Psalms and Songs of Solace by Martyn Percy  

'Aims to serve, to enable, to strengthen and to bless those who use it as a resource' through a focus on the Psalms

Psalms and Songs of Solace       
By Martyn Percy         
Bloomsbury
ISBN 978-1-3994-1411-1
Reviewed by Robert Draycott

I begin this review by recommending a book that at present I have only dipped into. The main reason is because this is a book to be used, 'iron rations for the soul', or as the author himself says, the Psalms are 'therapy of words', they are 'soul-music..........songs from the heart that soar to heaven'.

If you were able to read the introduction I am convinced you would be hooked - wherever you locate yourself on the spectrum of Christianity. Yes Martyn Percy is a scholar, an ordained Anglican who has written 'learned articles', but this is not a book written to impress to show 'how clever I am'. It aims to serve, to enable, to strengthen and to bless those who use it as a resource.
             
A second reason for writing now is because while it can be used at any time, the first section can be used during Advent, the second half can then be used during Lent. After the introduction there are eight parts which all comment on six Psalms each, until the last section which refers to eight.

Part one is headed, 'Righteous rage reconsidered', part six 'The scandal of Jesus', part eight 'Coming through fire'. These titles indicate that punches are not pulled, that this is no 'fairy-tale/fiction-faith......an easy path to and they all lived happily thereafter.'

The author has been through the mill as many of you will already know, so he writes, 'The Christian life is the way of the cross. We must pass through the valley of the shadow. God dwells with us in that darkness.....the only walk we have is the journey of the cross leading to the hope of the resurrection.'
           
There is much more I could write, but let one other snippet intrigue you - an 'important distinction between sin and corruption', from the context of the disappeared in Argentina. Do get hold of this book, full of wisdom, to be used as 'soul-music', and a 'therapy of words'.
 

Robert Draycott is a retired Baptist minister (various pastorates here and in Brazil), and a former chaplain of Eltham College