Praying The Psalms

    Praying The Psalms

    Last Saturday, February 27th, Logos Bible Study held its first “Saturday Seminar” in our newly built 75-seat classroom at the Logos Educational Foundation offices in San Diego.  The topic was “Praying the Psalms.        

    Dr. Creasy has long held that the single best way to draw closer to God is to become intimate with the Psalms.  The Psalms have formed the “prayer book” of Judaism and Christianity for over 2,000 years.  In the Psalms we experience every possible nuance in our relationship with God, from soaring joy to profound sadness, from questioning and doubt to searching and certitude.  Indeed, Dr. Creasy refers to reading, studying and praying the Psalms as a “journey through the poetry of experience.”     

   It is one thing to read and study the Psalms, but it is another thing entirely to pray the psalms.  Reading and study moves in one direction:  we engage the text as readers.  Prayer, however, moves in two directions:  prayer is a conversation with God, who speaks to us through the text.  There is a profound difference between the two.     

   To engage the Psalms as prayer, Dr. Creasy introduced the ancient reading method of lectio divina, “divine” or “spiritual” reading, developed by St. Benedict (c. 480-547). Lectio divina involves four steps:  1) lectio or reading, 2) meditatio or meditation, 3) oratio or prayer, and 4) contemplatio or contemplation.     

   Lectio consists of reading a scriptural passage slowly (in our case a Psalm), carefully and attentively, understanding how the psalm operates.  This is where we exercise our skills as “educated readers,” understanding the contextual, historical and literary aspects of the psalm.  It is not simply a subjective impression of the Psalm, but a true understanding of it.     

   Meditation consists of gravitating toward a particular verse or set of verses, a theme, a metaphor, or an image presented by the Psalm and allowing that portion of the Psalm to resonate with your own personal or spiritual experience. 

   Oratio consists of dialogue with God, triggered or initiated by your meditation on the Psalm.  True prayer is give-and-take between you and God, an inner conversation between the two of you. 

   And contemplatio consists of a simple, loving focus on God, resting in his presence and savoring the moment.

   Applying lectio divina to the Psalms allows us to engage the text at a much deeper level than simply reading and studying them. 

   Through lectio divina the Psalms become a doorway through which we enter into a deep, personal  relationship with God. 

   Praying the Psalms effectively involves three movements:  1) time, 2) place and 3) preparation. 

   Selecting a time for prayer is very important.  It should be the same time each day.  This will help you establish a routine.  You may pray in the morning or in the evening.  As your prayer life develops, you may wish to include both morning and evening prayer—but not at first.  If you try to do too much, too soon, you will quickly  “burn out” and your prayers will become sporadic and half-hearted, at best.  As in physical exercise, so in spiritual exercise:  start slowly and build your routine over time.  At first, set aside no more than 15 minutes each day for prayer.  Later, you may wish to lengthen your prayer time.  At this stage, though, establishing consistency is far more important than establishing length. 

   Selecting a place for prayer is also very important.  It should be a place isolated from other people, telephones, computers and other distractions.  Use the same place every day.  Over time you will associate that place with prayer, a place where you converse with God.  It should be a special place:  a comfortable chair in a quiet room or the kitchen table when you are home alone.   

   And finally, prepare for prayer.  Before you begin to pray it is important to have a transitional activity that takes you from your normal state of mind to a more contemplative and prayerful state.  You may wish to light a candle, symbolically bringing light into your life.  Breathe deeply, relax and perhaps say a short prayer asking God to be with you. 

   Developing a deep, personal relationship with God is like developing a deep, personal relationship with anyone else.  It takes time; it involves regular conversation; and it requires persistence over a long period of time.  Prayer is simply conversation with God:  we set aside “quality time” to be with him; we listen to him through his word; and we speak to him through prayer.  And as with any person we love, the more consistently we spend “quality time” with God conversing with him, the deeper and more intimate our relationship with him will become.

Dr. Creasy worked from the beautiful calligraphy of The Abbey Psalter, given to him by the Trappist monks of Mepkin Abbey in South Carolina.

In order to pray the psalms, you must understand them.  We began our seminar with a close reading of Psalm 100 and Psalm 91.

A full house follows Dr. Creasy’s close reading of Psalm 91.  Once we understand the psalm, we can then gravitate toward a verse, phrase or word that resonates with our personal experience.  This evokes the theme that we meditate upon.

After close readings of Psalms 100 and 91 we had a delicious, hot Middle Eastern lunch, prepared by Dr. Creasy’s friend, Abe Far.

Lunch was yummy!

And of course, lunch provided a great opportunity for discussion about the morning’s sessions.  

After lunch we broke into small “workshop” groups, each producing a close reading of two psalms.  Dr. Creasy joined each group to help out and to focus discussion.  Then we reconvened in the big classroom to hear the results of each workshop group.

Dr. C. seems happy with the results!