A Psalm a day, the Hebrew way

Psalm 121 (NIV)
1 I lift up my eyes to the mountains—
where does my help come from?
2 My help comes from the Lord,
the Maker of heaven and earth.3 He will not let your foot slip—
he who watches over you will not slumber;
4 indeed, he who watches over Israel
will neither slumber nor sleep.5 The Lord watches over you—
the Lord is your shade at your right hand;
6 the sun will not harm you by day,
nor the moon by night.7 The Lord will keep you from all harm—
he will watch over your life;
8 the Lord will watch over your coming and going
both now and forevermore.
Some thirty-five years ago while I was still a student and struggling to get a grip of the Biblical languages, I took it upon myself to lighten up the lunchtime atmosphere in the University of Aberdeen’s King’s College Refectory by introducing some dirge-like singing. I should have known better. A few weeks later the Year-book was published, and under my photograph there was this epitaph: Ken MacKenzie — ‘A Psalm a day, the Hebrew way’.
But I still love the Psalms, and perhaps unsurprisingly, one of my favourites is Psalm 121.This is a Psalm that calls us to worship and affirms the goodness of God. It speaks of movement, and hints at encounter. But first and foremost it takes to do with relationship – our relationship with creation and with the Creator.
In recent times I have borrowed the title ‘I to the Hills’, for a project exploring the ‘Spirituality of Place’. Later this month the painter John Lowrie Morrison, the fiddler and composer Paul Anderson, the Irish poet Francy Devine and myself will be publishing a book: ‘In the Footsteps of Colm Cille’ which focuses on the Island of Iona.
Here are a few lines from one of Francy’s poems in the book, entitled ‘Encounter on the Way to White Strand’:
“You let me teeter along
the ledge, never attempting
to entice me over to your side
yet somehow letting me know
I would be caught if I stumbled.”
PRAYER:
Eternal and Ever-present God
High and Exalted yet wholly down-to-earth
May all who lift their eyes to the hills
find in your creation their Creator
through Jesus Christ our living, dying, risen Lord,
AMEN
What are people saying?
A really nice week of reflections- thanks.
Wonderful reflections this week, thank you so much. Please can you advise when the ‘In the footsteps of Colm Cille’ book with be published and where it can be obtained from
Thanks very much for this great week of reflections (though I thought that David Mitchell, now precentor of Brussels Cathedral, was the only guy who knew how to sing Psalms ‘the Hebrew way’)
Beautiful reflections. What a wonderful God we have. Love the Psalms too.
Thanks you! I love these words from Francy Devine. Got to find out more about this man.
Thank you for your beautiful contribution this week. Looking forward to being able to purchase “In the footsteps of Colm Calle”.
Thank you, Kenneth , for this excellent week of reflections. We love the Psalms and the hills too!
Thank you Ken for your reflections this week and your contribution to Sunday Live
I want to say something!