Cotter gracefully merges the beauty and poetry of the original Psalms with the reality of today's world in well-crafted, contemporary language.
Cotter gracefully merges the beauty and poetry of the original Psalms with the reality of today's world in well-crafted, contemporary language.
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Overview
Cotter gracefully merges the beauty and poetry of the original Psalms with the reality of today's world in well-crafted, contemporary language.
Product Details
| ISBN-13: | 9780819225092 |
|---|---|
| Publisher: | Morehouse Publishing |
| Publication date: | 10/01/1998 |
| Sold by: | Barnes & Noble |
| Format: | eBook |
| Pages: | 352 |
| File size: | 868 KB |
About the Author
Read an Excerpt
Psalms for a Pilgrim People
By JIM COTTER
Church Publishing Incorporated
Copyright © 1989 Jim CotterAll rights reserved.
ISBN: 978-0-8192-2509-2
CHAPTER 1
THE TWO WAYS – A WISDOM SONG
Refrain: Keep us true to your Way.
Woe to us when we walk in the way of wickedness,
when we bend our ear to the counsel of deceit,
and scoff at what is holy from the seat of pride.
Blessings upon us when we delight in the truth of God,
and ponder God's Law by day and by night,
when we stand up for truth in face of the lie,
when we mouth no slogans and betray no friends.
Then we shall grow like trees planted by streams of water,
that yield their fruit in due season,
whose leaves do not wither.
We struggle with evil in our hearts,
tossed to and fro like chaff in the wind,
a rootless people whose lives have no meaning,
unable to stand when judgment comes,
desolate, outside the house of our God.
May ways of wickedness perish among us:
forgive us, O God, and renew us,
lead us in paths of justice and truth,
obedient to your Wisdom and Will,
trusting in the hope of your promise.
Giver of life, save us from the desert of faithlessness and nourish us with the living water of your Word, that we may bring forth fruit that will last, in the name of Jesus Christ our Saviour.
GOD'S ANOINTED ONE
Refrain: Come, refining fire of Love.
Why do the nations rage at one another?
Why do we plot and conspire?
The powerful of the earth set themselves high,
the people collude with their pride.
We whisper against those God anoints,
chosen to embody God's will.
Do not be mocked and derided, O God:
speak to us in your wrath, terrify us in your fury,
break us with your rod of iron, bring us in fear and trembling
to fall down before you and kiss your feet.
But who is this, God's chosen one – God's Son?
Inheritor of the earth and all its people?
You take our rage upon yourself,
mocked and crucified, yet meeting all with love.
Ah, Fire that shrivels up our hates,
and brings us to our knees in awe!
Ah, Light that pierces all our fury,
laying bare our greed and pride! Forgive us, for we know not what we do.
Come, wondrous Ruler of the universe,
holy and just, compassionate and merciful.
Come, universal Reign of peace.
Come, Anointed One, in glory!
Ruler of heaven and earth, raising Jesus from the dead and giving him the victory, work in us the power of your saving love and bring us to share in your through Jesus Christ our Saviour.
THE STRUGGLE BETWEEN FEAR AND TRUST
Refrain: Your steadfast love never fails.
O God, how many are my foes.
They rise up against me,
surrounding me in the night,
adversaries and friends alike,
whispering that you cannot help me.
But you are a shield about me,
you are my glory, and you lift my head high.
I cry to you as I sleep and as I wake,
and the voice of your Presence sustains me.
I am afraid of the powers that prowl within me,
howling in the dark of the moonless night.
I tremble at the thousands and thousands
of weapons and armies swarming around me.
Arise, O God, deliver me: smite them on the cheek,
break their teeth, grind them to the dust.
No, do not destroy them: call out to them,
Rebellious powers, lay down your arms,
return to the God who made you.
Cease your oppression and fury,
and seek the mercies of God.
Liberator, setting us free,
your blessing be upon your people.
Shield and protector of all, hear the prayers of those who call upon you, and set them free from violence, persecution, and fear, that all may know the deliverance that belongs to you alone. We ask this in the name of Jesus our Liberator.
THE PEACE OF GOD
Refrain: All manner of thing shall be well.
Answer me when I call, O God
for you are the God of Justice.
You set me free when I was hard-pressed:
be gracious to me now and hear my prayer.
Men and women,
how long will you turn my glory to my shame?
How long will you love what is worthless
and run after lies?
Know that God has shown me such wonderful kindness.
When I call out in prayer, God hears me.
Tremble, admit defeat, and sin no more.
Look deep into your heart before you sleep, and be still.
Bring your gifts, just as you are,
and put your trust in God.
Many are asking, Who can make us content?
The light of your countenance has gone from us, O God.
Yet you have given my heart more gladness
than those whose corn and wine and oil increase.
I lie down in peace and sleep comes at once,
for in you alone, O God, do I dwell unafraid.
Faithful defender, do not let our hearts be troubled, but fill us with such confidence and joy that we may sleep in peace and rise in your presence; through Jesus Christ our Saviour.
A PRAYER FOR REPENTANCE
Refrain: Gently turn my face to the sun.
At the turning of the day
I make ready for my prayer,
emptying my mind, opening my heart,
my whole self watching and waiting.
Out of the silence comes my cry,
the groaning of my spirit,
profound, beyond words.
O God my Deliverer, listen, and answer.
You take no delight in wickedness:
evil may not sojourn with you.
The boastful may not stand before your eyes,
the proud wither at your glance.
You silence those who speak lies,
you withstand the thrust of the vengeful.
Only through the gift of your steadfast love
do I dare to enter your presence.
I will worship in your holy house
in fear and in trembling.
So easy is it to fall in false ways –
lead me, O God, in your justice,
make my path straight before me.
For there is no truth in our mouths,
our hearts are set on destruction,
our throats are an open sepulchre,
we flatter with our tongue.
Our speeches are honeyed with peace,
smooth words slide from our lips.
The wavelengths dance with lies,
siren songs deceptive in the dark.
Refrain: Gently turn my face to the sun.
Make us feel together the weight of our guilt,
let us fall by the burden of our deceits,
crumbling by reason of our trespass,
lost because of our rebellion.
Pluck us from the despair that follows the lie,
no longer weighed down with the burden of falsehood.
Strengthen our steps in obedience to truth,
turn our lamentation to dancing and joy.
Set us on fire with unquenchable love:
we shall honour your name, exulting with praise.
Blessed be God,
showering blessings on the just and the unjust.
Blessed be God,
enduring with us the showers of black rain.
Blessed be God,
shuddering with pain when sirens wail.
Blessed be God,
our blasts but a feather in the wind of the Spirit.
Blessed be God,
our evil but a drop in the ocean of love.
Blessed be God,
redeeming our wastes and our sorrows.
Blessed be God.
Source of all justice and goodness, hating deception and evil, lead us in the paths of truth and godliness, and keep us from all lasting harm. So shall we sing out our joy in you, O Christ the Living Truth, our Redeemer.
A DESPERATE CRY IN TIME OF ILLNESS
Refrain: I cry out to the Void:
How long, O God, how long?
Hideous afflictions of a turbulent age –
virus, cancer, thrombosis, ulcer –
warheads in the fluids of my being:
I am caught in a world that is twisted,
trapped in its web of corruption,
tempted to blame my ills on to 'them',
tempted to avoid the hatred within.
Hard pressed by anxiety and discord,
carriers of disease, injectors of poison,
overwhelmed by malice and fear.
Paralysed, depressed, we cannot move,
spun in the vortex of death.
Distressed in the very depths of our being,
bones shaking, cells mutating,
we are almost in despair.
In your mercy and grace set us free.
Refine us in the fire of your love.
Our cry is of hope, yet struggling with doubt,
a stammer gasping for breath in the night.
Turn your face to me, save my life;
deliver me in the endurance of love,
ease the burden of guilt and of pain,
let me know the grace of your presence,
now in this life and through the shades of the grave.
I am weary with my suffering,
every night I flood my bed with tears.
I drench my couch with weeping,
my eyes waste away out of grief,
I grow weak through the weight of oppression.
Refrain: I cry out to the Void:
How long, O God, how long?
You that work evil and seek to destroy,
loosen your grip, away from my presence.
For God has heard the sound of my weeping,
forgives me with delight and lightens my gloom.
The destroyers will be ashamed and sore troubled:
trembling, they will be stripped of their power,
no longer able to harm.
And no, I will not gloat or hate,
in the Love of God I will hold on to you yet.
In the anger and hope of the wrath of our God,
come to the place of repentance and mercy.
And you, silent virus, invisible, malignant,
bound up with my bodily being,
are you an enemy that I can befriend,
or at least contain in a place of your own –
your power to harm taken away,
brought with us to the glory of God?
God of mercy and tenderness, giver of life and conqueror of death, look upon our weakness and pain, and bring us to health and to wholeness, that we may sing a new song to your praise; through Jesus Christ, Redeemer of the powers.
(Continues...)
Excerpted from Psalms for a Pilgrim People by JIM COTTER. Copyright © 1989 Jim Cotter. Excerpted by permission of Church Publishing Incorporated.
All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.
Excerpts are provided by Dial-A-Book Inc. solely for the personal use of visitors to this web site.
Table of Contents
Contents
FOREWORD
INTRODUCTION
Psalms 1–50
1 The Two Ways-A Wisdom Song
2 God's Anointed One
3 The Struggle between Fear and Trust
4 The Peace of God
5 A Prayer for Repentance
6 A Desperate Cry in Time of Illness
7 A Society in Fragments
8 Stewards of Creation
9 a. A Prayer for Conciliators
b. Despair and Hope in a Dark Time
10 a. The Pleading of the Poor
b. The Repentance of the Rich
11 The Prayer of a Trembling Heart
12 Words and the Word
13 The Pain of the Heart
14 The Folly of the Rich
15 Friends of God
16 Prayer for the Departed
17 An Angry Cry for Justice
18 Rescue
19 The Love That Moves the Stars
20 A Prayer for Those Who Govern
21 Royal Priesthood
22 Why? Why? Why?
23 The Shepherd and the Host
24 The Glory of God
25 A Prayer of the Lonely
26 Innocent or Guilty?
27 Courageous Faith in Turbulent Times
28 The Silence and the Voice
29 Awe in the Presence of Power
30 The Two Conversions
31 A Prayer for Deliverance
32 Release from the Burden of Sin
33 The God of Creation and History
34 God the Bearer of Pain
35 The Quiet in the Land
36 The Judge Who Does Right
37 Dogged Trust in God
38 A Cry from the Midst of Pain and Guilt
39 Anger Human and Divine
40 Faith Rejoicing and Faith Struggling
41 Who Condemns?
42–43 Yearning for God
44 Cast Off by God?
45 A Royal Celebration
46 The God of Powers
47 The Worship of the People of God
48 The City of God
49 The Hollowness of Wealth
50 The Judgment of God
Psalms 51–100
51 The Utter Mercy of God
52 The Lie and the Truth 111
53 Flesh of Our Flesh
54 A Cry of Complaint
55 Days of Betrayal in the City
56 Empty and Afraid, Yet Trusting
57 Identity in the City
58 What Kind of Vengeance?
59 For the Imprisoned and Tortured
60 The Way of the Unholy
61 Hope in God Alone
62 Holding Steadily to God
63 The City-Dweller's Desert
64 Bewildered by Cruelty
65 In Praise of God, Abundant and Generous
66 Symphony of Praise
67 God's Abundant Blessing
68 What Kind of Power?
69 Any Hope for the Earth?
70 Faith Stripped Bare
71 A Prayer of Old Age
72 A Prayer for Just and Wise Rulers
73 Perplexity Unresolved but Transformed
74 The Sea of Faith?
75 Sure Judgment
76 The Lion's Wrath
77 Past Mercies, Present Despair, Future Hope
78 Riddles of History
79 The Body of God
80 The Face of God
81 The God Who Yearns to Save
82 The Idle Promises of Idols
83 The Enemies of God
84 On Pilgrimage
85 Rooted in One Land?
86 God Is God
87 Cities of Pilgrimage
88 In Bleak Despair
89 The Promise
90 Time and Eternity
91 Unshakable Trust in God
92 The Steadiness of God
93 A Calm Authority
94 That Justice Be Done
95 Encountering the Redeeming Creator
96 Joy in God
97 The Old Order Turned Upside Down
98 The Song of a Renewed Creation
99 Holy Is God
100 A Joyful People
Psalms 101–150
101 The Single Eye
102 Resurrection Promise
103 Unfathomable Love
104 Exuberant Wonder
105 The Covenants of God
106 As Our Ancestors Did
107 The Cry for Rescue
108 The Making of Music
109 An Angry and Fearsome Cry
110 Power with Service
111 The Heartbeat of God
112 Our Hatred of Goodness
113 The Energy of Compassion
114 The God of Exodus
115 Idols and the Living God
116 Death Loses Its Stranglehold
117 A Quiet Moment of Praise
118 The Mercies of God Endure
119 The Living Way
120 Help and Harm
121 Refreshment and Rigour
122 Peace and Perplexity
123 Delight and Devastation
124 Deliverance and Destruction
125 Trustworthiness and Treachery
126 Exile and Exultation
127 Care and Consumption
128 Embrace and Exclusion
129 Golgotha and Genocide
130 Watching and Waiting
131 Calm and Contentment
132 Beauty and Bliss
133 Loving and Loved I shall love
134 Blessing and Beginning
135 Small and Great, Exile and Settler, Poor and Wealthy
136 Love Without End
137 By the Waters of Babylon
138 God's Gentle Touch
139 Light of Light
140 Against Evildoers
141 Impossible Dream?
142 Trust though Rejected
143 Afraid of Death
144 The Creator Lover
145 Regular Blessings
146 Society Restored: Justice and Jerusalem
147 Promises Fulfilled: City and Countryside
148 Creation Renewed: Touched and Transfigured
149 Reconciliation Embraced: Held and Healed
150 Harmony Celebrated: Sounds and Silence