"God, we praise you!... You lift us up with Grace and Compassion". This Acrostic Poem (a teaching and memorizing tool used to convey the alphabet sounds and the power of the written word) fills us with images of God's power, and sets us up for the place of HalleluYah.

"God, reach out and rescue me... Bring me Home" This Psalm ends the movement of Psalms that respond to the magnificent intimacy of Psalm 139. After enduring the attacks on our communion with God, there is this experience of full homecoming.

"God my soul longs for You... in You I take shelter"... We continue this movement of Psalms that leads us through the lonely attacks on our intimacy with God we felt so powerfully in Psalm 139... they are like a deep dive into the final line of the Lord's Prayer.

"God, You are my refuge... when my spirit feels weak" This Psalm of deep suffering of abandonment comes in the shadow of the beautiful intimacy of Psalm 139... a connection with God that will feel attacked, but this ancient prayer guides us cry out to (and at) God when we fall into the dark cave.

"God, lead me away from temptation... for my eyes are toward you"... we continue in the shadow of Psalm 139's divine intimacy, but explore the attacks that come against that closeness, and return to the uncomfortable idea of "perfect hate"

"GOD, PROTECT ME FROM THE EVIL ONE... LET ME DWELL IN YOUR PRESENCE" this Psalm begins a movement of 5 prayers that respond to the great, divine intimacy of Psalm 139 with the reality of that intimacy's desperate need for protection... Christians understand these Psalms from the last line of the "Lord's Prayer": deliver us from the evil one

For your meditation, we've taken out the commentary so you can simply listen to this ancient movement of the Psalms which leads us from a since of place, through a mantra prayer, into the depths of pain and rage, back up to a promise of love, and into the most intimate prayer of the Messiah's relationship with the Creator--a prayer of invitation and welcome Home.

This is not like any of our other episodes... We explore an entire movement of Psalms, and perhaps the most important movement in the Psalms as we arrive at the Prayer Book's zenith. Gaye and John give commentary to introduce each Psalm, then Ramona prays them for us... the next episode will just be Psalms 135-139 but with our commentary removed for your use in meditative prayer.

"God who made Heaven and Earth... we bless You"... this is the last of the Pilgrim Songs, the Psalms of Ascent sung the faithful go up to Zion. It is set in the dwelling place of the creator, the full homecoming.

"God, Anoint us with unity... bless us with life together"... this pilgrim song gives us lovely images of receiving this gift of unity against all the odds of the world.