Customer Reviews

Psalms for Praying: An Invitation to Wholeness

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I concur fully with the following summary: From Library Journal:  Merrill, the editor of Friends of Silence newsletter, has led retreats, worked with inner-city parishes, and been involved with prison ministry for many years. She has reworked the Book of Psalms in a loving, contemplative manner, which betrays none of the book's original vigor or essence. Rather, in a mode that is fresh and eloquent, Merrill's psalms evoke that deep sense of reverence and soul-stirring dialog with the divine that is often eclipsed by the fear of divine wrath in the original. Merrill has carefully crafted these verses to rekindle for contemporary readers the timeless mystery of divine love, using language that is not constrained by gender or judgment. Highly recommended for all libraries.  

About two years ago I got the shock of my life when what I thought was appendicitis turned out to be cancer. As soon as I woke up from the anesthesia and learned the truth I knew I needed to reconnect with God at a level I never had before. I have always loved the Psalms but they seemed a little too far from my experience in my situation. Then I found this book.

It is a wonderful recasting of the Psalms in a way that opened my heart and my soul to the love of God in exactly the way I needed. When you are going through cancer treatment, one of the hardest things to deal with is fear. It can easily take over your spirit. This book recognizes that fear is a bigger enemy to most modern people than invading Philistines are. It also makes the reader think about God in a new way by avoiding a lot of the titles for God that we all have heard so many times they have become meaningless, and recognizing that God's very nature is love.

If you are suffering through a difficult time, or know someone who is, this book is a valuable help. I have found such comfort in it in some of the scariest times of my life. I can't recommend it highly enough.

I have been a fan of Nan Merrill's book, Psalms for Praying, since it first came out in hardcover edition. I recommend it in the list of suggested reading in the back of my book, The Pocket Guide to Prayer. I also highly recommend it at the various prayer workshops I faciliate. As I have spent time with her rendition of the psalms, I have repeatedly discovered a timely phrase to help me prayerfully rest in God's abiding peace and experience God's love more fully. Just today, in fact, the phrase from Psalm 38, "Be my strength and uphold me," is one that has provided a resting place for my troubled spirit and served as a healing balm. I am grateful to Nan for interpreting the psalms in such a way that I, and I suspect many others as well, are able to re-connect with the One who desires that we come away for a while and rest peacefully in God's tender embrace.

If you are tired of the Psalms, Nan Merrill's new, fresh version may be just the thing to open the prayers of the church for this new day. If you are tired of inclusive language where "God" or "Godself" has become wearisome, you'll delight in this generous burst of descriptive language. If patriarchal imagery and language has brought your reading of scripture to a halt, take another look at the Psalms in Nan Merrill's vital, creative interpretations for today--both for men and women. My own heart has been freed to pray the prayers of the church again through this tremendous release.

Palms for Praying have become a part of my daily devotions for about three years. It is a book I give to my Christian friends. If your interested in wholeness in the Love of Christ the peace of God just flows from the words of these psalm. Can not count the blessings I have received and continue to receive.

This is an absolutely beautfully written book. It is a modern rendition of the Psalms without losing any of their original poignancy and grace. They are best read aloud and I use them daily in prayer, praying with others, and for others. They are especially useful in the spiritual direction work that I do.

Nan Merrill has done modern pray-ers a great favor with her paraphrase of the Psalms. My wife and I, burdened like most people with some illness and the generally troubling state of affairs around the world, use the book every day to express our longing for God under all the various and splendid names which Nan uses for God -- Compassionate One, Heart of my heart, Loving Presence, Companion, Love, Beloved, etc. She gives the Psalms, already among the most powerful expressions of the soul's need for God, an immediacy and intimacy which makes them even more meaningful to today's pray-er. I urge the book upon all who are searching for words with which to give voice to the deepest impulses of their souls.

Psalms for Praying by Nan Merrill contains the best restructuring of the psalms that I have read
for spiritual reflections on the psalms. This book has become my favorite source for praying the psalms.

This updating of the psalms has so much to commend it. What I find most helpful is the zeroing in on the identity of the Divine as Love, and the identifying of the obstacle to consciously participating in that Love which envelopes us, as fear. Merrill gently invites us to recognize the numberless faces of fear and the equally endless possibilities for loving. It is a prayer book one cannot exhaust.
Wording will always be challenged by cultural and personal preferences. "The Beloved" for Love grinds.

I KEEP BUYING THIS BOOK AND GIVING IT AWAY. IT IS THE BEST REWRITE OF THE PSALMS THAT I'VE COME ACROSS. IF YOU'RE LOOKING FOR A "PRAYER" BOOK, THIS IS IT.