“New speech from the depths…”

Believe it or not, I’ve been able to squeeze in a little bit of my upcoming semester’s assigned reading. Here a couple of snippets from Out of the Depths by Bernhard W. Anderson, a book on how “the psalms speak for us today.”

• The psalms of the Bible are not individualistic poems such as a modern person might compose to express personal thoughts and feelings. Rather, the psalms show that the individual finds his or her identity and vocation in the community that God has created, “The Israel of God.” Within the community of faith one has access to God in worship, and within that community one participates in a great historical pilgrimage. (p. 6)
  
• The Bible as a whole is not only the story of God’s dealings with a particular people, but also this people’s response in thanksgiving and adoration, in lament and petition, along the way of its historical pilgrimage. (p. 8)
  
• The poets of Israel invite us into a world, quite different from the world of ordinary daily life, in which God is taken seriously as sovereign, judge, and redeemer. … The deep within them calls out to the deep within us. They articulate the human cry of every person “out of the depths.” (pp. 18, 19)
  

And, to close, here is a psalm of Jesse, son of Travis and Leslie, accompanied by guitar, as recorded by his mother a few nights ago:

• I bow down and worship him, He tells me not to worry. And I pray to God in heaven for mercy on everyone today. Yes, he is Christ the Lord. Jeeeeeeee-sus!