The Man in the Orange Hat

  If it had not been the Lord who was on our side, Let Israel now say— If it had not been the Lord who was on our side, When men rose up against us, Then they would have swallowed us alive, When their wrath was kindled against us; Then the waters would have overwhelmed us, The stream would have gone over our soul; Then the swollen waters Would have gone over our soul.” Blessed be the Lord, Who has not given us as prey to their teeth. Our soul has escaped as a bird from the snare of the fowlers; The snare is broken, and we have escaped. Our help is in the name of the Lord, Who made heaven and earth. So far in my haphazard reflections on the Psalms of Ascent, I have thought about travelling with people on unfinished journeys. Their feet have slipped, their eyes have looked to the hills, their voices have lifted in longing, in protest, in hope. These have been psalms for unfinished journeys—of pilgrims still walking. But Psalm 124 feels different. This is a song sung no...

  Unto You I lift up my eyes, Behold, as the eyes of servants look to the hand of their masters, As the eyes of a maid to the hand of her mistress, So our eyes look to the Lord our God, Until He has mercy on us. For we are exceedingly filled with contempt. With the scorn of those who are at ease, With the contempt of the proud. O You who dwell in the heavens. As I was reflecting on this psalm, I found myself at Cambridge Pride. I watched my fabulous daughter, Carys, performing on stage with "Sing Out Cambridge" and I joined the parade, walking alongside her and many others through the centre of Cambridge. There were flags and feathers, music and dancing, protest signs and prayerful hearts. And as the crowd surged around me — joyful, defiant, deeply human — I realised that Psalm 123 speaks directly into this moment. It is a psalm of lifting our eyes. Of facing down contempt. Of longing for mercy not just privately, but together — out loud, in colour, in community. This is a re...

Debbi Cooper’s 1988 iconic black and white picture of two young boys, one in a yarmulke and the other with a keffiyeh wrapped around his neck. I knew this one was in the stack somewhere, it has often made me uncomfortable.  But I have been pleased to grapple with it and come to some kind of accomodation with it. I was glad when they said to me,  “Let us go into the house of the Lord.” Our feet have been standing  Within your gates, O Jerusalem! Jerusalem is built  As a city that is compact together, Where the tribes go up,  The tribes of the Lord,  To the Testimony of Israel,  To give thanks to the name of the Lord. For thrones are set there for judgment,  The thrones of the house of David. Pray for the peace of Jerusalem:  “May they prosper who love you. Peace be within your walls,  Prosperity within your palaces.” For the sake of my brethren and companions,  I will now say, “Peace be within you.” Because of the house of the Lord our God  I will seek your good. It is se...

  I will lift up my eyes to the hills— From whence (see note) comes my help? My help comes from the Lord, Who made heaven and earth. He will not allow your foot to be moved; He who keeps you will not slumber. Behold, He who keeps Israel Shall neither slumber nor sleep. The Lord is your keeper; The Lord is your shade at your right hand. The sun shall not strike you by day, Nor the moon by night. The Lord shall preserve you from all evil; He shall preserve your soul. The Lord shall preserve your going out and your coming in From this time forth, and even forevermore. From the first stanza to the second there is an abrupt change of voice.  We were in the first-person, but now we are in the third-person.  Some scholars suggest that this is the Psalmist having a kind of internal dialogue with himself - like Smeagol/Gollum in the Lord of the Rings:   Sméagol: "Leave now, and never come back!" Gollum: "No... we needs it. Must have ...

Looking back over Edale to Mam Tor and the Great Ridge   I will lift up my eyes to the hills— From whence comes my help? My help comes from the Lord, Who made heaven and earth. He will not allow your foot to be moved; He who keeps you will not slumber. Behold, He who keeps Israel Shall neither slumber nor sleep. The Lord is your keeper; The Lord is your shade at your right hand. The sun shall not strike you by day, Nor the moon by night. The Lord shall preserve you from all evil; He shall preserve your soul. The Lord shall preserve your going out and your coming in From this time forth, and even forevermore. Psalm 121 seems to be coming from a very different place than Psalm 120.  Whilst it begins with a question about where to find help, it seems much less raw, much less in-the-moment.  It doesn't sound like this Psalm is uttered "in my distress..." rather, after some time and reflection has passed. Back in 2010, when Twitter was still a fairly new phenomenon, Chris Jub...

In my distress I cried to the Lord, And He heard me. Deliver my soul, O Lord, from lying lips And from a deceitful tongue. What shall be given to you, Or what shall be done to you, You false tongue? Sharp arrows of the warrior, With coals of the broom tree! Woe is me, that I dwell in Meshech, That I dwell among the tents of Kedar! My soul has dwelt too long With one who hates peace. I am for peace; But when I speak, they are for war.  I learned this on day one.  It was the only one I learned while walking - but I think it has stuck!  I love the alliterative "L"s in "Deliver my soul, O Lord, from lying lips", and I love how "my soul" has so much more depth then "me". In my distress I cried to the Lord, And He heard me. Deliver my soul, O Lord, from lying lips And from a deceitful tongue.  I learned these opening couplets over several miles.  At times I was in distress myself - climbing steeply up Kinder Scout!  I love how the psalmist just bangs...

Lifting up my eyes unto the hills on day one. I wanted to learn the fifteen Psalms off by heart.  I don't know much scripture off by heart, but he bits that I do I often find very helpful.  My plan was to walk with them - literally.  I have a plastic waller that you hang around your neck with your map inside to stop it getting wet.  On day one I had the map on one side and a large-print of Psalm 120 on the other, so that I could walk with it and learn it as I walked.  I succeeded! If I am to learn something, I can do without the language being clunky.  The Psalm from the section that already mostly knew off by heart was Psalm 121 "I will lift up mine eyes unto the hills, from whence cometh my help?"  That's the King James version (with one tiny change in puctuation as I mentioned in an earlier blog!) I can remember that because of the poetry of it.  I looked through some different translations and took the beginning of Psalm 121 as my test couplet...

Looking back from near the top of Kinder Scout There is a group of fifteen Psalms (120-134) that all open with the heading: “A Song of Ascents.” The title hints at a journey, a climb, a movement upwards.  That, in a nutshell, is what prompted me to say I would spend the first part of this sabbatical walking the Pennine Way and reflecting on these psalms.  I figured that walking uphill a lot might help me understand Psalms that were about "ascending"! One flaw in my plan was that walking uphill a lot is a hard slog and I quickly discovered that the kind of walking you need to do to complete each day's schedule on the Pennine Way is not the same kind of walking where you have space, time or mental energy to daydreem or to think deep thoughts or stop to stare and contemplate.  I did this on day one, and learned the whole of Psalm 120 off by heart as I walked, and stopped to record me reciting it by a babbling stream...  that's why I didn't get to Crowden until twenty...

Day 7 on the Pennine way, Malham to Shelford. Eagle-Eyed viewers might notice that Shelford is not on the Pennine way.  To put a positive spin on it, you might say that I got home ahead of schedule. On the evening of the fifth day (you'll remember how I wrote that I was feeling much stronger and walking much more confidently and that I had finally gained my Pennine legs!) I was suddenly  struck down by some kind of stomach virus or similar affliction.  I needn't detain you with the details, suffice to say it wasn't pretty and it wasn't pleasant. By the following morning I had had no sleep at all and was feeling mighty rough. I pondered my options. First option was to take a taxi to gargrave and walk from there to Malham making it a shorter day. This option was soon overtaken by option 2 when I actually tried to heft my rucksack onto my back and realised I wasn't walking anywhere on day six.  Option two was to get the bus to Malham and then continue hiking from there...

Day 5 on the Pennine Way, Stanbury to Elslack. I had breakfast with Brian and Inge but I decided I wouldn't travel with them today as they had a different route than me, were going further, and were anxious about pressing on. I didn't want to spend the day worrying about holding them back or with the stress that they had, and they are faster walkers than me!  The pub is not far from the resumption of the Pennine way and it begins in a fairly relaxed minute alongside Ponden reservoir.  At the top of the reservoir crosses over and starts to climb. And if there is a story to the day then the day is about going up and coming down, going up and coming down, going up and coming down....  Over a few miles the path climbs up to 1500 ft until you find yourself above the green meadows and onto more open bleak moorland. The paths are mostly grass or  peat and very easy on the feet.  It ascends past cat stone and then fairly gently (most of the way) towards the village of C...

Day 4 of the Pennine way - Hebden Bridge to Stanbury (near Ponden Mill.) Once again, practical details intervene. For those who might be worried, I can delightedly report that my morning success of the day before was gloriously repeated in the bathroom.  Today's walk was shorter than the first three days, being just 12 and 1/2 miles and I also needed to buy some things from the hebden Bridge shops. I bought a knee support for my left knee from boots, some Dialoryte to help me rehydrate  (I don't think I've been drinking enough) and a walking pole. I managed to get all three items but it meant that I didn't set off until well passed. 10:00 a.m. When I finally did get going, the beginning is as gentle as you could ever possibly imagine, a lovely stroll along the canal. But then I got lost and ended up on a bridal way heading for todmorden- which I wouldn't recommend to anyone. Using my paper map and awesome map reading skills I navigated my way back to the Pennine way...