SONGS OF ADVENTDaily Devotions based on the daily Psalm readings for Advent 2003From pilgrims
traveling yearly to the holy city of Jerusalem to scraps of paper passed from
hand to hand in the horror of the Holocaust, the Psalms have been sung,
memorized, chanted, remembered. It was the custom for a number of years in
Reformed and Presbyterian churches to sing the psalms in worship. Countless
generations of children grew up in church memorizing the psalms. Today, fewer and
fewer hymnals have settings for the psalms; young people know the lyrics to the
latest rap and hip hop, but probably don’t know a single psalm; more and more
churches have even stopped reading the psalms even in worship. Yet the Psalms
are perhaps the most important writings in all of Scripture. Using evocative
language to speak of God and the human condition, the psalms assure, affirm,
and console us; they also challenge, confront and confound us. Some of the
language seems ancient and dated, yet the insights into human emotions and responses
are timeless. We live in a
culture which does everything it can to cover up the pain, the suffering, the
darkness of our world and our lives. The psalms confront these areas of life,
and lead us to discover that it is in the pain, the suffering, the darkness
that new life is given - on Christmas Day, on the third day, on the last day. You are invited
to read the psalm listed for each day, the brief meditation, and then use the
prayer offered or one of your own. This Advent, read
the psalms and discover their power, their poetry, their prayers for your life.
© 2003 Thom M.
Shuman |
First Week of Advent
Second Week of Advent
Third Week of Advent
Fourth Week of Advent
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