Addendum: Psalms for the Politically Correct and the Spritiually Minded
The following are selections from Nan. C. Merrill's Praying with the Psalms (2004; The Continuum International Publishing Group, Inc), preceded by the corresponding New Revised Standard Version verses in italics. I'm not making this up.
Psalm 6
4 Turn, O LORD, save my life;
deliver me for the sake of your steadfast love.
5 For in death there is no remembrance of you;
in Sheol who can give you praise?
I open the door of my heart to You,
My Beloved,
Enter in and imbue me with your steadfast Love,
I shall remember You all my days;
I shall sing praises to You throughout the
nights.
Psalm 16
5 The LORD is my chosen portion and my cup;
you hold my lot.
6 The boundary lines have fallen for me in pleasant places;
I have a goodly heritage.
7 I bless the LORD who gives me counsel;
in the night also my heart instructs me.
8 I keep the LORD always before me;
because he is at my right hand, I shall not be moved.
Love is my chosen food, my cup,
holding me in its power.
Where I have come from,
Where’er I shall go,
Love is my birthright,
my true estate.
I bless the Counselor who guides my way;
In the night also does my heart instruct me.
I walk beside the Spirit of truth;
I celebrate the Light.
Psalm 143
7 Answer me quickly, O LORD;
my spirit fails.
Do not hide your face from me,
or I shall be like those who go down to the Pit.
8 Let me hear of your steadfast love in the morning,
for in you I put my trust.
Teach me the way I should go,
for to you I lift up my soul.
Strength comes with pureness of heart.
Cleanse me anew, O Gentle Healer.
The yearning within my soul is
Naught but the inner birthright
To know and live in You.
Let me hear your Voice within the Silence,
For in You I put my trust.
Teach me ways of loving service,
That I might cooperate with You,
O my Beloved
Psalm 144
1 Blessed be the LORD, my rock,
who trains my hands for war, and my fingers for battle;
2 my rock and my fortress,
my stronghold and my deliverer,
my shield, in whom I take refuge,
who subdues the peoples under me.
Blessed are You, O Radiant One,
You who are hidden within
our hearts,
Even as we are hidden within
your Heart!
You invite us to participate in
The Divine Unfoldment,
As we awaken from our long sleep
And give birth to creativity.
And last but not least, a personal favorite, Psalm 137:
Psalm 137 (NRSV)
Remembering Zion
1 By the rivers of Babylon —
there we sat down and there we wept
when we remembered Zion.
2 On the willows there
we hung up our harps.
3 For there our captors
asked us for songs,
and our tormentors asked for mirth, saying,
"Sing us one of the songs of Zion!"
4 How could we sing the LORD's song
in a foreign land?
5 If I forget you, O Jerusalem,
let my right hand wither!
6 Let my tongue cling to the roof of my mouth,
if I do not remember you,
if I do not set Jerusalem
above my highest joy.
7 Remember, O LORD, against the Edomites
the day of Jerusalem's fall,
how they said, "Tear it down! Tear it down!
Down to its foundations!"
8 O daughter Babylon, you devastator!
Happy shall they be who pay you back
what you have done to us!
9 Happy shall they be who take your little ones
and dash them against the rock!
Psalm 137
Remembering Flipper
Plunge into the Ocean of Love
where heart meets Heart,
Where sorrows are comforted and
wounds are mended
There, melodies of sadness mingle with
dolphin songs of joy;
Past fears dissolve in deep harmonic
tones,
The future - pure mystery,
For eternal moments lived in total
surrender
glide smoothly over troubled
waters.
Hide not from Love, O friends,
sink not into the sea of despair,
the mire of hatred.
Awaken, O my heart, that Idrown not
In fear!
Too long have I sailed where’ere
The winds have blown!
Drop Anchor!
O, Heart of all hearts, set a
Clear course
That I may follow!
Guide me to the Promised shore!
I can just hear Linda Ronstadt belting this one out a capella, can't you? (scroll down in the link to listen to a sample)