I have written previously how, shockingly, in NZ Anglicanism, the Psalms have moved from being the most-encountered book in the Bible to being the least experienced.
Churches drawing from the English tradition of Christianity trace back to Augustine of Canterbury and the mission of his Benedictine monks. Their Rule of Benedict prayed the 150 psalms at least once a week. Fast forward a millennium to Archbishop Cranmer’s Book of Common Prayer (BCP) and there we have a vision of the whole church being “monastery like”. Everyone was encouraged to pray the 150 psalms at least once a month, and clergy were required to do so.
Fast forward again another four centuries to NZ Anglicanism and the General Synod (GS) revising of the BCP to produce A New Zealand Prayer Book He Karakia Mihinare o Aotearoa. At that 1987 meeting, GS also began the formulary-changing process to remove the requirement for clergy to pray the Daily Office.
Our Diocese’s Biblical Literacy Working Group discovered, unsurprisingly, that the Psalms are now the least-used part of the Bible in our Church. Although the Revised Common Lectionary (RCL: First Reading; PSALM; Second Reading; Gospel) is a formulary (agreed teaching and practice) of our Church, even the majority of those who use that lectionary in our Church (yes, many of our communities do not) omit the Psalm. [Full disclosure: in all the communities I have led as a priest – parishes, school, cathedral – we never skipped the Psalm]
The Biblical Literacy Working Group’s recommendation at last year’s Diocesan Synod was “That the Diocese promote the use of the Psalms in worship and their use personally and devotionally”. So, in the last fortnight, Mark Chamberlain (the Archdeacon for Regeneration and Mission in our diocese) met with me to discuss renewing people’s passion for the Psalms. I made the following points:
The Psalms form our spiritual alphabet; living in the Psalms facilitates a life-long Christian journey.
- Renewal of the Psalms needs to start at diocesan leadership and be encouraged by the Bishop. In our Diocese, praying the Daily Office is a requirement in our Bishop’s Letter of Offer for a position to clergy. It is unknown whether this is common, or what other dioceses and hui amorangi require of clergy.
- What about some sort of further motion at the diocesan synod?
- What about producing a Diocesan Lenten study on the Psalms, for example, “Praying the Psalms with Jesus
- A competition in our Anglican schools: art and poetry based on the Psalms
- A session at clergy conference on how to pray the Psalms: chanted (Anglican chant,
or simple contemporary chant); unison; antiphonally (two sections, or cantor/reader
and congregation); cantor/reader with a simple, memorable congregational refrain
(with a cue – so often in communities that has the reader give a refrain, as when this happens in the Prayers at the Eucharist, we need all our focus on remembering the refrain rather than praying the Psalm!), for example:- Give thanks to our God who is gracious;
God’s love endures for ever. - Sing to God a new song;
For God has done marvellous things. - Hear us, O God, and save us;
Be our rock and our fortress.
- Give thanks to our God who is gracious;
- Get 50 people to write a reflection on 3 psalms each; or 150 people writing about a psalm each (history; connection to Jesus; connection to our lives today) – all collected and then freely available on a PDF, Kindle format, website (e.g. the Diocesan Website. Mark asked that I produce an exemplar for the Psalm appointed in RCL this coming Sunday. See below.
- Currently Mark has organised that people in our Diocese can commit themselves to praying daily for renewal in our Diocese (I have made that commitment). I suggest, similarly, people could commit themselves to the praying of the Psalms (I organised such commitment, amongst parishioners who wanted to, when I was a parish priest).
- Communities could commit themselves to reading the full RCL readings and praying the appointed Psalm in the church service each Sunday (this Sunday, not using the Psalm saves only between 1-2 minutes! So: PRAY. THE. PSALM!
- Encourage preaching and teaching on the Psalm
- Offer a course at Theology House (our Diocesan theological library and a place offering courses) on the Psalms; and another course on preaching the Psalms
Here are some previous posts on the Psalms.
Here are some great responses from people about their favourite Psalm (or verses from a Psalm): Twitter; Facebook. There, also, was a good reminder of Terry Waite praying Psalms (and collects, I might add – though that’s for another time) while held hostage in solitary confinement.
Someone sent me this wonderful resource: on spirituality and resilience through the lens of the Biblical Psalms.
In the comments, below, do add your ideas to encourage praying, singing, (etc) the Psalms.
Mark asked me about the Psalms for a 1-minute video:
Psalm 145
Mark asked me to give an example of the sort of thing people could write to encourage intelligent, devout praying of the Psalms – he suggested I focus on this coming Sunday’s RCL Psalm. This link gives it in its A5 format.
[Greek number 144]
Psalms 138-145 are specifically attributed to David. The text of Psalm 145 has King David praising “my God and King”, the King of kings, the God by whom sovereigns reign.
The poetic structure of this psalm: this is an alphabetic acrostic psalm (cf Pss 9-10; 25; 34; 111; 112; 119). The first word in each verse in Hebrew begins with a successive letter of the Hebrew alphabet. The fourteenth letter, nun, is missing in some versions (e.g. NZPB p.369). That line was most likely in the original: “The Lord is faithful in all his words and gracious in all his deeds.” (NRSV)
This is the only psalm with the title: “song of praise”.
Jesus would have known this psalm by heart. Jews recite this psalm three times daily in the Ashrei. Verse 16 occurs in the Birkath Hammāzôn (“The Blessing of the Food”) the meal prayer Jesus prayed regularly, including at his Last Supper.
An attitude for gratitude is central in positive psychology. Ignatius of Loyola highlights the centrality of praise. He says, “God created human beings to praise, reverence, and serve God, and by doing this, to save their souls”. NZ Anglicans echo this as week by week as we pray, “It is right indeed, it is our joy and our salvation… at all times and in all places to give you thanks and praise.” If we struggle to thank and praise, we can pray this psalm conscious of being surrounded by all who have prayed this throughout the millennia (vv. 3-7 our praise is part of a chain of praise stretching out across generations), and of Jesus praying within us.
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My wife being a Benedictine Oblate, I share her commitment to the Divine Office using the beautiful office book for oblates “Benedictine Daily Prayer” from St John’s Abbey Minnesota. It uses the fine Grail metrical translation, so ideal for speaking aloud. We say Lauds and Vespers together most days. We often use the somewhat eccentric and eclectic Oremus blog for a wider coverage of psalms, and we value its ecumenical selection of Collects. What I find helpful is that when the words do not speak to my personal situation eg of despair and abandonment, they most certainly speak to someone else’s — we need to remember we praying with and for the whole Body of Christ and in the communion of saints and angels: leave the ego out of it and just go with the eternal rhythm in conscious solidarity. Often I find it helpful when saying Vigils in the wee hours of insomnia to think of a particular community like the Jerusalem Community in Paris who at that very time, 9 hours behind AEST, would be celebrating Vespers and align myself with their prayer.
Tim – we are totally on the same page. Literally. I also pray using the BDP and am an Associate of Kopua Cistercian Monastery (that’s akin to Benedictine Oblate). Blessings.
Your readers might find the psalm resources I mention in this blogpost useful Companions in Praying the Psalms anchoritepriest.com
They certainly would find those wonderful resources enriching, Martin. Blessings.
Hi Bosco, In times of trouble, stress, happiness and all of life, the Psalms let us know that the writers found the same feelings in their life as we do now. I believe we need the
Psalms more than ever in this crazy world we live in
Amen!
When Gayanne and I were at the Bible College of New Zealand (Now Laidlaw College) back in the early 90s she did a level 3 paper on the Psalms and taught about them at St Saviours, Kaitaia, while we were there. We were Pentecostals when at BCNZ and wondered how we would introduce the Psalms into worship in a Pentecostal context. Then we were appointed lay ministers in Kataia Anglican Parish. We were, at first, delighted to discover the Psalms were there in the lectionary to be used in worship each Sunday and in the daily readings. But then we found they were omitted in worship. That, of course, changed! And I have made that change in every parish I have been it. In one Evangelical parish I was astonished to find they only had one reading on Sunday and not necessarily the Gospel. A very devout lay leader told me she would leave if I added more readings. Nine years later we had all four readings including the Psalm and she was still very much there! It is ironical to me that the more “Evangelical” a Church the less readings from the scriptures it tends to have. And the converse tends to be true. What is that about? My favourite Psalm, in fact my favourite passage in the Bible since discovering I was transgender has been Psalm 139. To know that I was God’s design and that I was not a mistake, like a “Monday car” off an assembly line, but rather created this way for a purpose and as much a delight to God as any other of God’s children, has meant a lot to me. To know myself as “fearfully and wonderfully made” and that I was not only meant to be as I was born but also “all of my days” and the medical and other possibilities were known to God.
Psalm 139 is certainly a top one for me also. And, yes, it’s often surprising how churches that claim to be “Bible-based” or “Evangelical” use LESS of the scriptures than those who don’t emphasise that so much! I once attended a (self-described) “Evangelical” Anglican parish which only had one reading at the Eucharist – we all stood as the reader began: “A reading from the Holy Gospel according to the Galatians…”!!! Blessings.