A watched pot, so the saying goes, never boils. How frustrating is that seemingly interminable waiting -- for news, for decisions, for guidance or for inspiration. This Sunday we hear a simple but urgent lament in Psalm 13, in which the key question is ‘How long?' How long will that internal anxious silence last before an inkling … Continue reading Psalm 13, 2 July 2017
Month: June 2017
Psalm 86, Solstice
There’s no hint of it in the text of Psalm 86 but the Lectionary occasionally (Year A) trots this song out at around the time of the solstice. For those in 'the South', this is the winter solstice, shortest day in the southern hemisphere calendar. [Readers in the northern hemisphere might have to find a point of … Continue reading Psalm 86, Solstice
Psalm 116, 18 Jun 17
Nutty Numbers ... Here is one of those confusing points of discontinuity between the numbering of the Latin Vulgate Psalter and the modern western translations. 114 and 115 were combined into what is now 116 in our Psalter. This explains why some Ps 116 settings over the years are listed as quoting from Psalms 114 and … Continue reading Psalm 116, 18 Jun 17
Psalm 8, 11 Jun 17
‘Out of the mouth of babes and sucklings‘, according to Psalm 8, come not precocious wisdom and truth – as is the modern common usage of this phrase – but strength, or a bulwark ordained in heaven. The modern rather flippant saying recognises that children pick up and repeat what they hear, and sometimes that … Continue reading Psalm 8, 11 Jun 17
Psalms in the South 