Praying the Psalms

The Psalms were a core part of Jesus' prayer life. They have been the backbone of prayer and worship for Christians ever since.

This is a chance – as we move from 'Prayer' to 'Worship' in our exploration of a Methodist Way of Life – to embed the psalms in your own prayer life and in Sunday worship.

The resources are two-fold:

A. For groups meeting during the week, Monday to Thursday. There is a folded A4 leaflet for each of 8 sessions. Each session in planned for 90 minutes, and incorporates a recap, 2 or 3 psalms, two points of conversation/discussion, some input, a gospel reading from Luke, and a trail for the next session. It is hoped that participants will not only take part in these sessions, but will make space to pray through 3 psalms each day. A reading scheme gives a schedule for reading/praying through the whole book of Psalms over the course of the 50 days encompassed by the 8 sessions.

B. For Sunday worship: Confined to one side of A4 paper, these resources give some ideas for how the psalm set in the Lectionary for that Sunday could be used. There is a also a resource for those working with children/young people, relating to the same set of 8 psalms, which could be used at any time during that week.

If we want to grow more like Jesus, then daily praying and reading the psalms is a vital practice."

There has been a number of resource produced to support this which are given below.

• Praying the Psalms 2025 – Sunday Resource – Overview
• 8 Sunday resources that can be used for weekly worship
• A resource for those working with children and young people, this is arranged as weekly sessions but could be condensed, and lines up with the Sunday lectionary.
• A flyer that could be adapted for small groups.
• A number of small group guides, these indicate the day you are meeting on, so the Psalms and focus are in the correct order for your group.