Psalm 11

The Holy One is my safety.

Why then do you question me,

why do you say,

“Fly like a bird to your mountain!

See how your shadow-self bends back the bow,

knocking the arrow against the string

taking aim against your heart of hearts …

If the foundations are being destroyed

what can the faithful do?”

Our Protector occupies the Sanctuary.

Our Guardian is enthroned in Heaven

and observes everyone on earth;

the eye of Godde studies mortals.

Godde notices those who draw near,

even as Godde sees our violence

and responds to evil with passion and compassion.

Wielding fiery coals and burning sulfur,

sending the scorching wind,

Godde will transform wickedness,

for our Protector draws near

to create a just love.

Raise your eyes to see Godde's face.

Psalm 10

Holy One, why are you so far away?
Why are you hidden from me during times of adversity?

Prideful weakness gives way to wickedness

and thus I am ensnared by devices of my own design.

A greedy soul is boastful, desiring much

while despising you, the Holy One.

When I stand tall and solitary
there is no awareness of Godde;
by all appearances one can prosper without Godde.

And even as you draw near, your presence a judgment,
there is a wicked voice that says with a sneer

“Nothing will ever shake me;

No one can harm me.”

The mouth is often full of lies, and threats;

trouble and unkindness lie beneath the tongue.

How easy to wait in in secret places

to ambush and destroy the innocent.

See, the eye keeps watch for the outsider;

how like a crouching lion one can become

catching the vulnerable, dragging them in a net.

In our thoughts they collapse and are crushed;

we think, they fall because of our strength,

and we whisper to our reproving hearts,

“Godde won't notice, Godde is hidden and won't see.”

Arise, O Holy One! Raise your hand, O Godde.

Before you I am humbled. Let me remember this.

Why must I revile you? Why do I lie to my heart

and say, “Godde won't call me to account?”

But, Godde, you see the trouble of the lost, the least;

you hold their suffering in your hand as you consider them.

Therefore we can commit ourselves to you,

you are the helper of the abandoned.

Break the reach of wickedness

bring evil to account before the whole world.

The Holy One is Sovereign for ever and ever;

unbelievers will be scattered

as you, Holy One, hear the desire

of those who live with humility;

you hear our cry and encourage us

defending the vulnerable

so that these mortal oppressors,

also formed from earth,

will no longer terrify us all!

Psalm 9

Holy Guardian,

with all my heart,

I make my confession to you;

I speak of the wonder you inspire.

I rejoice in you, I am jubilant as I praise your Name, O Most High.

Turning from my waywardness I return to you

the false road of stumbling disappears...

From the throne of Judgment, you have drawn near

and have accomplished my redemption.

You have rebuked my willfulness, you transform

my wickedness, blotting out my failures in love forever.

Endless ruin would have overtaken me

but you have uprooted the dwelling-place of my sins;

now no one will remember them.

The Holy Guardian reigns forever,

The Guardian establishes justice.

This Sovereign judges the world,

knowing intimately that which is good.

This Holy Sovereign judges the peoples with equity.

The Holy One is a watchtower for the wounded,
a sanctuary in times of trouble.

Those who know your name trust in you,
for you, Holy One, have never forsaken those who seek you.

Sing, and praise the One enthroned in holiness;
proclaim Godde's deeds throughout the nations.

In our blood we remember: the Holy One seeks us;
the faithful One never ignores the cries of the vulnerable.

My Guardian, see how I am afflicted!

Have mercy! Lift me up from the gates of death,
that I may declare your praises
at the gates of the holy habitation;
and rejoice in your salvation.

We dig pits

and fall into them
our feet are caught in the nets that we have hidden.

But you, Holy One, are known by your acts of justice;

our wickedness is ensnared by the work of our hands.

Let us pause and ponder these things.

Evil deeds sink down to the realm of the dead,
where souls try to forget Godde.

But Godde will never forget those in need;
the hope of the humble will never perish.

Arise, O Holy One,

mortals have no strength without you;
your presence judges us …

Direct us, O Holy One,
You remind us that we are mortal.

Let us pause and ponder these things.

Psalm 8

Holy One, our Guardian,

Your name is revered in all the earth.

You have established your majesty in the heavens.

You establish your strength

in the new born and the nursing child.

Your glory shines through them

to silence your adversaries;

this glory stills any impulses of self-deceit …

Yes, I see your heavens, the work of your fingers

the moon and the stars which you have established

and I think, what are mortals that you remember us?

What are our children that you are mindful of them?

You have not withheld your divine breath from us,

you offer us dignity and greatness.

You call us to be your partners in caring for Creation;

the work of your hands spreads out before us:

sheep and oxen, all the creatures of the fields ....

birds soaring in the heavens .... 

fish in the sea, traversing the paths of the oceans!

Holy One, our Guardian,

we revere your name throughout the earth!

Psalm 7

O Holy One, my Godde,

I have trusted you, save me, deliver me

from things that would consume me,

from thoughts that would destroy my soul,

ripping me apart just as a lion tears its prey;

no deliverer in sight.

Holy One, my Godde,

it is difficult to admit that I have done this,

it is hard to say there is iniquity on my hands.

Have I done evil to a well-wisher, have I

created adversarial relationships?

What inner enemy pursues my soul,

threatening to overwhelm me?

Which enemy trips me, grinds my honor into the dust?

Rebuke these, my adversaries.

Waken me, O Holy One.

Proclaim Judgment, witnesses surround you –

from your vantage point, turn back to judge us.

Judge me, O Holy One, according to our relationship,

according to the integrity by which I seek to live.

Let violence cease, establish our bonds of intimacy,

O Godde of Presence, you know my heart of hearts.

You, Saving Godde, are the shield of those who draw near to you!

You, Godde, judge by intimate knowledge, you are not always angry.

If I do not turn back to you, your words are like sharpened swords,

If I do not turn to you, my actions

are like the readied bow and

bend toward me

these deadly weapons, these burning arrows

which conceive mischief, gestate evil,

and give birth to deceit …

My falseness prepares a pit,

I scoop out a hole and then fall in.

Trouble falls upon the head of the troubler;

and violence returns from whence it came.

Holy One, I thank you for setting me right.

I sing this hymn to the Most High and Holy One.

Psalm 6

Holy One, do not test me in anger,

do not purify me with the heat of your fury.

Have mercy, Holy One, I am weak.

Heal me, Holy One, I ache to the bone

and my soul is greatly troubled.

Holy One, when?

Repent, O Holy One, deliver my soul.

In your kindness, save me.

The dead can not testify to your deeds.

Who could give thanks to you among the dead?

Weary, sighing, I meditate upon my bed

throughout the night

my mattress is soaked with wasted tears.

In my mind's eye I am provoked by images of my struggles

Turn my iniquities away from me …

The Holy One has heard my weeping,

the Living One has heard my plea.

Holy One, you have accepted my prayer.

In a moment you turn back my enemies, shame and trouble!