It was wonderful meeting at St Peters' this morning, our first Celtic Morning Prayer gathering since the pandemic began. It was good to meet again and celebrate, remember and praise with this very special service. We even had music with the help of the ebook https://www.amazon.co.uk/Celtic-Daily-Prayer-Northumbria-Community-ebook/dp/B0797KY7MH the Northumbrian Community directs the prospective purchaser to Amazon! It is lovely to sing along, especially outside with each other!
This coming Sunday, 6th June I am going to be leading Matins at 9.15am for Benefield. I am a little excited as it is the first time leading since just before Christmas, before we 'locked down' again. It was a beautiful bright winters morning, and this Sunday, I am hopeful we will be inside. Benefield has such a beautiful setting and I am very much looking forward to catching up with the gathering there. Below is the transcript for Sunday...
"Songs of Praise"
Notes on the Psalms: Psalms 27, 91 & 138
There is nothing like a short deadline to pull focus, especially for the sermon writer! It was the Psalms I turned to for inspiration as in a sense they are the song book of our lives. This morning we have said together Psalm 138, a song of David … it goes straight to the heart…
1 I will praise you, Lord, with all my heart;
before the ‘gods’ I will sing your praise.
2 I will bow down towards your holy temple
and will praise your name
for your unfailing love and your faithfulness,
for you have so exalted your solemn decree
that it surpasses your fame.
3 When I called, you answered me;
you greatly emboldened me.
Straight in, wham bam, verses 1-3 embodies the one thing we have been asked to do by God, to love the Lord our God with all our hearts.
We can find that wondrous statement in Matthew 22:36-40 as we hear from Jesus when asked which is the greatest commandment
“…‘Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law? ’Jesus replied: ‘“Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.” This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: “Love your neighbour as yourself.” All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.’ ..."
Pondering on the words of Jesus and the connection with Exodus 20 and the exaltation in the Psalm 138, I wondered what else I might find in this treasure of poetry delights…
I read on with 138 and it steps up a notch in verse 4, not just the reader/writer praising but encouraging earthly monarchs to praise…
4 May all the kings of the earth praise you, Lord,
when they hear what you have decreed.
5 May they sing of the ways of the Lord,
for the glory of the Lord is great.
6 Though the Lord is exalted, he looks kindly on the lowly;
though lofty, he sees them from afar.
and then at verse seven we are reminded of the 23rd psalm - the comforter, the shepherding psalm, the guiding and companion on the way psalm, linked to lament and the pilgrim on the road…
7 Though I walk in the midst of trouble,
you preserve my life.
You stretch out your hand against the anger of my foes;
with your right hand you save me.
8 The Lord will vindicate me;
your love, Lord, endures for ever –
do not abandon the works of your hands.
It ends with the Creation story at the very beginning in Genesis. The Psalms are loaded, Jesus’s words are loaded and so beautifully grounded in the Old Testament, the thread that runs through the Gospels, through Acts and our continuing story of walking with God.
As I continued to ponder on the Psalms I was reminded of the liturgy surrounding Celtic Morning Prayers, from the Northumbrian Community. Some of you may be aware at St Peter’s on a Friday morning we usually have a short Celtic Morning Prayer service, grounded in the Northumbrian Community prayer book. We returned last Friday and held it outside in the churchyard, we could sing and the setting fitting, it always felt it should be outside! (Not sure what it will be like in winter though) However the opening prayers are rooted in Psalm 27:4
“One thing I have asked of the Lord…”
and that one small phrase in itself is powerful. It set me thinking again, when do we ever ask “one small thing” we usually have a list as long as our arm when we pray…well I do, I’m guessing you do too! When you explore excitedly into the midsts of the psalm you become awakened to the treasures that are hidden amongst the stanzas.
Psalm 27 has a host of well know gems. It opens in verse 1 with...
“The Lord is my light and my salvation.”
Immediately this triggers a time in my life when I really needed a lot of Light and love from God and that phrase “The Lord is my Light” is part of a very well know Taize chant that has brought comfort to many people across the world, me included. It is a simple statement of fact: “The Lord IS my Light” a reassurance and a statement of fact: an assuredness. In the chant it goes on with “my Light and my salvation in Him I trust”. In the Psalm itself it says “The Lord is the stronghold of my life of who shall I be afraid?” These are powerful words, and it’s only the first verse; a taste of what’s to come no doubt. My eyes dart to verse 5 “For in the day of trouble He will keep me safe in his dwelling” he will hide me in the shelter of his sacred tent and set me hight upon a rock”. These words evoke as sense of protection and security. Psalm 23 is just prior to 27. These are the words of a poet who has really thought, discerned and been able to write beautifully what the Lord means to the individual and to the people collectively. The Psalms are songs to be shared, in privacy for the individual or collectively; songs of pleasure, pain, joy, lament and pilgrimage. In a sense when we embark on reading the Psalms more closely it is with a sense of pilgrimage, as we journey through the centuries and encounter the different writing styles of the myriad of contributors to the songs of love, life and passion. The Psalms are a collection of works massed over time and from various authors, some we are fairly sure of and some we have no evidence except the exquisite writing.
The psalm writers are part of a heritage of music makers, and we can only guess at the sound world that accompanied these sentiments, gifted to us so eloquently. Clashing symbols, plucked lyre and tinkling harp, resonating with the best musical instrument of all, the human voice. One of the cruel effects on the Pandemic has been the cessation of singing indoors, it is with joy that we can sing outside in a socially distanced environ, and we are lucky here in Benefield that we can raise our voices in praise and get those feel good endorphins releasing a feeling of wellbeing inside and out. We haven’t got harp and cymbals this morning (it’s still a bit too early) but we can take heart from the Psalms. At times of loss, it is extremely easy to loose heart and we have had much to lament over the past year. But right at the close of this stunning 14 verse Psalm 27, is a nugget of encouragement and hope. I can see why it has been used as a signpost for liturgy, prayer and steadfastness because the closing stanza says; “…Wait for the Lord; be strong and take heart and wait for the Lord…”
Again, that sense of protection and a reminder that in all things we cannot do without our Lord, our God to “…cover you with his feathers, and under his wings you will find refuge…” (that’s Psalm 94:4) These two Psalms nestled in both ends of the songbook highlight the love that God has for his people. He trusts in us, it is part of the Covenant, it is up to us to play our part and place our trust in His hands.
COLLECT for the 1st Sunday after Trinity
God of truth,
help us to keep your law of love
and to walk in ways of wisdom,
that we may find true life
in Jesus Christ your Son.
In the words of Psalm 19....
"...May these words of my mouth and this meditation of my heart
be pleasing in your sight,
Lord, my Rock and my Redeemer...." Amen
Peace be with you friends <><
See you in the St Peters, Oundle churchyard next Friday 11th June at 9am (chair, and mobile in hand please!)
Caroline :)
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