THE PSALMS AS OUR PRAYER PRAISE St Mary

THE PSALMS AS OUR PRAYER & PRAISE St Mary Bredin Church

THE PSALMS AS OUR PRAYER & PRAISE WEEK 1: SING TO THE LORD A NEW SONG Aim: • To get an overview of how the Psalms have been used by Christians over two thousand years as their prayer and praise, and to open up some questions about their place in the church today.

SING TO THE LORD A NEW SONG Outline 1. Overview of the sessions 2. Psalm 84 3. What is special about the Psalms? 4. A common language for the church 5. The Psalms in decline? 6. Facing the challenges 7. Psalm 84, again

Overview of the sessions Week 1 ‘Sing to the Lord a new Song’ Aim: to get an overview of how the Psalms have been used by Christians over two thousand years as their prayer and praise, and to open up some questions about their place in the church today Week 2 ‘Enthroned on the praises of Israel’ Aim: To understand better the place of the book of Psalms within the Bible as a whole, and to explore what it means for the church to use the words of the ‘praises of Israel’

Overview of the sessions Week 3 ‘Speaking with Christ’ To discover how Christians in the past have read the Psalms in order to speak with Christ, and to consider whether this way of making the Psalms the praise and prayer of the church may still be relevant for us today Week 4 ‘Being transformed’ To investigate ways in which Christian writers on the Psalms have described how we can be transformed in reciting them, and to ask how reading and singing them today can be one way in which we are ‘transformed by the renewing of our minds’

Psalm 84 We’ll read through the Psalm together, seeking to offer prayer and praise to God as we do so. After that, a brief conversation in groups of three (if possible): • Was there a verse, phrase or word that particularly struck you as we did this? • Let everyone in the group just say what it was that struck them first, and then give a brief opportunity for people to say why it drew their attention.

What is special about the Psalms? • God’s revelation makes human life a conversation with him • The Bible draws us into that conversation • The Psalms are distinctive in that their main focus is on us speaking to God, rather than God to us • Speaking parts for characters in the drama, inviting our ‘identification’ • Yet also God’s inspired word to us – what words could be better for us to offer back to God in prayer and praise? • That’s how Christians have seen things for much of history – but are the Psalms going into decline in the life of the church?

A common language for the church • Early Christians’ use of the Psalms? Hard to say. • 4 th-century approach (1): monastic communities regularly praying through the book of Psalms from beginning to end • 4 th-century approach (2): congregations using a selection of psalms for their daily public worship • (1) + (2) = the pattern of daily prayer & worship throughout the Middle Ages (working through book of Psalms every week) • Protestant Reformers: keep the pattern but make it accessible for all • Cranmer: faithful translation better than metrical versions (working through book of Psalms every month)

The Psalms in decline? • 18 th-century: attendance at daily services begins to fall away • Evangelical Revival: hymns begin to displace metrical psalms in sung worship • 20 th-century: Church of England (and others) try to make the use of psalms as recommended for daily prayer less off-putting, and to ensure psalms feature weekly in Sunday worship • Well-known writers publish books to help Christians pray and praise with the psalms

Facing the challenges 1. ‘We are not Israel’ 2. ‘We want to see Jesus’ 3. ‘We long to be changed’

Psalm 84, again • How do you use the Psalms in prayer and praise? • Are there any parallels with aspects of the history we heard about tonight and how Christians have used the Psalms in the past? • Can you think of examples of how Psalm 84 has been used in Christian worship?

THE PSALMS AS OUR PRAYER & PRAISE WEEK 1: SING TO THE LORD A NEW SONG Aim: • To get an overview of how the Psalms have been used by Christians over two thousand years as their prayer and praise, and to open up some questions about their place in the church today.

THE PSALMS AS OUR PRAYER & PRAISE NEXT WEEK: ENTHRONED ON THE PRAISES OF ISRAEL Aim: • To understand better the place of the book of Psalms within the Bible as a whole, and to explore what it means for the church to use the words of the ‘praises of Israel’.

THE PSALMS AS OUR PRAYER & PRAISE St Mary Bredin Church