Singing our Prayers
As I was doing some research into the psalms, my eye was caught by a reference to the monks of the “Blue Cloud Abbey”. I was intrigued by the name, who wouldn’t want to be part of a community with such an evocative name? Before my imagination took me too far down that trail, I remembered I was supposed to be finding out about the psalms!
The early Christians continued to follow the Jewish tradition of praying the psalms daily. St Benedict in the 6th Century encouraged the monks within his order to also pray the psalms daily. In fact the monks at Blue Cloud Abbey pray the psalms 5 times a day!!! On their web-site they encourage people to “pray meditatively and slowly and make psalms a part of your daily lives. You can make a difference in your life, your family and community by praying daily”. This is an excellent suggestion.
Psalms are both poetry and prayer: poetry that is intended to be set to music and prayed in worship. Poetry and music enable us to express some of our deepest feelings and emotions, which can lead to the most profound insights. On Sunday we will be engaging and exploring Psalm 149, which begins with the words
Sing to God a new song
I invite you to reflect and pray on the meaning of these words in your life and to continue that process on Sunday morning.
Blessings,
Karen
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