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Commonplace Holiness

Tag: Praying the Psalms

  • Blessing – Psalm 1:1

    Blessing – Psalm 1:1

    Reflections and a Prayer on Psalm 1

    It is generally agreed among the scholars that Psalm 1 is an introduction to the whole book of Psalms. Some think it was never itself sung. So, reading it is a way of orienting ourselves to the whole book that follows. It shows us how the first compilers of this book understood it.

    Prayer calls us away. It calls us to focus on the ultimate rather than the immediate. It calls us to attentiveness to God. In a sense, we become more aware of our surroundings, not less aware.

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  • Praying the Psalms

    Praying the Psalms

    An Introduction.

    Many years ago, back in the days when I was in Seminary, I picked up an Interlinear Hebrew-English Psalter. It’s one of the best purchases I’ve ever made. It’s a small, slim volume, a 1974 Zondervan reprint of a much older edition published by Samuel Bagster & Sons Ltd. in London. The correct title is: The Interlineary Hebrew and English Psalter in which The Construction of Every Word is Indicated, and the Root of Each Distinguished by the Use of Hollow or Other Types.

    I liked the little book immediately, because it is printed in a way that clearly indicated the Hebrew roots and constructions. I knew immediately that I’d made a good purchase. But, it was many years before I actually put it to any regular use. Somewhere, some time, I learned to use the Psalms as my Prayer Book.

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