James 24:7

How to Write a Psalm:
Growing in Prayer by Contemplating the Psalms

We understand God to be a loving Father who always leans forward listening for the prayers of His children.  However, many of us feel that once we come into the presence of God we do not know what to say.  We may feel that we have fallen into rote patterns, uttering the same phrases over and over again.  We may sense that our prayers ring of selfish desire, an extended “holy whine”.

We all long for a deeper, richer, and more sustainable prayer life.  Our desire is to lift up praise or pour out our anguish or confess our sins or express our confusion but when we pray we feel that our words fall flat.

The purpose of this study is to help us all enrich our prayer life.  We will accomplish this through a study of the Psalms employing an ancient method called “Lectio Divinia”.  We will practice what we learn by composing our own Psalms. 

Upon completion of the class, participants will:

Understand the Psalms as a school of prayer

• Know how to read the Psalms and better understand their meaning
• Practice a method of reading scripture that is guaranteed to enrich understanding and application
• Possess a wider array of tools to express themselves in prayer to God
• Demonstrate skills to compose prayers that serve to enrich their lives of prayer

The study will be conducted in two locations, West Gwinnett Christian Church in Duluth and North River Community Church in Lawrenceville.  We will meet at WGCC on June 21^st and NRCC on June 28^th and alternate locations on a weekly basis after that.  The study will begin promptly at 7 p.m. each night.

The study will be led by Dr. Jim Street, pastor of the North River Community Church.

Session 1

Introductions

The Study

The aim: to grow as people of prayer

• The means: to contemplate the Psalms
• The method: “lectio divinia”
• The practice: Putting pen to paper

Growing as People of Prayer

What prevents growth in prayer?

• Friction
• The “flesh”
• Lifestyle
• Self-Consciousness
• Limits of Expression
• Constricted Boundaries
• Lack of instruction in prayer
• Other?
• Measuring “growth”
• How will you know that you are growing in prayer?  What will you be doing differently?
• More frequently
• More “in the will of God”
• More scripturally
• More freely and flexibly (less rote)
• More broadly encompassing more of human experience
• More consciously
• Other?

Means: to contemplate the Psalms

• Finding quarters at the pool
• To contemplate means to look deeply into something, to get between the lines, the get behind the words.  (con-template- to sit in a templum, a place for divining mysteries in the presence of a god)
• Slow down, take time, etc.

Method: Lectio Divinia

• A thousand + year old method of reading scripture that combines both head and heart.  Not a substitute for the hard work of hermeneutics but an extension of it.
• Some expressions are more extreme than others.  Lectio Divinia has been likened to eating.  We put the food in our mouths, we chew it up, we savor the flavors, and we live and grow as a result.
• 4 Step Non-linear process
• Lectio- We read the text
• Meditatio- We meditate the text
• Oratio-  We pray the text
• Contemplatio- We live the text

• Lectio: Reading the text

• To read in this way is not simply to let your eyes fall across printed words on a page.  You have to attend to what you are reading.  Remember you are working to get beyond, behind, and between the ink on the paper.   Therefore, it is really important to attend to not only what you are reading but how you are reading it.  (c.f. Eugene Peterson  Eat This Book)

• Understanding a Psalm is like appraising a  house

• Zip Code – The big picture/ context, etc.
• Type of neighborhood – Genre of Psalm
• Style of house - structural literary devices
• Floor plan- Expressive literary devices
• Contents- Meaning of words

• Meditatio: Meditating on the text

• To meditate on the text is to enter into it; to put yourself in the place of the psalmist and apply all of your senses to the task

• To see what he sees, hear what he hears, feel what he feels, smell what he smells, taste what he tastes
• What is the context?  What is going on?

• Empathize with the psalmist

• Have you ever felt like the psalmist feels?
• When?  What did you think, feel, or do then?
• Have you ever been in a situation similar to the psalmist? 

• Oratio: Praying the psalm

• Rewrite (re-pray) the psalm in your own words

• Use your own experiences

• Try to follow the form of the psalm

• Contemplatio: Live the psalm

• The Gospel and Our Culture Network encourages Christians to read scripture with these questions in mind:

• How does this text orient me/us to the coming reign of God?

• How does this text convert, change or transform me in my personal life, in my relationships, with my community?

• How does this text speak good news and evangelize me/us?

• How does this text read me/us and our world?

• How does this text prepare me to witness and compel me to go out?

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