While I tend to lean toward the last 5 psalms – psalms of praise, I have an appreciation for all the psalms. Psalms give words to our feelings, our hopes, our fears, our desires. 

Today, I lift up to you Psalm 33: The Greatness and Goodness of God

Psalm 33

• Begins with praise.
• Proclaims Lord is ruler of all, One God 
• Worship God alone. 
• God is sovereign. 
• God cares for all nations. 
• Trust in God

The Rev. Dr. Casey Sigmon invites us to consider what the psalm asks us:

In whom do we trust?

What are the psalms?

• Psalms comes from the Greek word that refers to songs accompanied by string instruments
• 150 Psalms retell the biblical story
• A daily prayer book for our lives
• Prayers of the Hebrew people
• A collection of poems  
• Instruments of Praise
• Themes of lament, thanksgiving, praise, and more
• Often used as basis of worship liturgy, hymn words, and individual or communal prayers.

I love the song "In My Own Little Corner" from Rodgers and Hammerstein’s Cinderella (especially in Disney's version starring Brandy and Whitney Houston!). I have to admit - I sang along this spring as the Arts Association brought this musical to life on stage! 

I appreciate this song because I too have my own little corner in my own little chair. . .

I have had many chairs in my life where the ordinary and holy become one. 

As a teenager – my chair was a bench in the prayer garden at Dahlonega Presbyterian Church. When drama became too much, expectations too demanding, I found home in the gift of creation in the church prayer garden. In this little corner I was aware of the saints of the past, the songs of the birds in the present, and the water flowing in the fountain for tomorrow. It was my own little corner in my own little chair. 

At Presbyterian college – it was a bench by the pond. I found home in the prayers of young adult hood with my bible study. The questions, the fears, the doubts – we were one as we shared our full selves as we prayed together. It was my own little corner in my own little chair. 

Several years later – my chair, home to the most vulnerable of tears, laughter, and holy moments was the chair in our nursery. The chair that held me when we brought home our three girls. The chair that held me in the journey of a miscarriage. If our nursery chair could speak it would sound like three little girls giggling, rituals of bedtime prayers, songs of hope and comfort on long and dark nights - psalms of lament and psalms of praise. It was and still is my chair. When I have a quiet moment, I find myself in our nursery chair that now resides in our bedroom. Covered in stains, handprints, and the most precious of memories, I sit, I pray, I still rock MaryRentz from time to time. It is my reading chair. My praying chair. My thinking chair. My calm, my refuge, my comfort chair. 

Kately and me bringing a baby Paisley home in 2015

Where is your chair?

Bringing a baby Kately home in 2012

Where is your chair? I encourage you this June to take some time to sit. To marvel in the psalms in the spot where God meets you time and time again. It could be a recliner, a bench at the park, the rocking chair on your front porch.  

In worship on June 2, we will affirm that God meets us right where we are and is always with us in the good, the hard, and all the in between. 

If you need a starting point to help you engage with the Psalms– start with these familiar ones:

Psalm 23

Psalm 46

Psalm 121

Psalm 136

Psalm 139

Psalm 150

Robert and Kately bringing a baby MaryRentz home in 2017

I invite you to spend some quiet time writing a psalm! I would love to see it if you are willing to share! 

Step 1: Invocation of God (call out to God)

Step 2: Complaint/Lament/Praise (say what you want to say)

Step 3: Petition/request for God's presence (how you would like to see God's work)

Step 4: Words of Reorientation to promises of God (bring the focus back to God)

Using passages from the Psalms we will spend the month of June remembering we were not created to be anxious creatures, but to rejoice, revel and rest in God’s good creation! This June, we will give ourselves a much-needed summer rest as we settle in, laugh out loud, shed expectations, take a break, and celebrate through the psalms! Join in on the Great Church Chill Out this summer!

Psalms we will study together this June: 

Psalm 139:7-12

Settle In

Psalm 126:1-3

Laugh Out Loud

Psalm 62:1-8

Shed Expectations

Psalm 61:1-5

Take a Break

Psalm 118:24

Celebrate

Want to dive deeper into the structure of the Psalms and how to read the Psalms?

Click to watch the video by BibleProject