282: Psalm Summer: An Introduction

The Next Right Thing

Emily P. Freeman

Society & Culture, Personal Journals, Religion & Spirituality, Christianity

4.8 • 5.3K Ratings

🗓️ 4 July 2023

⏱️ 15 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

It's time for Psalm Summer and today I'll share a few words about why I hold a tension with the Psalms. I'm hearing it among my friends, at retreats I've led, from graduate students I teach, and in the spiritual direction chair -- we have a complicated relationship with God, with the Bible, with people who make up the church. Complicated doesn't have to mean bad and it doesn't have to be negative. It just means there are a lot of layers and we've lived a lot of life together. We have love stories to tell, heartbreaks to grieve, faithfulness to celebrate. The Psalms don't tell us how to live, they reveal the many ways we might respond to life. They are songs and poems written by those who are angry, heartbroken, bereft, and elated. The words in the Psalms are not a rule book but a refuge, a record, a reality of human life in all its complexity.

Today I'll share a few words about why I'm glad to bring Psalm Summer back. Listen in.

LINKS + RESOURCES FROM THIS EPISODE:

A playlist of the Psalms we’ve done so far
The Quiet Collection app
Order The Next Right Thing Guided Journal
Grab a copy of my book The Next Right Thing
Find me on Instagram @emilypfreeman
Download the transcript

“For the simplicity on this side of complexity, I wouldn't give you a fig. But for the simplicity on the other side of complexity, for that I would give you anything I have.” ― Oliver Wendell Holmes Sr.

Transcript

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0:00.0	I'm Emily P. Freeman and welcome to the next right thing.
0:04.4	You're listening to episode 282.
0:09.1	This is a podcast about making decisions, but it's also about making a life.
0:14.1	If you struggle with decision fatigue with chronic hesitation or if you just need a few minutes
0:19.1	away from the constant stream of information and the sometimes delightful but distracting
0:24.6	hum of entertainment, you're in the right place for discerning your next right thing.
0:29.9	Usually here we're having conversations about discernment and decision making, sharing
0:34.4	practices that I engage to help me and hopefully you to move forward if you're feeling stuck,
0:40.2	overwhelmed or unsure about what's next.
0:43.4	To keep it interesting, we do that in various ways through short form narrative with just
0:47.4	my voice hello, through conversation with people who have a particular experience or
0:51.8	expertise in some aspect of decision making.
0:55.4	Sometimes I'll share fun things like what's saving my life during different seasons or
0:59.4	updates and celebrations of certain milestones.
1:03.0	One type of episode we often return to around here is the more reflective episodes where
1:07.9	I'll share a simple reading, not original content that I create, but something that we
1:11.8	all might be familiar with for you to take along your way.
1:15.4	Well today I'll share a few words about why I'm bringing Psalm Summer back.
1:20.6	And I recognize as I share this that you may be in a variety of different places depending
1:26.4	on your social location, your faith community, your own walk or non-walk with God right now.
1:32.7	And so your experience of hearing scripture is going to be colored by any of those different
1:38.9	things.
	...

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