Psalms And Practice

The essays in this book explore how the notion of practice helps contemporary readers understand Psalms in a new way. "Psalms and Practice" looks at three aspects of formation: prayer, how the psalms shape faith through the process of liturgy, and how the psalms shape as preached word.

During the Reformation, the Book of Psalms became one of the most well-known books of the Bible. This was particularly true in Britain, where people of all ages, social classes and educational abilities memorized and sang poetic versifications of the psalms. Those written by Thomas Sternhold and John Hopkins became the most popular, and the simple tunes developed and used by English and Scottish churches to accompany these texts were carried by soldiers, sailors and colonists throughout the English-speaking world. Among these tunes were a number that are still used today, including ‘Old Hundredth’, ‘Martyrs’, and ‘French’. This book is the first to consider both English and Scottish metrical psalmody, comparing the two traditions in print and practice. It combines theological literary and musical analysis to reveal new and ground-breaking connections between the psalm texts and their tunes, which it traces in the English and Scottish psalters printed through 1640. Using this new analysis in combination with a more thorough evaluation of extant church records, Duguid contends that Britain developed and maintained two distinct psalm cultures, one in England and the other in Scotland.

This volume is a compelling invitation to meditate on the deeper meaning of the fourteen verses of Psalm 27. During the month of Elul and the High Holy Day and Festival season, we reflect on our relationships, choices, beliefs, and practices, considering where to make repairs, adjustments, and atonement. Opening Your Heart with Psalm 27 provides gentle guidance through this journey of reflection, offering heartfelt insight, profound translation, and an invaluable framework for meaningfully participating in this annual spiritual practice.

From generation to generation, many Christians have adopted the habit of praying every month through all 150 psalms—songs that form the bedrock of both corporate worship and individual devotion. Through thousands of years of memorization, recitation, and singing, the people of God have found in this book a God-centered view of reality—words that put into perspective all our emotions, conflicting desires, times of suffering, and experiences of faith and doubt. In Psalms in 30 Days, Trevin Wax has adapted a centuries-old approach to reading the psalms by providing a "Morning," "Midday" and "Evening" pattern—following the Scriptural precedent for praying three times a day. This journey through the psalms, as translated in the Christian Standard Bible® (CSB), also features other songs from the Bible, as well as written prayers from faithful Christians who have gone before us. Here is a guide to praying all the psalms every month by—three times a day—lifting your eyes above your circumstances and reminding yourself that God is the blazing center of all things. Psalms in 30 Days features the highly readable, highly reliable text of the Christian Standard Bible® (CSB). The CSB stays as literal as possible to the Bible's original meaning without sacrificing clarity, making it easier to engage with Scripture's life-transforming message and to share it with others.

Renowned pastor and New York Times bestselling author of The Prodigal Prophet Timothy Keller explores the power of prayer. Christians are taught in their churches and schools that prayer is the most powerful way to experience God. But few receive instruction or guidance in how to make prayer genuinely meaningful. In Prayer, renowned pastor Timothy Keller delves into the many facets of this everyday act. With his trademark insights and energy, Keller offers biblical guidance as well as specific prayers for certain situations, such as dealing with grief, loss, love, and forgiveness. He discusses ways to make prayers more personal and powerful, and how to establish a practice of prayer that works for each reader. Dr. Keller’s previous books have sold more than one million copies. His Redeemer Presbyterian Church is not only a major presence in his home base of New York, it has also helped to launch more than two hundred fifty other churches in forty-eight cities around the world. His teachings have already helped millions, the majority of whom pray regularly. And with Prayer, he’ll show them how to find a deeper connection with God.

Walter Brueggemann's unique gift of joining historical-exegetical insights to penetrating observations about the traumas and joys of contemporary life?both personal and social?is here forcefully displayed. Everyone who is familiar with his work knows the power of his speech about "doxological, polemical, political, subversive, evangelical faith: and about the ways such faith is enacted in the praise of ancient Israel and in the church.Readers of this book will find fresh insight into:the Psalms as prayer and praisethe categories of the Psalmsthe social context in which psalms were prayed and sungthe theology of the Psalmsthe dialogical character of the Psalmsjustice and injustice in the Psalmsthe study and "use" of the Psalms by the churchpraise as an act of basic trust and abandonmentthe impossible wonders of God's activity that overturn conventional ways of

Drawing on research from the field of narrative ethics, The Storied Ethics of the Thanksgiving Psalms argues that story and storytelling function as important instruments in a given community's ethical shaping. While this argument has gained some traction in the field of Old Testament ethics, it has yet to inform an ethical reading of non-narrative texts, such as the Psalter. However, because the thanksgiving psalms are characterized by their inclusion of the worshipper's story, they stand to benefit from the application of a narrative ethical approach. In the present study, this argument is tested through a close reading of three thanksgivings – Psalms 116, 118, and 138 – each of which clearly demonstrates a didactic concern. Yahweh is presented as one who is worthy of trust, even in the midst of personal disaster. The affirmation of Yahweh's character provides the framework for the community's continued (or renewed) commitment and trust, hope and expectancy. The example provided by the worshipper challenges the audience to pray as they prayed, to trust as they trust, to live with hope as they live with hope. In addition, these psalms, and the stories they retell, invite the audience to tell their story when God answers their prayers, and to do so in public, in corporate worship, for the benefit of the community. These intended results – prayer, commitment, trust, hope, expectancy, public storytelling and thanksgiving – are not typically pursued in “ethical” studies, but they are clearly part of the Psalter's comprehensive vision of the ethical life and are, therefore, worthy of careful consideration.

The biblical Psalms in Christian worship : a brief introduction and guide to resources by John D. Witvliet (2007).