Psalms

Psalm 1 King James Version (KJV)

1 Blessed is the man that walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor standeth in the way of sinners, nor sitteth in the seat of the scornful.

2 But his delight is in the law of the Lord; and in his law doth he meditate day and night.

3 And he shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water, that bringeth forth his fruit in his season; his leaf also shall not wither; and whatsoever he doeth shall prosper.

4 The ungodly are not so: but are like the chaff which the wind driveth away.

5 Therefore the ungodly shall not stand in the judgment, nor sinners in the congregation of the righteous.

6 For the Lord knoweth the way of the righteous: but the way of the ungodly shall perish.

Appointed for next Sunday, Psalm 1 is one of several my mother encouraged me to memorize as a child. Psalm 1, the 23rd Psalm, Psalm 121, and there were others. Mama grew up Southern Baptist, in a home where church was a regular part of life, including Sunday evening Baptist Training Union with “Sword Drills” in which youthful contestants rushed to see who could be first to find and read aloud a verse of Scripture. In all my churches there have been parishioners who also had known that raising, and who cherished the scriptural soaking that one finds in Episcopal worship. The Bible, as we say, is chock full of quotations fromThe Book of Common Prayer. 

Psalm 1 is good, and memorable, but it does have a cautioning and condemning negative side that keeps it from being a first choice. Among my favorites are Psalm 121, “I will lift up mine eyes unto the hills,” and our two Invitatory Psalms for Morning Prayer, from Psalm 95 (Venite) and from Psalm 100 (Jubilate Deo), sung to one of the Anglican Chant tunes of old. There is surely a section of Heaven for us. 

All the material that came out of the mid-20th century liturgical renewal and reform also is good if it is varied so it doesn’t become dull rote. The only prayerbook exceptions are Eucharistic Prayer II in Rite One (which is a ridiculous take-off on Cranmer), Morning Prayer Rite Two (which to an old-timer seems to mock the real thing), and Burial of the Dead Rite Two, which is so banal that it might have been written by an over zealous Roman Catholic seminarian trying to impress his revisionist bishop.

Psalm 121 stands as my all time favorite:

Psalm 121 King James Version (KJV)

1 I will lift up mine eyes unto the hills, from whence cometh my help.

2 My help cometh from the Lord, which made heaven and earth.

3 He will not suffer thy foot to be moved: he that keepeth thee will not slumber.

4 Behold, he that keepeth Israel shall neither slumber nor sleep.

5 The Lord is thy keeper: the Lord is thy shade upon thy right hand.

6 The sun shall not smite thee by day, nor the moon by night.

7 The Lord shall preserve thee from all evil: he shall preserve thy soul.

8 The Lord shall preserve thy going out and thy coming in from this time forth, and even for evermore.

The old ways were best.

TW+