Preparing to Pray the Psalms

 

God, You belt out the Psalms with people and creation since the beginning of time.  God, You continue to write a holy harmony inside every cell of our bodies.  We pray for You to awaken our awareness that faithful people of all times and places have sought to share with You their praise, pain, petitions, and pleas for Your presence to inspire, interrupt, and infuse their lives right where they were.  People of all times and places have gone back to these words of the Psalms to embrace all the emotions of this fragile and fabulous experience of life.  May we, as people of this time and this place, open the pages of the Psalms to find ourselves afresh and anew.  May the coming days embolden us in unexpected ways.  May the coming days have moments when we feel Your embrace.  And may the coming days remind us that all of us (from the top of our head to pinkie toe) is enfolded by You.  Help us realize that in the pages of the Psalms we can glean more than we currently do from doom scrolling, constantly clicking, or binge watching.  Dare us, O God, to dive into Your lake of love that is recorded in the Hebrew Hymnal of the Psalms.  Help us find our unique voice to join the choir to share who these words are working in us and through us for the sake of the world You so love.  Amen.