Psalters Manifesto: Tehillah - A Cry for Deliverance

Yesterday, a friend of mine, Eli Sparks, put in my mailbox a copy of the Psalters' Manifesto (please check this out - it's a mind-blowing read!).

I am really excited to see that there is a movement of young Christians who are not relegating the reponsibility of being the hands and feet (and voice!) of Jesus to someone else. They are wanting to cry out "prayers of lamentation over the various enslavements of this world; and prayers of praise to the God who liberates and will continue to liberate us from enslavement." The call this idea of prayer and song, "tehillah" (trans. "psalm")

Here's a couple of inspiring quotes:

"Wherever worshippers of Yeshua are creating tehillim amidst exodus; wherever the faithful are crying out to God for deliverance; wherever there is an honest struggle for righteousness, the music of God can be heard."

"There is a great deal we as American Christians can learn from psalters and their approach to Glorifying God through music. Indeed, their approach seems a good elixer for the diseases of humanity in general; but nowhere in history of geography does their music seem a more appropriate vaccine than for the plague that affects myself and my culture/generation. There is a plague of leprosy in my country and it seems that not only are the devices of our culture impotent to stop it; the culture itself appears unable to so much as acknowledge the presence of this debilitating disease that is ravaging the land."

"We too are lepers. We live in the 'cushiest,' 'comfiest,' richest country in history. We have our wealth, our philosophies, our drugs, and the media to protect us not only from truly feeling the pain of the oppressed, but also from feeling our own oppression and need to be healed."

"Only when 15 middle-class, suburban, predominantly white youth are killed in 'our own backyard' do we as a culture and generation even care to reflect on the disease that is enslaving us."

Check out the Psalers website. Go and check out a concert if they're in your local area. These folk are hitting the nail on the head!

Thanks for the paper Eli!