Nan Merrill Psalms for Praying – Psalm 22:25-28
To You, O Beloved, I lift up my voice
in the great congregation;
for You promise to remain with
those whose love is steadfast.
The hungry shall eat and be
satisfied;
Those who seek You shall sing praises!
Your Heart is our dwelling place forever!
All the ends of the earth shall remember
and turn to Love’s way;
And all the families of the nations
shall bow down with grateful hearts.
For power and authority belong to
the Most High,
who rules over the nations.
Reflection from Spiritual Director – Francie Thayer
At The Well on Tuesday, we spent time with a part of Psalm 22. My sister gave me a gift several years ago of a book by Nan Merrill called Psalms for Praying. The author has re-visioned the psalms through the lens of Love. It’s a book of Psalms. It is also a book of lovely, gentle prayers.
One verse of Psalm 22 reads: All the ends of the earth shall remember / And turn to Love’s way; this prompted some rich conversation. What is Love’s way? How can we discern what Love’s way is in any given situation? It was a deep open-hearted conversation that has stayed with me.
When things go sideways on any given day, when grief and loss and hurt manifest themselves in anger and conflict and harsh words, in fabricated stories and in inability to take responsibility, what is invited for those of us who long to walk in Love’s way? What does Love look like in this moment, in this conversation? Each situation is unique: the expression of Love that is needed in one moment with these persons may be different from the expression of Love needed in the next moment with those persons. What does Love look like in this “now?”
Herein lies an invitation to a practice that is ever-changing and ever-new at the same time it is grounded in the Eternal Unchanging Love of God. What a gift to have a guidepost—“What does Love look like in this moment?”—and what a gift to know that while Love’s manifestations are myriad, the Great Love never changes.