"Arise, God, judge the earth! . . . For You possess all the nations." This brief song focuses on the voice of God furiously calling out the gods, or those who pretend to be gods, for neglecting the needy and vulnerable. It is very different tone than Psalm 81 longing love song, but holds the same desire to satisfy and care. Also, this is a Psalm that Jesus quoted in a moment of enormous tension and threatening violence. We explore how to pray this with Jesus...

"God, Help me to listen... Help me to receive your goodness." Psalm 81 is a stunning song that begins with worship and then is mysteriously interrupted by the voice of God. With beautiful and strange images, it is a love song of longing from a God who wants to be heard and known.

"God, make Your Face shine upon us. . . and we will be saved." Psalm 80 gives us this refrain three times in a meditation on the Shepherd that seems to have abandoned, the vine that seems destroyed forever, and the hope that seems so dim. This Psalm introduces the Messiah's presence, and calls God, "Lord of Armies," a plea for strength and life after the traumatic destruction of Psalm 79... and preparing us for the strange voice in Psalm 81...

"How long, YAHWEH?. . . Forgive us and Save us!" This stands in stark contrast to the end of Psalm 78, where God has chosen Zion and the dwelling of the temple place--now the temple is destroyed and the communal trauma is overwhelming. This is an emotionally very difficult prayer, and an important guide for the broken spirit to continue crying out to God. The echo of "how long" pulls the spirit to continue searching for the Shepherd.

"God, Let us not forget your works. . . Help us feel your shepherding hand." Psalm 78 is a MASSIVE history, retelling the Exodus but in an interesting form of cycles, and ending at the place of Zion and God's loving presence. This is an important practice of communal memory but also sets us up for the coming emotional (and theological) conflict of what it means to be "chosen" by God. This Psalm also helps us explore what it means to be "Shepherded."

"Let me see your Way through the mighty Waters... Help me remember my Song through the Night." Psalm 77 holds the magnificent image of God walking through the overwhelming chaos and turbulence of the Waters. Beginning though, with descriptions of a tortured night, and a failed effort to remember God's presence, this crisis of faith is met with grace, power, and beauty.

"Put the Violence to Sleep, God... Turn our Wrath into Praise." This Psalm is a beautiful response to our desperate need for "vengeance"--when our safety is destroyed and what we love is taken away. The last Psalms bring us to this place of needing to see God's power over everything violent and terrible... and we are left with the image of wrath transformed.

"We give thanks, Your Name is Near"... When the physical place of nearness is destroyed, there is still the mystery of spiritual closeness. We explore this surprising response to the previous Psalm's description of the Temple's destruction (the symbol of God's nearness)

"Rejection and Ruin surround me...

God, let me feel your strength." This Psalm describes the horrifying destruction of the Temple--the place where God feels near... responding to Psalm 73's call to nearness with God, this prayer deals with the overwhelming emotions of that nearness destroyed. We are in a movement of Psalms that teach our spirits and minds how to pray through this struggle and continue asking God to "step toward the Irreparable Ruin"

"Take the bitterness from my heart God. Fill it with your Goodness..." This Psalm opens Book 3 of the prayer book with a way of looking at our hearts, the temptations they face, and an audacious way of presenting them to God. This prayer is beautifully confessional in a world of arrogance and violence.