My soul yearns for You, Eternal Flame of Love,
longing to reconnect to the Great Mystery!
Every day I will bless You as I follow the Voice of Truth.
Great are You, who call us to childlike wonder,
to the healing balm of forgiveness.
Each generation must learn anew the efficacy of silence,
the wisdom of turning inward,
That your Light might be their guide to holiness,
and your Love nurture them toward wholeness.
Yet, many there ware who turn from You in fear, denying their birthright.
Their denials will lead them further into alienation;
loneliness will companion them.
The Beloved is gracious and merciful, allowing every would free will
to follow the ego’s illusions or to choose Life.
Gratitude and quiet joy overflow as I recall the abundant blessings of your grace!
Lift up your hearts, all you who choose the path of Life! My heart is lifted up!
“Do you not know that your whole being is encompassed by My Love?
I am the infinite and the eternal within your soul;
O, that I might make Myself known to you!
Choose Love that you might overcome oppression
and blind obedience to false idols!”
“Divine Light shines in those who live in Love.
I shall uphold all who are burdened with fear, and raise up all who call to Me.
The time is nigh for you to choose,
for great is the new dawn that fast approaches;
I call each of you to open your inner ears, to see with spiritual eyes,
And to trust that even amidst the outward chaos,
all is working toward the wholeness of humanity.”
O, Heart of my heart, envelop me! I know You are near to all who call upon You.
Bring to my recollection all that I have denied, that I might be accepting and free
To help rebuild the soul of the world with radical trust, love, and wonder!
When I speak, let it be of blessing and gratitude;
let your glory within me shine out to the world!
Nan C. Merrill Psalms for Praying
Reflection:
God, you are merciful.
Help us to be merciful.
God, you are compassionate.
Help us to show compassion.
God, you abound in steadfast love.
Fill us with your Spirit, that we may abound in love.
God, you are faithful and true.
Help us to keep our word and deal in truth.
God, when we stumble and fall, you lift us up.
Help us to be your hands, lifting and holding one another.
God, you give food in due season.
Help us to see your abundance and share with those who are hungry.
God, you satisfy the desires of all who live.
Help us to be your hands, opening wide in generosity.
God, you are just in all your ways and kind in all your doings.
Help us to work for justice and be kind in all our doings.
God, you care for all your beloved.
Help us to remember that we are beloved, and to care for one another.
God, you create beauty and goodness all around us.
Help us to co-create with joy and gratitude.
God, you are merciful, compassionate, and loving.
Help us to be like you.
Amen.
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, 23rdSunday after Pentecost Psalm 98, 24th Sunday after Pentecost Psalm 46.
Sources and notes:
“In its superscription, Psalm 145 is introduced as a song of praise (Heb. tehillah) by David. It is the only psalm identified in that way. The Talmud showed its estimate of the psalm’s worth by saying, “Every one who repeats the Tehillah of David thrice a day may be sure that he is a child of the world to come” (Breakout, 4b). The psalm has always had a prominent place in the liturgy of the church.” Mays p. 437
“The psalm is an acrostic poem, and acrostics aim at comprehensiveness. In the Hebrew text, there are twenty-one lines, each beginning with the next letter of the alphabet. The line beginning with a nun is missing from the Masoretic tradition abut tit included in most english versions as vers 13b, with the support of an array of witnesses. The alphabetic pattern obviously forces certain constraints ton the author’s choice of words and the composition of the lines, but within those constraints, the composer of Psalm 145 has created a hymn with a literary structure not determined simply by the order of letters.” Mays p. 437
“It praises the name of the LORD by reciting the attributes and actions that comprise the character of the LORD.” Mays p. 438
“The word “every/all” is repeated sixteen times throughout the hymn, emphasizing the limited comprehensiveness of the praise of the LORD and of that for which the LORD is praised.” Mays p. 438
“Psalm 145 is the overture to the final movement of the Psalter. It is followed by five hymns, all of which are opened and concluded by the liturgical cry “Hallelujah!” All five echo features and language of Psalm 145. At its end, the David of the psalms promises, “My mouth will speak the praise of the LORD (v. 21a). The following psalms, all without attribution, are a literary fulfillment of that promise. The declaration that “all flesh will bless his holy name forever” anticipates the last line of Psalm 150, where the final summons to praise is sounded: “Let everything that breathes praise the LORD.” Psalm 145:21 and Psalm 150:6 stand as an inclusion around the paean of praise that concludes the book.” Mays p. 439
“Psalm 145 is the last of the group of eight psalms (Pss 138-145) at the end of book 5 of the Psalter that are ascribed, in their superscriptions, to David.” W p. 296
“The Babylonian Talmud tractate Berakot 4b states that Psalm 145, like the Shema(Deut. 6:4-5: “Hear, O Israel, the LORD is our God; the LORD alone. You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your might”), is to be recited three times a day and everyone who does so “may be sure that he [or she] is a child of the world to come.” Psalm 145 appears in the Jewish Prayer Book more than any other psalm in the Psalter, and the Psalm scroll 11QPsa from Qumran contains a version of this psalm in which the refrain “Blessed is the LORD and blessed is his name forever and ever” is included after each verse, pointing to some sort of liturgical use. All indications are that the words of this psalm were and are a vital part of the faith of the Jewish people.” W p. 297
“Brueggemann and Bellinger state that the psalm is “a good example of a poetic structure of intensification as the descriptions pile up.” We observe this “piling up” of the words used to describe God’s workings in the world and the numerous verbs used to convey the means by which the generations and the psalm singers will make God’s greatness known in verses 4-7.” W p. 300
“The word translated “compassion” in verse 9 and the one translated “merciful” in verse 8 are both derived from the word, which literally means “womb,” depiction there an image of the womb-love of a feminine God for her created world.” W p. 300
“The centerpiece, both physically and thematically, of the acrostic Psalm 145 is verses 11-13. …. The initial letters of these lines, reversed, spell the Hebrew word for king, melek, and within verses 11 -13 the word “kingdom” occurs four times.” W p. 300
“The message for those who pray the psalms today is simple and yet complex. In the midst of the turmoil and uncertainty in the twenty-first-century world, praising God as sovereign and making God ‘s sovereignty known to all flesh may be a way to find peace in the midst of the turmoil. But what does that mean? We can speak the words, but how do we put them into action? God is indeed sovereign, but for that sovereignty to be truly realized we must be the hands and feet of God in God’s world–what some scholars call “a communization” of kingship. In the ancient Near East the role of the sobering was to provide a safe place of habitation for humanity. That safety included dwelling places, farm land, drinking water, abundant harvests, increase of animals, and fertility within the family (see Pss 72 and 107). In our twenty-first-century world many people do not have the basic elements of safe habitation, whether as a result of poverty, societal violence, political corruption, disease, prejudice, or outright neglect. The psalm invites us, in addition to calling on God for help, to be the eyes and ears and hands and feet of God and “uphold all who are falling,” “raise up all who are bowed down,” “open our hands and give food,” and “hear the cry” of those who are less able to care for themselves and respond. That is to say: we must, in God’s name, provide for all that the sovereignty of God over the world promises.” W p. 302
v. 8-9 “They probably reflect Israel’s oldest theological assertion about God, which is certainly older than royal reality in Israel (cf. Exod. 34:6-7). Yahweh is here named twice. In these four phrases, Yahweh’s main characteristics are asserted: gracious, merciful, slow to anger, abounding in steadfast love, good compassionate. Full to explore these terms would require extended exposition, but we may summarize by saying that they express God’s free, passionate and limitless self-giving to the covenant perter, in this case, the whole created world. Perhaps the rest of the psalm is best understood as an extrapolation from these verse to see how God’s characteristic self-giving is experience din the daily blessings of creation.” Brueggemann, The Message of the Psalms p. 29
“Psalm 145 celebrates the order of God’s creation, which not only governs, but surprises and inverts and gives unwarranted gifts to unlikely creatures. God’s regal power is mobilized to care for the otherwise uncared for.” Brueggemann, The Message of the Psalms p. 30
v. 20 “The verse is enough to see the subtle linkage of a free celebration of creation and a sober assertion of a particular social form and a social interest. That is how the orientation of social life is experienced. Whenever we celebrate God’s goodness, we celebrate is as it is cast in “fleshy” form, which is never as free as the initial offer. To maintain a fully oriented life, one must accept the regnant boundaries.” Brueggemann, The Message of the Psalms p. 31
“The counter-world of the Psalms contradicts our world of greed by mediating to us a world of abundance in which greed is completely inappropriate. The ground for such an abundance that refuse greed is the glad doxological affirmation that God is the creator who has blessed and funded the earth so that tit is a gift that keeps on giving. The doxological assumption is that when God’s creatures practice justice, God’s earth responds with new gifts. Our anxiety that funds greed is undone by abundance that funds grateful generosity. That divine generosity is not determined by quantities or possessions, but by a panoply of gifts that defy quantification. The doxological attitude of the Psalms makes grasping for more unnecessary, so that the compulsion for usurpation is nullified in doxological practice. One might consider any of the great creation doxologies, but Psalm 145 is an excellent case study in the alternative to greed. The psalm begins with a catalog of divine acts that are inexplicable but not doubted in the poetry.” Brueggemann, From Whom No Secrets are Hid p. 17
“Thanks for food is an act of defiance against any temptation to greed. We eat because it is a gift. It is not an achievement or an accomplishment or a possession. When the creation is recognized as a gift that keeps on giving so the loaves abound, we need not covet what is on the plate of our neighbor. We need not horde. We need not acquire a surplus because we may run out, because this is the God who gives are more abundantly than we can ask or imagine.” Brueggemann, From Whom No Secrets are Hid p. 18
Psalm 145 “It may be regarded as a not very interesting collection of cliches. But in fact, it affirms God’s providential care. The unimaginative style makes the confident claim. Such a psalm comes very close to civil religion, for it sounds like a celebration of the status quo.” Brueggemann, From Whom No Secrets are Hid p. 155
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.
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