Every Sunday our pastor in the church where I grew up would read and talk about one Psalm before the rest of his sermon. Not remembering much about the Psalms from that experience but curious, as a young adult I began reading Psalms on my own. A little while later I went to a couple weekend monastery retreats with some friends and experienced “the Hours” where the monks gather seven times a day - first at 2:00 a.m. - and pray, not just read, all 150 Psalms every week. That made an impression. In the Episcopal Book of Common Prayer (BCP) I found a morning and evening, 30 day schedule for reading through the Psalms and followed that for several years. I noticed a pattern in many of the Psalms: they would open with Praise, ( Enter his gates with thanksgiving and come into his courts with praise . Psalm 100: 4 ) Next they would express Humility in some way, often by a Confession of failure or shortcomings. Most every Psalm then contains some kind of specific request or Petition, and then closes with another section of Praise. Not every Psalm follows that pattern exactly but every Psalm contains one or more of these elements. So, following the BCP’s 30 day pattern, I put together 30 days for reading, reflection, and
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