Psalms

Joy Cowley's Psalms Down-under, like their biblical models, are not the stuff of comfortable piety. They sing beatitudes for all life has to offer: pain and joy, doubt and faith, turbulence and peace, in the immediacy of 'down-under' speech. Commonalities become blinding insights as Cowley sees the 'shimmering of the divine' in everything from detergent bubbles to mountain snows. The subjects range from the paschal mysteries to the ordinary 'Bumps' in our lives. These contemporary 'metaphysical' prayer-poems go straight to our heart and quicken the soul: "Listen God/I just had a nasty bump/and now I want to know the reason why."..

Joy Cowley has been writing for adults and children for more than 25 years. Her adult work includes novels, short stories and regular spirituality contributions to 'The Marist Messenger' and 'New Zealandia'. The 'Aotearoa Psalms' have grown from prayer shared with her husband Jerry Coles, and inspired by his photography. "These meditations speak to my heart. They invite me to sense the closeness of God. They call me to walk with God who is so actively present in Aotearoa" Rev John Mc Alpine, Psychotherapist...

What would the psalm writers say if they lived in our times? What words would they use to express their prayers? How would their songs reflect the same truth in a different age? "Psalms Now captures the meaning of the psalms for our time. Leslie Brandt restates, in today's language, the psalmists' honest prayers of praise, sorrow, compassion, fatigue, love, and countless other emotions encountered by those who have truly experienced life. Celebrate the reality of God with the psalmists. Begin today. You may never look at the book of Psalms in the same way once you've been gripped and challenged by the modern paraphrase of "Psalms Now. ..