Sing us one of the songs of Zion – Psalms
With the psalms, this series reaches the book of the Old Testament most heavily used by Christians. It is the most quoted in the New Testament, and most read, sung and prayed in the life of the church. The Lectionary for Mass, which became the basis of the Revised Common Lectionary, reintroduced the psalms to celebrations of the Eucharist, and did so in a particular way. Older eucharistic services, whether the Latin Missal or the Book of Common Prayer, only had an epistle and gospel reading, with chants or (eventually) a hymn between the two. When the new lectionary introduced an Old Testament reading (linked to the gospel) it also introduced a psalm which in some way responded to the Old Testament reading. People are invited to respond to the word of scripture using other words of scripture. The pattern of speaking scripture to God, and hearing scripture from God was typical of forms of daily prayer, which many people meet, in a rather different way, in Anglic...