08 July 2022

Praying with the Psalms in Ordinary Time:
8 July 2022 (Psalm 135)

‘The Lord … sent signs and wonders into your midst, O Egypt, against Pharaoh and all his servants’ (Psalm 135: 9) … the Exodus, from The Haggadah by Arthur Szyk, in the University of San Francisco Gleeson and Zief Libraries

Patrick Comerford

Two of us arrived back in Stony Stratford early this morning after two all-too-short days in Venice earlier this week. In the Calendar of the Church, we are in Ordinary Time. Before today begins, I am taking some time this morning to continue my reflections drawing on the Psalms.

In my blog, I am reflecting each morning in this Prayer Diary in these ways:

1, Short reflections on a psalm or psalms;

2, reading the psalm or psalms;

3, a prayer from the USPG prayer diary.

Psalm 135:

Psalm 135 begins and ends with the phrase ‘Praise the Lord’ (הַלְלוּ יָהּ, Hallelujah). In the slightly numbering system in the Greek Septuagint and Latin Vulgate, this is Psalm 134.

Together, the two psalms Psalm 135 and 136 form a single composite unit, similar in tone, vocabulary and literary structure to the group of psalms known as Hallel. Some Jewish Sages called these two psalms ‘The Great Hallel’ to distinguish them from Psalms 113-118 which they called the ‘Egyptian Hallel,’ since it contains a reference to the Exodus from Egypt.

It is likely that both psalms were written for public worship in the Temple, and both are litanies or a series of invocations said by a leader of prayer, together with congregational responses.

In Psalm 135, the responses are likely to have been, for the first section, ‘Praise the Lord’ (הַלְלוּ יָהּ, Hallelujah), and for the last, ‘Blessed be the Lord.’

Psalm 135 is structured in three parts: the first and last speak about the truth of God and the falsity of idols; the second part speaks about God’s power over nature and history. The first part is five verses long, the second is seven and the third is nine.

In the Eastern Orthodox Church, Psalm 135 and Psalm 136 (134 and 135 in the Septuagint) are called the Polyeleos (Πολυέλεος) or ‘Many Mercies,’ named such after the refrain ‘for his steadfast love endures for ever,’ or ‘for his mercy endures forever’ (ὅτι εἰς τὸν αἰῶνα τὸ ἔλεος αὐτοῦ) in Psalm 136.

The Polyeleos is sung at Orthros (Matins) of a Feast Day and at Vigils. On Mount Athos and in some Slavic traditions, it is read every Sunday at Orthros.

On Mount Athos, it is considered one of the most joyful periods of Matins-Liturgy, and the highest point of Matins. In Athonite practice, all the candles are lit, and the chandeliers are made to swing as the psalms are sung, it is also accompanied by a joyful peal of the bells and censing of the church, sometimes with a hand censer that has many bells. At vigils, it accompanies the opening of the Royal Doors and a great censing of the nave by the priests or deacons.

The Monastery of Vatopedi on Mount Athos … ‘The Polyeleos’ (Psalm 135-136) is read every Sunday at Orthros on Mount Athos (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Psalm 135 (NRSVA):

1 Praise the Lord!
Praise the name of the Lord;
give praise, O servants of the Lord,
2 you that stand in the house of the Lord,
in the courts of the house of our God.
3 Praise the Lord, for the Lord is good;
sing to his name, for he is gracious.
4 For the Lord has chosen Jacob for himself,
Israel as his own possession.

5 For I know that the Lord is great; our Lord is above all gods.
6 Whatever the Lord pleases he does,
in heaven and on earth,
in the seas and all deeps.
7 He it is who makes the clouds rise at the end of the earth;
he makes lightnings for the rain
and brings out the wind from his storehouses.

8 He it was who struck down the firstborn of Egypt,
both human beings and animals;
9 he sent signs and wonders
into your midst, O Egypt,
against Pharaoh and all his servants.
10 He struck down many nations
and killed mighty kings—
11 Sihon, king of the Amorites,
and Og, king of Bashan,
and all the kingdoms of Canaan—
12 and gave their land as a heritage,
a heritage to his people Israel.

13 Your name, O Lord, endures for ever,
your renown, O Lord, throughout all ages.
14 For the Lord will vindicate his people,
and have compassion on his servants.

15 The idols of the nations are silver and gold,
the work of human hands.
16 They have mouths, but they do not speak;
they have eyes, but they do not see;
17 they have ears, but they do not hear,
and there is no breath in their mouths.
18 Those who make them
and all who trust them
shall become like them.

19 O house of Israel, bless the Lord!
O house of Aaron, bless the Lord!
20 O house of Levi, bless the Lord!
You that fear the Lord, bless the Lord!
21 Blessed be the Lord from Zion,
he who resides in Jerusalem.
Praise the Lord!

Today’s Prayer:

The theme in the prayer diary of the Anglican mission agency USPG (United Society Partners in the Gospel) this week is ‘Tackling Poverty.’ It was introduced on Sunday by Niall Cooper, Director at Church Action on Poverty.

Friday 8 July 2022:

The USPG Prayer Diary invites us to pray today in these words:

We give thanks for the generosity of poor and rich as they support charities working with the disadvantaged.

Yesterday’s reflection

Continued tomorrow

Scripture quotations are from the New Revised Standard Version Bible: Anglicised Edition copyright © 1989, 1995, National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide. http://nrsvbibles.org

Brunswick Square has links
with queens, children,
writers and suffragettes

Brunswick Square in Bloomsbury was named after the Queen Caroline of Brunswick, wife of King George IV (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2022)

Patrick Comerford

One of the other Bloomsbury squares two of us visited during a visit to London last week is Brunswick Square, although, properly speaking, this 3-acre public garden is just two sides of a larger area Bloomsbury.

Brunswick Square is overlooked by the School of Pharmacy and the Foundling Museum to the north; the Brunswick Centre to the west; and International Hall, a hall of residence of the University of London, to the south. On its east side is Coram’s Fields, an enclosed area of playgrounds and trees and which is just over double its size.

Brunswick Square is mirrored symmetrically to the east by Mecklenburgh Square, another three-acre area. Brunswick Square is named after Queen Caroline, the wife of George IV, who was born Princess Caroline of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel, while neighbouring Mecklenburgh Square was named after her mother-in-law, contemporary Queen Charlotte, the wife of George III, who was born Princess Charlotte of Mecklenburg-Strelitz.

Bloomsbury is notable for its garden squares, literary connections, and numerous cultural, educational and health care institutions.

Between Brunswick Square and Mecklenburgh Square, Coram’s Fields is a seven-acre enclosed area of playgrounds and trees. All three areas – Brunswick Square, Mecklenburgh Square and Coram’s Fields – are jointly listed Grade II on the Register of Historic Parks and Gardens.

What is now Brunswick Square was originally part of the grounds of the Foundling Hospital, the world’s first children’s charity. In 1790, the governors of the cash-strapped hospital lost their government grant and decided to develop their estate. They commissioned the builder James Burton to create a garden surrounded on three sides by town houses, beginning with the south side in 1801.

It was planned to lease both Brunswick Square and Mecklenburgh Square to build houses and to raise funds for the hospital in 1790. Brunswick Square was finished first, and was named after the Queen Caroline of Brunswick, wife of King George IV and the only British Queen to be tried for adultery – and she won the case.

None of the original houses built by James Burton in 1795-1802 remain. Over the years, all the original Georgian houses have been replaced by modern buildings, including two university buildings, the School of Pharmacy and International Hall, the cinema, apartments, shops and restaurants of the Brunswick Centre, and the Foundling Museum, with its close associations with Handel and Hogarth.

Balconies and rooftops in the Brunswick Centre (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2022)

Brunswick Square is mentioned in Jane Austen’s novel Emma, where John and Isabella Knightley live. Isabella, the heroine’s sister, boasts that ‘our part of London is so very superior to most others … we are so very airy,’ being right on the edge of the town in those days.

John Ruskin was born nearby at 54 Hunter Streeton the corner of Brunswick Square in 1819.

The square was always ‘very respectable if not fashionable,’ although the brief presence of the ‘Bloomsberries’ in the early 20th century gave the square a bohemian cachet. Notable former residents include Virginia Woolf, Adrian Stephen, Duncan Grant, Leonard Woolf, EM Forster, John Ruskin, John Leech, Michael Wishart and John Maynard Keynes.

JM Barrie lived for a while in a house on the south-west corner of Brunswick Square, marked by a plaque on the building that replaced it. Here he wrote about Peter Pan as flying up from the gardens to visit Wendy at one of its windows. He left his royalties to nearby Great Ormond Street Hospital for children.

The Minerva Club was founded in 1920 at 28a Brunswick Square, on the site of the Brunswick Centre, by the suffragettes Dr Elizabeth Knight (1869-1933) and Alice Stopford Green (1847-1929), Irish historian and friend and mentor of Maire Comerford. The club was used for meetings of the Women’s Freedom League and as a hostel for suffrage activists and fund-raising annual birthday parties for the frequently jailed Irish suffragette Charlotte Despard (1849-1933).

For more than 200 years, Brunswick Square has managed to remain a garden without statues. But just outside the gardens is the statue of Thomas Coram, the philanthropist who was instrumental in founding the Foundling Hospital, which stood behind him, and a bronze sculpture of a child’s mitten by Tracey Emin sits on top of one of the railings outside the Foundling Museum.

The Garden was extensively refurbished by Camden Council in 2002-2003, including the restoration of traditional iron railings that were removed to be made into munitions during World War II. One of the trees is a beautiful plane tree that is thought to be the second oldest in London, and was declared one of the Great Trees of Britain in 2009.

The Friends of Brunswick Square was formed in 2008 to care for Brunswick Square and to increase community use of the gardens. The Friends of Brunswick Square are keen to promote bio-diversity and have persuaded Camden to install bird boxes, bat boxes and wildlife planting. Brunswick Square is maintained by Camden Council and is open to the public during daylight hours.

Brunswick Square has managed to remain a garden without statues for morethan 200 years (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2022)