Amy and the Psalms
The Book of Psalms contains the prayers of God’s people, lifting up to God the full range of human experience - sorrow, loss, pain, grief, loneliness, joy, hope, anger. If you have felt it, there is a Psalmist who has put that feeling into poetry for all to pray with you in that experience.
I write this on the first day of the shelter-in-place order in Maryland. Shelter – that is one of the words the Psalmist often uses for God. God is our shelter, our rock, tower, strength, fortress, shield. We hide underneath God’s wings, as we are sheltered from all that happens in our lives.
There are psalms of lament – Psalms 22, 13, 88, to name a few. Psalms of celebration or thanksgiving, like Psalms 114, 96, 97.
Today I invite you to read Psalm 103, one of the most powerful psalms of celebration of God and thanksgiving for all that God has done and is doing and will do for God’s people. Psalms are meant to be sung – though, rest assured, I don’t sing in this brief video. There are at least two songs STEEP has sung in worship that are based on Psalm 103 – Matt Redman’s “10,000 Reasons” and the Taizé chant “Bless the Lord, O My Soul," and another song, "Bless the Lord" by Dan Brennan, Marc Cavallero, Kevin Roth, and Ken Canedo which is sung at Claggett Camps. (Links to recordings of these at the official sites are below).
No matter where you are today personally, no matter how you are feeling today, I invite you to lift what weighs on you up to God and pray and sing Psalm 103. God’s people have prayed and sung this psalm of praise and thanksgiving for thousands of years, across all times and places, all experiences and all emotions. May your spirit be lifted as you join your voice and prayer with the voices of all God's people, past and present and still to come.
Peace,
Amy
Find Matt Redman's "10,000 Reasons" here: https://youtu.be/XtwIT8JjddM
Find the Taize chant "Bless the Lord, O My Soul" here: https://youtu.be/t4Svh-9ohg4
Find Dan Brennan, Marc Cavallero, Kevin Roth, and Ken Canedo's "Bless the Lord" here: https://youtu.be/IU7IADC2Wy4
