Category: Blessing Psalms

At my church, our much-loved pastor is getting transferred, and her last Sunday is in a few weeks. So the choir director brought out a song we’re going to sing to her on her last Sunday.

I was blown away by this song, because it’s essentially a Blessing Psalm. I plan to memorize it and sing it in my heart for so many people I love, though the first one will be Pastor Gina.

Let me talk about Blessing Psalms for a moment. The ones in Psalms are Psalms 20, 67, 128, and 134, though there are other poems of blessing in other books of the Bible, such as the one the priests were to pray for the people. The blessings offered aren’t specific prayers, but they’re full of love and goodwill. Psalm 20 is my favorite, with passages like this:

May the LORD answer you when you are in distress;
may the name of the God of Jacob protect you….
May he give you the desire of your heart
and make all your plans succeed.
May we shout for joy over your victory
and lift up our banners in the name of our God.
May the LORD grant all your requests.

You’ll see how the song we’ll be singing fits right in with that. So instead of writing my own example psalm, here’s a Song of Blessing composed by a professional.

I brought the music home to copy the words. Of course, it hits your heart more deeply when sung.

A Blessing of Music

Words and Music by Joseph M. Martin

May your days be filled with music.
May your path be paved with song.
May the sounds of forever lift you up and keep you strong.
May your heart resound with laughter.
May your life be tuned for praise.
May the hymns of faith bring you hope.
May the rhythm of your life bring you joy.
May the harmony of friendship bring you love.
May the Maker bless and keep you.
May God’s music guide your ways.
May God’s gentle whisper always comfort you with grace.
May the voices of angels sing you peace.
Amen

I am going to have trouble singing this without crying on the day – it will be sung with much love!

May you, reader, also receive this blessing of music.

I’ve made a new website! Praying with the Psalmists is a website with resources and examples to guide you to deepen your prayers and open your heart to God by writing your own psalms.

I’ve been trying to find a publisher for a book with the same name and envisioned a website where folks who read the book could post their own psalms. It finally dawned on me – what was I waiting for? I already have a website and I have already posted example psalms in this Sonderjourneys blog. So I’m making twelve webpages to match the twelve chapters of the book – one for each type of Psalm, one intro page, and a page about memorizing Psalms.

But there is one type of Psalm for which I haven’t yet posted an example, and that’s Blessing Psalms.

These are different from Psalms where you are praying specific requests for people – those are covered in the Laments. Blessing Psalms are more general prayers of goodwill. You’ll find biblical examples in Psalms 20, 67, 128, and 134.

I don’t give a Form or Key Concepts for praying Blessing Psalms. As with all psalms, I’ll try using parallelism to make it sound like Hebrew poetry. The other principle I’ll use is, unlike how I was taught, I’m not going to get specific. I’m not going to tell God what to do, but ask God for general good things for one I love.

And today, the person I want to bless is my transgender daughter, Zephyr.

She’s had a rough month. Had to find a new place to live, and it wasn’t easy. She did find success, and I’m so happy for her. I’m hoping it will mean new beginnings in more ways than one, and so I’m writing my example psalm of blessing for her.

Because Zephyr isn’t exactly a traditionalist, for this example psalm, I’m going to use names for God from Wilda C. Gafney’s A Woman’s Lectionary for the Whole Church, Year W.

Blessing for Zephyr:

Ever-living God, Mother of Creation,
hear my prayer
and shine your face on my daughter.
Ever-loving God, Fount of Wisdom,
have mercy on her,
and bless her.

Gracious and Compassionate One,
Send your angels to gently guide her steps,
her plans,
and her decisions.

Mother of the Mountains,
May you make all her plans succeed
and grant her the desires of her heart.

God Who Is Mystery,
May you bring companions to grace her steps,
friends to encourage her heart,
and animals to shower her with love.

Healer and Sustainer,
shower her with love,
sprinkle her days with joys.

Protector and Provider,
give her each day her daily bread,
and keep her from harm.

Strengthener and Mother of Wisdom,
grant her strength to make her way in the world
as the unique and wonderful person you created her to be.

And thank you that you love your daughter
even more than I can as her earthly mother.
Shine on her with that love
as she shines her unique light in the world.

Amen.

Now it’s your turn! Share your blessing psalms in the comments.

God Who is Mystery,
may