‘Let those who are wise consider the steadfast love of God’ (43) Many threads to a story. ‘Songlines’ exhibition at National Gallery of Australia, Feb 2018. Many of the psalms include references to widely varying ideas, statements and twists tossed in that at first sight seem to confuse. Sometimes they meld into a tasty, herbal mix: … Continue reading Psalm 107, 14 March 2021
Tag: thanksgiving
Psalm 147b, 3 Jan 2021
Welcome to 2021! Readers will no doubt relish the prospect of sunnier times ahead. If you wish, add a note below on your hopes and intentions for making life better for you and others. Sunnier times ahead. Image: Libby O'Loghlin How tied we are to our environment, complete with wild weather, floods, droughts, fires, global … Continue reading Psalm 147b, 3 Jan 2021
Psalm 100, 22 Nov 20
No speed limit This poem, titled 'A psalm of thanksgiving', is intended as a hymn for singing in worship together, a delight currently denied to many of us. It calls not just for singing, but singing with joy and gladness; for "we are God's people, and the flock of God's pasture". (3) And it invites … Continue reading Psalm 100, 22 Nov 20
Psalm 118, 25 March 18
This psalm of thanks opens and closes with resounding acclamations of divine love and mercy that endure forever. In between are statements about trusting in God rather than in rulers (8), relief at delivery from evil and opposition (5, 10) access to goodness (19) and causes for rejoicing. Each year when this psalm arises on … Continue reading Psalm 118, 25 March 18
Psalm 107, 11 Mar ’18
Many of the psalms seem to have fag ends of widely varying ideas, statements and twists tossed in that at first sight seem to confuse. Sometimes they meld into a tasty, herbal mix: others just coexist, leaving the reader to ponder. Psalm 107, the first of Book V of the Psalter, has sections that depict … Continue reading Psalm 107, 11 Mar ’18
Psalm 111, 28 Jan 18
Psalm 111 is a song of praise in honour of the creative divine spirit whose very nature and deeds are awash in high standards of justice and goodness, "wrought in truth and equity".(8) These important attributes -- standing out like sustaining pillars throughout the Psalter and thus much remarked upon in this blog, much desired … Continue reading Psalm 111, 28 Jan 18
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
Psalms 9 and 10, skips
Psalm 10 never makes it into the weekly Lectionary readings, but 9 just sneaks in: "Year B, ordinary time, June 19-25 (if after Trinity)". Sounds iffy indeed. But still, 9 does not qualify as a 'skip'. So on to 10. But wait! In the early Septuagint translation and the original Hebrew, these two songs were one. (1) … Continue reading Psalms 9 and 10, skips
Psalm 30, 10 April 2016
Psalm 30 may have originally been a song of thanks for recovery from a serious illness. Evidently this was somewhat worse that just flat batteries; brought up from death and 'the Pit' (verse 3). Whatever the origin, the psalmist -- it's again attributed to David -- gives thanks for finding restoration and divine mercy after … Continue reading Psalm 30, 10 April 2016
Psalms for palms; 118, 31
After a couple of opening verses of Psalm 118 proclaiming divine goodness and mercy, the lectionary (liturgy of the palms) cuts to the second half. As Jesus enters the gates of Jerusalem, so here: Open for me the gates of righteousness; I will enter them and praise God. (v. 19) That corner stone now appears. The … Continue reading Psalms for palms; 118, 31
Psalms in the South 