Psalm 19—If you would have light and heat, why are you not more in the sunshine?
The heavens declare the glory of God. Every night, the sidelong hip of the Milky Way Shows itself to you. You see Backward across miles and years Along the light of the works of the Almighty. The earth at your feet is fruitful, wild, and weary. It pours out words day and night. The sky and the screaming birds And all the fullness therein say: Holy, holy, holy. The circuit of the sun spans the sky. If you would have light and heat, Why are you not more in the sunshine? If you would see the glory of God, Why are you always elsewhere? If you would hear the word in the wind, Feel the warmth on your face and wait. Lord, your word wends your people perfectly; I wander a lifelong in it. Wrap it around my heart to heal. Speak the long law down directly And make me wise. Curve the straight line of your commandments Over me and make me glad again. Put the honeycomb of your way In my mind’s mouth. Even now my chest, my ribs, these rafters, This cathedral, fills with the word that made it, And your name hushes through the clerestory. It was always easier to give my life away Than it was to lay it down. I see my every fault in holy light; My hidden thoughts are pearl bright. But your love is longer than I thought, and stays Like fire by night and smoke by day. The stars sway in your holy heaven. The sun walks its lightlong stretch of sky. I watch and wait and listen.
Psalm 8—I am thistledown the wind has taken, yet the lives of stars are nothing to me.
Lord, even the air echoes your name. The river thrums with it. The green mountains tower it out. The holy birds sing it dawnward. Yet, the earth and the whole heavens Can’t contain the barest sum of you. When I look at the works of your hands, I see how everything is poised At the start of its becoming. Fat mat tongues push greenly From snow soil like a rising from the dead. Overhead, wild and unseen singers in the trees Chorus and break cover, as if every leaf Became a bird at once. The wind blows from another land And the clouds go cartwheeling by. What am I that you are mindful of me? You have made me haunted and hallowed, Branded, bent, and fallow; Lattice of heartstring and sinew, A long and weary marionette; Harlot to the mirror’s glances; Hawk above, snake below, Mouse afield and running. Still, you gave me dominion, And crowned me with your own crown. I am thistledown the wind has taken, Yet the lives of stars are nothing to me. O God, how bright and vast is your name in all the earth.
Psalm 65—Your house is glad and good and wide as the world.
Lord, we lift to you the praise of silence. The promises of your people are yes. Hear us. All flesh will return to you in wonder and stillness and praise. When our faults threshed us apart, You forgave and covered us. Your house is glad and good And wide as the world. You make those Who make it their home Happy and blessed. You answer hope to hope with works of awe. The ends of the earth and the farthest sea Give themselves to your wonders. You wrap yourself in strength and make the mountains rise. You still the tumult of the seas and silence The roaring nations. Fear falls on all the earth at your wonders. When morning dawns and evening fades The hushed earth bursts to song. You make the earth overflow with abundance. Its richness doubles itself again and again. The rivers of God overflow And everything lives where the water runs. You establish every field and furrow. You quench the thirsty grain. You settle the beds of earth. You bring showers from the heavens themselves And bless the growth of every branch and stalk, For you have forgotten none of them. You crown the year with goodness And plenty follows you along your way. Even the reaches of the wilderness run with rain. The mountains rejoice. The pastures are decked with flocks. The valleys burst with grain. And together they shout for joy to God.
Psalms: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 38, 39, 40, 42, 43, 46, 50, 51, 53, 54, 61, 62, 63, 65, 66, 70, 73, 74, 75, 84, 86, 88, 90, 91, 100, 107, 110, 114, 117, 118, 119, 120, 121, 122, 123, 124, 125, 126, 127, 128, 129, 130, 131, 132, 133, 134, 137, 139, 140, 142, 147, 148.
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