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Cynthia R. Wallace's avatar

Oh, Amy, thank you for this (and for the link to my post, which I clicked on thinking, "yes, I need to read that too" and then laughed out loud). You've spoken my heart here, all the way through.

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Amy Peterson's avatar

We are usually preaching to ourselves, aren’t we?

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Sam Faeth's avatar

Thank you, dear Amy. I am, like Jacob, wearied from emotional, ethical, and spiritual wrestling and am quite certain that something has been wrenched out of joint in the process. I have been able to do some “feeding” in the midst of it, though. Your exegesis affirmed that impulse. Bless you, friend.

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Kellie Brown's avatar

Thank you for helping me feel less alone in my struggles with some of the Psalms and other scriptures with promises that I see remaining unfulfilled. My research area is music during the Holocaust so your highlighting of that in relation to this psalm spoke to me greatly. Tending is a beautiful word. I wrote a devotional back in 2020 when I was struggling during the pandemic that I called Tending the Threshold. I believe it is in the liminal spaces where we can do the good work of tending. But it is all so hard right now.

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Michael Dechane's avatar

Thank you, Amy. I can't think of a better space to spend a few minutes today than your reconsiderations around the language and intent and offerings in this Psalm. Bless you and bless you.

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Liz Cooledge Jenkins's avatar

Those poems. Thank you for keeping it real, and for not letting that male psalmist tell you to be less emotional!

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R LaMon Brown's avatar

Brilliant. Your substack was recommended by the algorithm that makes recommendations for substack sites that might interest me. Again, I loved what you wrote. And I too have found Alter's translation very helpful. My own substack which is less sextensive than your simple gives a very short reflection on the psalm with a haiku connected to the psalm. (I have written over 500 haiku on the psalms. Some are easier to write on than others!) Peace, LaMon

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