A Psalm Meditation Set

Yesterday I led worship for our community from the keyboard, with my daughter singing, good friend and stunning acoustic guitarist Dave Warne playing, and groovemaster Chris MacDonald on the cajon.

It was a meditative set, built around extended readings of 3 Psalms, Psalm 89, Psalm 40 and Psalm 119:1-24, from The Message. We began with Psalm 89. Then we sang 2 songs, read a Psalm over instrumental music, sang two songs, read a Psalm over instrumental music, and concluded with a chorus from the previous set.

The joy of leading it was the way that readings can allow free space for instrumental support behind the words and phrases, giving breath to both the words and the music.

It’s a model I think I will choose more frequently in contemporary worship sets at conferences and events.

As I spoke to folks in our community afterward, there were many who responded strongly to the musical part of the time, and many who responded strongly to the spoken word.

While it is not a full integration of the common lectionary, it is a way to integrate Psalms and extended passages into the standard contemporary set.

AVAILABLE NOW

Sheltering Mercy and Endless Grace help us rediscover the rich treasures of the Psalms—through free-verse prayer renderings of their poems and hymns—as a guide to personal devotion and meditation. Sheltering Mercy helps the reader pray Psalms 1-75; Endless Grace leads in prayer through Psalms 76-150.

The church has always used the Psalms as part of its prayer life, and they have inspired countless other prayers. Each book contains 75 prayers drawn from the Book of Psalms, providing lyrical sketches of what authors Ryan Smith and Dan Wilt have seen, heard, and felt while sojourning there. Each prayer is a response to the Psalms written in harmony with Scripture. These prayers help us quiet our hearts before God and welcome us into a safe place amid the storms of life.

These artful, poetic, and classic devotional books are a perfect gift, and feature compelling stunning illustrations and hardcover binding, offering a fresh way to reflect on and pray the Psalms. Co-written with Ryan Whitaker Smith, Brazos Publishing.

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