“In your righteousness deliver me and rescue me; incline your ear to me and save me” – Psalm 71:2

This Sunday the lectionary invites us to reflect on Psalm 71.  Psalm 71 is often used in worship services and in liturgies of call and response.  It is a psalm of petition and of comfort.  Let us find a prayer space, center our hearts, and read Nan Merrill’s interpretation of Psalm 71 from her book Psalms for Praying.

In you, O my Beloved, do I take refuge; let me never feel separated from You! 

In your compassion come and refresh me; listen to my cry, answer my plea! 

Be to me a rock, a tower of strength, a strong arm to uphold me, as I abandon myself into your hands. 

Be a very Presence to me as fear grips me, as I grow old and my friends leave me. 

For You, O Friend, are my hope, my strength, since I was but a child. 

Upon You have I trusted from my birth, You, whom I knew before my mother’s womb. 

I continually sing praises to You!