Amy Erickson on Psalm 1

The speaker for this week's Covenant Study episode on Job, Amy Erickson, has also done a little writing about the Psalms! In light of our discussion last week about the passages in Psalms about enemies and how the Psalms might move us toward action in the world, her article from the Huffington Post, Psalm 1: Putting Evil in Its Place, seems particularly apropos. Her discussion of Psalm 1 centers around its relevance to the students of New York Theological Seminary (NYTS) at Sing Sing Correctional Facility. Yes, you read that right!

Since 1982 New York Theological Seminary has been one of the most unusual programs in theological education in the nation.  Each year up to fifteen students who are currently incarcerated in New York State enroll in the Seminary’s accredited Master of Professional Studies (MPS) degree offered inside the Sing Sing Correctional Facility in Ossining, New York.

Amy Erickson makes clear that, although Psalm 1 is a prayer and a song to God, it is also a word of direction and encouragement for the faith community:

Armed with something that looks a lot like a Psalm 1 worldview, the graduates of Sing Sing seminary go out into the world committed to serve their communities, bringing a message of hope and responsibility back to the place where they once walked on the path that sinners tread and followed the advice of the wicked. There on the streets of New York, sustained by streams of unseen waters, most of these seminary graduates “yield their fruit” and “their leaves do not wither” (v. 3).

The Psalms turn our attention to God, to the covenant, to the laws of God. And, in that way, they proclaim the way to live and work in our lives and in the world.