meowzician
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I thought it might be nice to share our favorite psalms. Most know a psalm is a sacred song sung to God, but we are so used to thinking solely of the psalms in the Bible that it often doesn't occur to us that the other songs we sing during worship are psalms as well. I'd like suggest that we each share our two favorite psalms, one from the Psalms of the Tanakh/OT, and the other be ANY worship psalm (hopefully with YouTube vid). It can be from your liturgy, it can be praise music, it can be something a band does... I'm after what moves your hearts.
If you are not Christian or Jewish (or within those cultures), I'd love for this thread to be broad enough that you can participate--pick whichever two songs fit most with theme of the thread.
You don't have to, but it would also be lovely if you would share WHY each of your songs is meaningful to you.
Here are my two (I won't torture you with the Hebrew, but we always sing everything in the original language):
Psalm 121
1 A song for ascents. I shall raise my eyes to the mountains, from where will my help come?
2 My help is from the Lord, the Maker of heaven and earth.
3 He will not allow your foot to falter; Your Guardian will not slumber.
4 Behold the Guardian of Israel will neither slumber nor sleep.
5 The Lord is your Guardian; the Lord is your shadow; [He is] by your right hand.
6 By day, the sun will not smite you, nor will the moon at night.
7 The Lord will guard you from all evil; He will guard your soul.
8 The Lord will guard your going out and your coming in from now and to eternity.
The reason this psalm is so meaningful to me is that it never pretends life won't be painful. What it says is that God is with us through the tears. He will guard and sustain us. That he is always with us, he shall "never slumber nor sleep." I was speaking to a friend about this psalm just the other day, and tears came to my eyes as I looked back on my life, with all its pain, and see how God carried me.
Ritzei (May you find favor): My congregation sings this each year on Yom Kippur (Day of Atonement). We of course need to repent whenever we sin, but Yom Kippur is a time when we repent as a People rather than as individuals. For me, this psalm is connected with all my feelings surrounding t'shuvah (returning to God).
May You find favor, Adonai our God, in Your people Israel, and accept their prayer with love.
May the worship of Your people Israel always be acceptable to You.
God who is near to all who call, turn toward Your servants and be gracious to us.
Pour out Your spirit upon us, and may our eyes behold Your return to Zion in mercy.
Blessed are You, Adonai, who restores His Divine Presence to Zion.
If you are not Christian or Jewish (or within those cultures), I'd love for this thread to be broad enough that you can participate--pick whichever two songs fit most with theme of the thread.
You don't have to, but it would also be lovely if you would share WHY each of your songs is meaningful to you.
Here are my two (I won't torture you with the Hebrew, but we always sing everything in the original language):
Psalm 121
1 A song for ascents. I shall raise my eyes to the mountains, from where will my help come?
2 My help is from the Lord, the Maker of heaven and earth.
3 He will not allow your foot to falter; Your Guardian will not slumber.
4 Behold the Guardian of Israel will neither slumber nor sleep.
5 The Lord is your Guardian; the Lord is your shadow; [He is] by your right hand.
6 By day, the sun will not smite you, nor will the moon at night.
7 The Lord will guard you from all evil; He will guard your soul.
8 The Lord will guard your going out and your coming in from now and to eternity.
The reason this psalm is so meaningful to me is that it never pretends life won't be painful. What it says is that God is with us through the tears. He will guard and sustain us. That he is always with us, he shall "never slumber nor sleep." I was speaking to a friend about this psalm just the other day, and tears came to my eyes as I looked back on my life, with all its pain, and see how God carried me.
Ritzei (May you find favor): My congregation sings this each year on Yom Kippur (Day of Atonement). We of course need to repent whenever we sin, but Yom Kippur is a time when we repent as a People rather than as individuals. For me, this psalm is connected with all my feelings surrounding t'shuvah (returning to God).
May You find favor, Adonai our God, in Your people Israel, and accept their prayer with love.
May the worship of Your people Israel always be acceptable to You.
God who is near to all who call, turn toward Your servants and be gracious to us.
Pour out Your spirit upon us, and may our eyes behold Your return to Zion in mercy.
Blessed are You, Adonai, who restores His Divine Presence to Zion.
