Can we liberate the psalms from their pious shackles? Can these ancient poems, songs and prayers speak into the 21st century in a way that includes the personal, but also embraces the political, the ecological and social dimensions of our lives?
What happens if we allow the psalms to shape our world, to liberate our imaginations, to direct our desires? Do the psalms have enough resonance over the centuries to set us free anew?
Leonard Cohen, Psalmist by Brian Walsh
Has Leonard strained to hear that voice whispering through all of creation? Has he had an ear for that voice without words? Might he have the gift of translating such creational glossalia?
Exile, Song and Rage by Brian Walsh
We are made for singing, even when we can’t quite bring ourselves to it. And in exile, lament and rage become the blues of the community.
Psalm 33 and an Ontology of Love by Brian Walsh
The earth is full of the steadfast love of God.
Dripping, saturated, soaked, running over in love.
Even against the evidence.
Thanksgiving and Lament: Psalm 42-43 by Brian Walsh
Where is your God? Where is that God who was so close in your worship leader days? Where is that God who was on your lips in praise?
“Psalm 137” image by Flickr user Raffaele Esposito. CC BY 2.0.
From Trust to Lament to Trust Again: Psalm 30 by Brian Walsh
There is a dynamic in life that is echoed in the psalms. We move from times of settled orientation to crisis experiences of disorientation and then, if grace touches us, we move to an experience of reorientation. Or we could say, from trust to lament and then to trust again. Psalm 30 has it all.
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Psalm 137, Exile and Rocket Launchers by Brian Walsh
“If I had a rocket launcher, some son of a bitch would die” meets “blessed is he who smashes their (babies) heads against the rocks.” This stuff is in the Bible?
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Psalm 44: Waking Up God by Brian Walsh
Sometimes faithful language needs to be impolite. Sometimes you need to yell at God to ‘wake up.’ And sometimes that will get people walking out of the room.
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Terror No More: Psalm 9/10 and a terrible week in Canada by Brian Walsh
“Terror no more.” That’s how Psalm 9/10 ends. How can that be? Not without judgement and some broken arms.
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Parental Advisory: Idols are F**cked Up by Brian Walsh
Idols require sacrifices. Things like children, the environment, our dignity, and truth. Get thinking about Psalm 115 and mix in a little Bruce Cockburn and before you know it, you get a parental advisory slapped on you.
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Prayer Litany: Reading Psalm 2 through the lens of Jesus by Nate Wall
What happens when you pray Psalm 2 through the lens of Jesus? A Wine Before Breakfast prayer litany.
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Psalm 2: Which Son Shall we Kiss? by Brian Walsh
You can’t make the ideological rhetoric of Psalm 2 palatable simply by painting it with Jesus. At least, not unless you turn it on its head. Which is exactly what happens.
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Advent, Psalm 145 and a ‘Fantastic’ Vision by Brian Walsh
If we are to have a radically alternative vision of life, then it will need to embrace the “fantastic” worldview of a compassion that goes all the way down.
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Psalm 98: Joy, Judgment and Advent by Brian Walsh
Psalm 98 is an invitation to a victory party … against the evidence, in the face of the empire.
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