Psalms for Lent: Ash Wednesday

Ash Wednesday:  Psalm 51

#Psalm51 a model for confession: Hold nothing back, seek God’s mercy, and radically trust God. What troubles your spirit (disorients you)?

Thursday after Ash Wednesday:  Psalm 1

#Psalm1 sets forth a simple world of right leading to prosperity and wrong leading to doom. Is this your experience of how the world works?

Friday after Ash Wednesday:  Psalm 13

#Psalm13 laments a disoriented life. Have you ever felt forgotten by God or been tormented by confusion or grief “day after day?”

Saturday after Ash Wednesday:  Psalm 32

#Psalm32 testifies that sin blocks relationship with God. What keeps you from finding God as your hiding place and being embraced by mercy?

[Note: I am using Walter Brueggemann's The Message of the Psalms as a resource. In this book Brueggemann divides the psalms into three categories: Psalms of orientation, disorientation, and new orientation. I've skipped the orientation psalms (except for tomorrow) and amusing disorientation psalms for the first pasrt of Lent and then switching to psalms of new orientation as we approach Easter.]