are not God. God is God.
These prayers are meant to lead me on a journey inward. I confess my sins to God and seek God’s love and forgiveness. I let go of the things that are out of my control and give them over to God. And then something happens that I don’t quite have the language to explain, but something shifts. When I let go of the things I can not control, the false powers that are not me and are not God, I can see myself clearly in the warmth of God’s love. And that is the real power, God’s love. God’s steadfast love is not about punishing my every imperfection or forcing acceptance of God’s will, but a gracious unfolding of forgiveness that transforms my inmost thoughts and frees me to simply experience Love.
Love is what I find in the inward journey of meditation and breath prayer. And it is this inward journey that allows me to take the loving journey outward. Experiencing the deep love of God fills me with the power to go out and to connect with neighbors in the world and wherever I go and whomever I meet, to greet them with love.
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, 4th Sunday of Easter Psalm 23 or 114, 5th Sunday of Easter Psalm 148, 6th Sunday of Easter Psalm 67 or 109, Ascension Psalm 47 or Psalm 93, 7th Sunday of Easter Psalm 97 or Psalm 2, 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, 7th Sunday 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, 14th Sunday 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, 23rd Sunday after Pentecost Psalm 98, 24th Sunday after Pentecost Psalm 46.
Sources and notes:
For a moment, I thought about talking about music with this psalm (see the notes from Mays) and also wanted to include these words from our church organist. I figured I would leave it in the notes and maybe someone will be inspired by the parts I don’t read out loud in church too.
The musicians at Third Church are incredibly thoughtful and try to incorporate scriptural themes into the music selections giving us an inspiring worship experience. This week our organist (you can find his other music and wiring on his website pianonoise) wrote this reflection about his music selection:
“Depth of Mercy” is a hymn that paints a stark contrast between a tortured soul’s experience of sin and self-loathing and the gift of God’s mercy. Originally in 13 stanzas, the five that are present in the Methodist hymnal (our Presbyterian hymnal does not include the hymn) may give undue weight to the histrionic language of “the chief of sinners” who has “oft provoked [God] to his face.” One verse that was cut has him “trampling on the Son of God.” Charles Wesley certainly seems to have won the contest to describe himself as the most awful sinner who ever lived, and he enumerates his terrible crimes in verse after verse, weighed down by the burden of sin, and the need to make it vivid. Yet the hymn text moves from this darkness to light, especially in the verse in which the author declares: “God is Love! I know, I feel; Jesus weeps, and loves me still!”
The piano piece for this week, based on the hymn, gives a psychological portrait of the hymn writer by first presenting a tumultuous, windswept theme, and then contrasting it with the gentle occurrences of this two-line hymn. The process does not occur just once; three verses of the hymn are necessary before the music is able to move into the depths of honesty required to hold an un-theatrical assessment of a soul in need—finally the blustery phalanx of notes falls away and after a bald exploration of the harmonic depths, the hymn sounds forth modestly one last time, and ends on a simple major chord.
Psalm 33 “It praises the God whom the righteous trust–therein lies their righteousness, that they trust the LORD. At the same time, it teaches and encourages trust and hope by describing the LORD as the one who can be trusted.” Mays p. 148
“The number of poetic lines is the same as the number of letters in the Hebrew alphabet. That is undoubtedly intentional on the part of the poet. It is a clue that the psalm is meant to be as complete and comprehensive in covering its subject as the alphabet is in listing the letters.” Mays p. 148
“In the call to praise (vv. 1-3), the vocabulary for worship with music is nearly exhausted. This is the first reference to the use of instruments in the canonical order of the psalms, and so it has been the textual occasion in traditional commentary for a discussion of the propriety and validity of the use of instruments in worship. …. There is an implicit theology of music here; it must be authentically the praise of the LORD and offered by those who are right with the LORD. The why and the who are crucial.” Mays p. 149
“So the righteous who live in the world in the midst of the nations as a community in need of salvation trust in and pray for the hesed of the LORD.” Mays p. 149
“The psalmist’s term for having the LORD as God is “to fear the LORD,” and that means to make his steadfast love one’s ultimate hope.” Mays p. 151
“We forget that God rules the world and we do not. Instead of praising God, our first inclination is to congratulate ourselves (see Commentary on Psalm 56). Psalm 33 is finally, then, a call to humility and to trust in God rather than in human power, wisdom, or virtue. To heed this call means nothing less than a revolutionary transmutation of values. The things and people that seem so obviously powerful–politicians, armies, weapons–are exposed in the light of God’s sovereignty to be illusions. The real power behind the universe, human history, and personal existence is the steadfast love of God, which fills the earth (Ps 33:5b) and is revealed ultimately not by God’s absolute enforcement of God’s will but by God’s forgiveness of sin (Psalm 32). The astounding good news is hat the ultimate reality and power in the universe is love (see commentary on Psalm 19). This power, to be sure, is made perfect in weakness (see 2 Cor 12:9). Indeed, Christians profess to see it revealed most clearly in the cross of Jesus Christ.” NIB p. 397
“Psalm 33 is a new song (v. 3) that sings about a new world. It is the world about which Israel always sings, the new world that Yahweh is now creating. It is a world ordered by God’s justice over which God presides with faithfulness. To schedule a world the only appropriate response is confident and sure praise to the one who makes that world available to us.” Brueggemann, The Message of the Psalms p. 33
“Notice with what delicacy this new song is wrought. The fear motif calls us back to verse 8, but that general term has now been made specific (v. 18). The ante is now upped, because the ones who fear are the ones who hope (v. 18). All people my fear; Israel hopes. Israel’s hope is not general or vague. It is focused on the steadfast love of Yahweh (v. 18, already asserted in v. 5). The whole earth is full of that loyalty, but Israel is the one who grounds its specific expectations in that reliability found in the whole creation.” Brueggemann, The Message of the Psalms p. 35
“Now we can see why Psalm 33 begins by summing the upright and righteous (v. 1). It is because they are the ones who “read creation,” who discern in its good order the loyalty of Yahweh and who therefore can live hope-filled lives. Not to be able to “read creation” is to live hopeless lives, not to know the real name of the Creator, not to be able to trust. To be able to trust (v. 21) is a response to the steadfastness of Yahweh. It is that perfect match about which the new song sings. The song is new because this evangelical certitude of God’s reliability overrides every incongruity in which God seems not faithful and creatures do not trust. Psalm 33 is a profound assertion about God, but also a bold announcement about true faith in Israel. This psalm discerns about creation that the truth of the world is not self-evident for anyone who takes a look; those who are not obedient may look a never see. Even creation is rightly read only through covenantal response, discerned through believing eyes.” Brueggemann, The Message of the Psalms p. 36
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.
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DAFLER, J. (2021). PSOBRIETY: A journey of recovery through the psalms. Louisville, KY: WESTMINSTER JOHN KNOX.
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Green, Barbara. 1997. Like a Tree Planted: An Exploration of Psalms and Parables Through Metaphor. Collegeville, MN: Liturgical Press.
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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.
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