Psalms

I'm reading a book at the minute called Praying the Psalms by Walter Brueggemann, who is one of the foremost Old Testament scholars on the Psalms. I would recommend it for anybody interested in exploring the Psalms as an act of worship.  I came across this very meaty quote which reminded me of a conversation we had a few weeks ago about interpreting the Psalms. Read it slowly and if nothing else, savour the lovely use of language.

The Psalms, with a few exceptions, are not the voice of God addressing us. They are rather the voice of our own common humanity— gathered over a long period of time, but a voice that continues to have amazing authenticity and contemporaneity. It speaks about life the way it really is, for in those deeply human dimensions the same issues and possibilities persist. And so when we turn to the Psalms it means we enter into the middle of that voice of humanity and decide to take our stand with that voice. We are prepared to speak among them and with them and for them, to express our solidarity in this anguished, joyous human pilgrimage. We add a voice to the common elation, shared grief, and communal rage that besets us all

How about that for a bit of fun, ey?

I have a few things to say about the Psalms; think of this as a summary of my introduction talk combined with various comments made over the past few weeks.

Firstly, when reading any part of the Bible, but especially the Psalms, it is important to remember context.  If you take away nothing else, let it be this.

• What is happening?
• Praise, Thanksgiving, Lament
• Who is speaking
• Individual
• Community
• Either by a spokesperson for the community (e.g. King, Priest or Prophet) or by the people in general

Secondly, it is important to remember that the Psalms were written as ancient poems and songs, not as works of systematic theology.  You won't find organised thought-patterns or rational arguments, but rhetorical devices, imagery and metaphor.  Rather than trying to make the Psalms fit into the Christian understanding of faith and God, it is much better to look at them they were intended.  Certainly, the Psalms have something to say to the Christian world-view, but that was not their original intention.  Look at the context of the psalm: what was the intended audience? Is this a personal hymn of praise or the cries and wails of a community?  We need to look at a psalm holistically.  Does what is being said in this ancient Jewish poem resonate with my experiences as a Christian in 2011?  How can it inform my daily walk with God thousands of years after it was written?

Understanding the Psalms should be less about working through them verse-by-verse, trying to figure out what is going on, and more about joining with the "voice of our common humanity."  How do we do that? The devotion I wrote for our time in Romania used the structure: Read, Think, Pray, Live.  Try using this when studying the Psalms.

• Read
• Appreciate the rich use of language.
• Think
• What is this psalm about?
• Think about who it was written for.
• What is said? Is it relevant to your life?
• Pray
• Ask God to speak to you.
• Is there something that is troubling you that this Psalm has brought up?
• Maybe you need to thank God or praise him.
• Maybe you need to cry out to him.
• Live
• Take what you have learnt.  Use it in your daily walk.

I hope this is helpful to you.  If you have any questions or whatever, hit me up in the comments and we can try to have a discussion.  Alternatively, real life communication works too.