I have been tagged with a meme, for which the instructions are:
In an effort to keep it simple, short, and easy to follow, I’d like to challenge you to quote one verse (not one chapter). And then say what the Lord has been teaching you in one sentence (not one paragraph). Then tag 5 peeps (you know the drill).
Before I get to my verse, I want to present a challenge of my own – to those who are involved with planning church services: Help your congregation to grow into its identity as the people of Jesus Christ by getting them to say/sing Psalms together. I think there is real value here: As we say, or preferably sing, certain psalms, we are corporately entering into the experience of the Anointed One, engaging with his alienation and persecution, sharing his hope for vindication, learning his dependence on God, voicing his joy and praise of God the Father…
Growing up, I was scared of praying certain psalms, because they just didn’t sound like things I could genuinely pray: “if you test me, you will find no wickedness in me” etc… But as Christians, we need to pray these Psalms, conscious that being Christian means being in Christ. That’s why everything we pray, we pray “in Jesus’ name”. So as we who are in Christ sing these sorts of Psalms, we are both reminding ourselves of who he is, and reminding ourselves of that to which we are called to conform.
Anyway, with that background, my choice is Psalm 17, verse 8:
Guard me as the apple of your eye; hide me in the shadow of your wings.
Sound enticing? Sing it with the people of God.
And that’s the way I’d like to pass on this meme: I tag everyone involved in planning/leading church services: Get the people to sing/say a psalm together, and let us know how it goes…
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There are many things I’d like to say on this, but without posting my own blog entry, this quote might suffice for now:
‘If … the singing of psalmody rings out from the innermost reaches of the heart, the omnipotent Lord finds a way through this singing into the heart that he might pour the mysteries of prophecy or the grace of remorse into this attentively listening organ. For it is written: “A song of praise honors me, and this is the way on which I wish to show him the salvation of God” [cf. Ps. 50.23]. For the Latin salutare, salvation, means Jesus in Hebrew. Hence in the song of praise we gain access to where Jesus can reveal himself, for if remorse is poured out through the singing of psalms, then a way to the heart emerges in us at the end of which we reach Jesus’
(Gregory the Great – Homiliae in Ezechielem I, 1.15)
Matthew, on Sunday nights at my church I’m surveying the books of the Bible, and this coming Sunday I’m going to do the Psalter.
I plan to have members tell me what are their favorite Psalms and what verse will they like me to read.
The early Christians meditate on and sang the Psalms (Eph 5:19; Col 3:16). And notice how often Paul quotes from the Psalter.
Good stuff!! I’m moving into a routine now in which, as I walk to uni each day, I listen to Psalms being sung (by the band Sons of Korah – an Australian band whose songs are exclusively psalms set to music)… I find it’s helping to situate me as I reach the office to begin reading & working: As Pope Benedict XVI says:
“The meaning of a given passage of the Bible becomes most intelligible in those human beings who have been totally transixed by it and have lived it out. Interpretation of Scripture can never be a purely academic affair, and it cannot be relegated to the purely historical. Scripture is full of potential for the future, a potential that can only be opened up when someone ‘lives through’ and ’suffers through’ the sacred text.” Jesus of Nazareth, p78.
Of course, this is not all there is to say about interpreting the Bible, but I think there is something useful here: Inhabiting the word helps us to hear it afresh.
Another quote from the pope about praying the psalms:
“Normally, thought precedes word; it seeks and formulates the word. But praying the Psalms and liturgical prayer in general is exactly the other way round: The word, the voice, goes ahead of us, and our mind must adapt to it. For on our own we human beings do not ‘know how to pray as we ought’ (Rom 8:26) – we are too far removed from God, he is too mysterious and too great for us. And so God has come to our aid: He himself provides the words of our prayer and teaches us to pray. Through the prayers that come from him, he enables us to set out toward him; by praying together with the brothers and sisters he has given us, we gradually come to know him and draw closer to him.” Jesus of Nazareth, p131.
Check out my blog for resources on the Psalms! I hope you find them helpful.