Summer with the Psalms

Praying the Psalms
The focus for our adult spiritual formation program for this summer (June 1 to July 31) will be Praying the Psalms. There will be two ways of participating: on a daily basis with listings of psalms provided by Forward Movement and its Good Book Club; and/or by taking part in a series of workshops that will highlight various modalities for praying the psalms.

Save the date for an orientation meeting on Zoom on Tuesday, May 27 at 7:00 pm when we explore these options.

The main resource that we will use to guide daily prayers with the psalms will be commentaries from the Good Book Club, a ministry of Forward Movement. At our orientation meeting on May 27, we will highlight how you can choose either of two tracks: Track 1 will feature 61 psalms—one for each day in the two-month period—while Track 2 will include all 150 psalms with multiple psalms per day that are designated.

We suggest that you use any text of the psalms that you prefer such as the Book of Common Prayer (or any other prayer book); or your favorite Bible translation such as the NRSV, etc. Again, at the orientation meeting we will explore some of the many options, including how to locate different translations of the Bible online.

We will also add further guidance to explore various modalities for praying the psalms with optional workshops that you might elect to attend. Note: it is also perfectly fine to just attend the workshops. Save these calendar dates at times:

• Tuesday, June 10 at 7:00 pm on Zoom for Praying the Psalms with Anglican Prayer Beads. This is a contemplative method of praying the psalms.
• Monday, June 23 at 7:00 pm at St. George’s for Praying the Psalms with Chant. We will use a simplified method for giving voice and embodiment to the words of a psalm using the prayer book as well as other types of sources.
• Friday, July 11, 5:30-7:30pm at the Bowie Senior Center and Saturday July 12, 9:30am at Brookside Gardens, Wheaton to Pray the Psalms while walking a Labyrinth or using a hand-held labyrinth. These will be free in-person events at local labyrinths— stay tuned for further details.
• Monday, July 21 at St. George’s for Praying the Psalms with Postures to Pray with Body, Heart and Soul. We will explore a range of types of gestures and postures.

At our orientation meeting on May 27, we will also provide an overview of each of these methods.

There will be sign-up sheet in the narthex if you would like to be included in the program. In addition, we will have a print-out for the two tracks for the daily lists of psalms. Or you can call the office to be signed up and to request a digital copy of the psalm lists.

If you have questions, please feel free to reach out to Connie, Karen Horrocks, Jocelyn Tidwell, or Terry Doyle.