"This one was born there… All our springs are in You" A mystery song about birth, sandwiched between Empires, yet in the City of God. We wonder with this marvelous song...

"Incline your ear to me YAHWEH... UNITE my heart to your Way". The beautiful Psalm begins a new movement of prayers that are close to the identity, heart, and experiences of the Messiah. The Christian scriptures quote this Psalm as the "Lamb's Song." We will explore some of its many treasures.

"God of our Salvation. . . Let us hear the footsteps of your Way" Psalm 85 is an overwhelming song of beauty and the fruitful arrival of heaven on earth. Some of the most important words and images in our expressions of faith come together in this prayer as we end a movement of Psalms that began in Psalm 79, leading through desolation, hopelessness, fury, and then a call to Pilgrimage--now we see the fruit of pilgriming with the Messiah.

"God, Walk with me. . . Let my Heart be your Way." This is a magnificent song of homecoming--we see the birds making a home, and the dry valley transformed into a source of strength.

"Do not be silent God! Do not be still!" How important is it to release our frustration with God?! Instead of pretending, masking, or burying this ancient prayer leads us through the vital heart-process of naming our hurts, fears, and disappointments in the process of sacred healing.

"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."