Study Group Resources

Lament and the Psalms (Lent 2021)

Pre-reading and Background Material (Week 0)

Documents

The Practice of Lament – The Practice of Lament
(a brief introduction to what Lament is (and is not))

The Structure of the Psalms of Lament – The Structure of the Psalms of Lament
(a short overview of how Psalms of Lament are structured)

Structure of the Book of Psalms – Structure of the Book of Psalms
(a table outlining the internal structure of the Book of Psalms)

Videos

Overview of the Psalms – Overview of the Psalms
(a well designed graphical and narrative overview of the whole ‘book’ of Psalms)

An Introduction to Psalms of Lament – An Introduction to the Psalms of Lament
( Ashleigh Urquidi’s accessible introduction to the structure of the Psalms of Lament)

George Coppen’s Notes on the above video – Notes on Ashleigh Urquidi’s video

Bono & Eugene Peterson – THE PSALMS – Bono & Eugene Peterson – THE PSALMS
(a short film documenting the friendship between Bono (of the band U2) and Eugene Peterson (author of contemporary-language Bible translation The Message) revolving around their common interest in the Psalms.)

A Psalm of Lament and Praise in a time of Coronavirus – A Psalm of Lament and Praise in a time of Coronavirus
(a Psalm for our times written and read by the Revd Kenneth Howcroft)

Audio

Audio of Overview of the Psalms

Audio of An Introduction to Psalms of Lament

Audio of Bono & Eugene Peterson – THE PSALMS

Audio of A Psalm of Lament and Praise in a time of Coronavirus

The Need for Lament (Week 1)

Documents

Session 1 as four sides of A4 – Lament and Psalms – session 1

Session 1 as a four sided booklet – Booklet Lament and Psalms – session 1

Chapter Five of Dermot Cox’s book entitled – “Psalms of Human Need and Distress“

Video

Short video of Walter Brueggemann speaking about the Need for Lament

Audio

Audio of Walter Brueggemann speaking about the Need for Lament (as above)

The Power of Lament (Week 2)

Documents

Session 2 as four sides of A4 = Lament and Psalms – session 2

Session 2 as a four sided booklet – Booklet Lament and Psalms – session 2

Video

Short video of Walter Brueggemann speaking about the Power of Lament

Audio

Audio of Walter Brueggemann speaking about the Power of Lament (as above)

Lament and the Suffering of Others (Week 3)

Documents

Session 3 as four sides of A4 – Lament and Psalms – session 3

Session 3 as a four sided booklet – Booklet Lament and Psalms – session 3

Video

Short video of NT Wright speaking about Lament in Worship

Short video of Walter Brueggemann speaking about the Psalms of Vengeance

Audio

Audio of NT Wright speaking about Lament in Worship (as above)

Audio of Walter Brueggemann speaking about the Psalms of Vengeance (as above)

Collective Grief (Week 4)

Documents

Session 4 as four sides of A4 – Lament and Psalms – session 4

Session 4 as a four sided booklet – Booklet Lament and Psalms – session 4

Text of Hannah Malcolm’s sermon – Climate Chaos and Collective Grief

Video

Short video of Hannah Malcolm speaking about Collective Grief

Longer Video of Hannah Malcolm’s sermon – Climate Chaos and Collective Grief

Audio

MP3 Audio of Hannah Malcolm speaking about Collective Grief (as above)

Lament as an Act of Love (Week 5)

Documents

Session 5 as four sides of A4 Lament and Psalms – session 5

Session 5 as a four sided booklet Booklet Lament and Psalms – session 5

Video

Short video of Hannah Malcolm speaking about Lament as an Act of Love

Audio

MP3 Audio of Hannah Malcolm speaking about Lament as an Act of Love (as above)

Afterwards

Elizabeth Lewis Hall’s paper entitled – Suffering in God’s Presence: The Role of Lament in Transformation

Suffering (Advent 2020)

This is a wide-ranging topic, with many strands. In this study, we will start with a Bible Study on The Suffering of Job, move on to New Testament Theology in The Suffering of Christ and finish with some Practical Theology in Our Own Suffering.

We start each session with Prayer:

Lord, make me an instrument of your peace.
Where there is hatred, let me sow love;
where there is injury, pardon;
where there is doubt, faith;
where there is despair, hope;
where there is darkness, light;
where there is sadness, joy.
O Divine Master,
grant that I may not so much seek
to be consoled as to console,
to be understood as to understand,
to be loved as to love.
For it is in giving that we receive,
it is in pardoning that we are pardoned,
and it is in dying that we are born to eternal life.
Amen.

The materials below are in two forms:

A PDF file with sequential A4 pages
A PDF file with pages arranged so that if your printer can print double-sided with a short-edge binding (and you know what that all means:-) you can print it and fold it to resemble the ‘booklets’ that I have been handing out in previous studies.

If in doubt, the first format will produce something readable. If you have problems, either ask a friend or get in touch with me.

Each week there is the session booklet and in some weeks a further booklet of additional material/resources.

If there are things in the materials that you wish to talk with me about, you know how to contact me.

Session 1 – The Suffering of Job

Before you start, you will find it very helpful to understand the structure of the Book of Job, so I suggest that you read that material first, so that you will be able to see the progression as you move through the session.

Suffering -Session One

Suffering – Session One booklet

The Structure of Job

Prayer (Lent 2020)

To start with, an episode of Radio 4’s “Something Understood” in which Rowan Williams talks about Prayer.

The materials below are in two forms:

A PDF file with sequential A4 pages
A PDF file with pages arranged so that if your printer can print double-sided with a short-edge binding (and you know what that all means:-) you can print it and fold it to resemble the ‘booklets’ that I have been handing out for earlier sessions.

If in doubt, the first format will produce something readable. If you have problems, either ask a friend or get in touch with me.

Each week there is the session booklet and in some weeks a further booklet of additional material/resources.

If there are things in the materials that you wish to talk with me about, you know how to contact me.