As I mark time waiting for a few permissions and some recordings to appear online, here is a responsive Psalm that we used in the Radio Ulster service of the 4 Corners Festival 3 weeks ago now. I used to regularly post responsive Psalms for Sunday, and am currently working on a possible publication of all 150 Psalms in responsive versions (which is more of a challenge than I first realised), and this one taken from Psalm 65 will probably find its way into any such publication. Given that I am posting this from the south east coast of Down with a storm raging outside, some of the words seem particularly pertinent for today. In the broadcast it was led by Catherine Largey, the Lay Pastoral Assistant in the Catholic Parish of St. John the Evangelist on the Falls Road, which was hosting the service:
and we should keep our promises to you
because you always keep faith with your promises to us.
When we feel ground down by guilt, you erase our wrongdoing.
Happy are those who find everlasting blessing under your roof.
Time after time you have miraculously rescued us, O saviour God;
You are the only hope for the earth and seas that you created.
Your strength shaped the majestic mountains across the earth;
Your voice stills the roaring waves of the seven seas.
People worldwide are stunned into silence by your miraculous signs;
At sunrise and sunset you invite us to join in songs of joy.
You tend the land and water it,
And the earth produces its abundance as intended.
Farmers may dig furrows, and fertilize the ground,
But you send the rain to swell the grain.
And so each year comes to a climax with your bounty,
as our storehouses overflow with your goodness.
The mountain meadows sustain many flocks,
and the valleys are filled with fields of corn;
Your people celebrate your boundless benevolence,
As they join all creation in singing songs to you. AMEN
Selah
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