NotWorthy:
Does anyone have any good references on the Psalms, either MP3 or books? I’ve got “Singing in the Reign” by Michael Barber, but I’d like to know more.
When I read the Psalms, I sense that there is a LOT more there than meets the eye. It’s sort of like looking in a pool that is cloudy. I need something that will help clear the water.
Notworthy
NotWorthy:
The Pslams were Prayers and Songs… So they were originally meant to be song. I would try to find someone who is willing to do the “Liturgy of the Hours” or the breviary and sing them with them. One person or group does one verse or stanza, the other group does the next, and then you alternate.
The word,
Selah isn’t understood by most modrn scholars. If you recall that Gregorian chant and Chants like it came from the Temple Worshop of the time of Jesus and the Apostles, you’ll recall that the Church would take a section of a psalm, do that section and then say, “Glory be to the Father,…world without end.” Followed by the beginning of the section of whatever they had just done.
This is an example, but not from the Psalms -
Introit
Rejoice in the Lord Always, and again I say, Rejoice; let your moderation be known unto all men; the Lord is at hand. Be careful for nothing, but in every thing, in prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known unto God.
(Ps 85) Lord, Thou art become gracious unto Thy land; Thou hast turned away the captivity of Jacob.
V. (“Selah”) Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Ghost; As it was in the begining is now and ever shall be world without end. Amen.
Rejoice in the Lord Always, and again I say, Rejoice; let your moderation be known unto all men; the Lord is at hand. Be careful for nothing, but in every thing, in prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known unto God.
If you do something like that when it says
“Selah”. you’ll find those Psalms having a bit more emotional and spiritual “punch” than they would otherwise have.
You also might want to use the CROSS-REFERENCES, Esp. if the talk about who wrote them and what he was responding to when he wrote them. You might find yourself relating to a particular Psalm or set of Psalms simply because of the situation that caused them to be written.
You also might benefit from learning how to sing various Psalms… There’s a version of Psalm 5 (“Give ear to my words, O Lord”) I sing when I really need to do some heavy duty prayer. Calvery Chapel has a Songbook that’s put many of the Psalms and other Scriptures to music.
If you do this right, you could end up with a songbook that will help you in you praying of the Psalms, and you’ll plant the seeds of conversion to a Protestant who needs to come home…
You could do a lot worse.
May God bless you as you learn how to pray and study the Psalms.
In Christ, Michael
