psalms in the summer: part three

We begin the summer immersion into the Psalms on Monday, June 1. Our hope is that individuals will read a Psalm in the morning and a Psalm in the evening, across the 90 days. By spending this time daily in the Psalms, and taking one day off each week, you will read through the Psalms. Eugene Peterson writes, in Answering God,

"The extravagant claim is that the Psalms are necessary…If we wish to develop in the life of faith, to mature in our humanity, and to glorify God with our entire heart, mind, soul and strength, the Psalms are necessary. We cannot bypass the Psalms. They are God’s gift to train us in prayer that is comprehensive (not patched together from emotional fragments scattered around that we chance upon) and honest (not a series of more or less sincere verbal poses that we think might please our Lord)."

and again, in his Introduction to the Psalms,

"Untutored, we tend to think that prayer is what good people do when they are doing their best. It is not. Inexperienced, we suppose that there must be an “insider” language that must be acquired before God takes us seriously in our prayer. There is not. Prayer is elemental, not advanced, language. It is the means by which our language becomes honest, true and personal in response to God. It is the means by which we get everything out in the open before God."

The following resources may be helpful to you over the 90 days. Please join us, connect in whatever way is best for you---this blog, our twitter site, or on Facebook (simply type in "Summer Psalms" in your search there).

The following resources may also be helpful to you, for various reasons:

Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Psalms: The Prayerbook of The Bible
Walter Brueggemann, Praying The Psalms
Walter Brueggemann, The Message of The Psalms
Ellen Davis, Wondrous Depth
Marva Dawn, I'm Lonely Lord--How Long?
James Howell, Preaching The Psalms
Clint McCann, Great Psalms of The Bible
Thomas Merton, Bread In The Wilderness
Thomas Merton, Praying The Psalms
Kathleen Norris, Cloister Walk
Peter Wallace*, Connected: You and God in The Psalms

*Note: If you are in Charlotte on June 21, Peter will be teaching the Psalms that morning at Providence UMC.