(Here’s the 19th post in my continuing series on the Psalms for All Seasons Sunday school class I co-teach with Andrew Friend. Each week we sing psalm settings from Psalms for All Seasons, Lift Up Your Hearts, and other CRC hymnals. Previous posts is the series focused on Psalm 121, Psalm 122, Psalms 2/99, Psalm 72, Psalm 95, Psalm 147,  Psalm 112,  Psalm 29,  Psalm 40, Psalm 23, Psalm 27, Psalm 130, Psalm 15, Psalm 51,  Psalm 6, Psalm 32,  Psalm 143, and Psalms 38/102. On February 23, our class took up Psalm 31.)

Into your hands I commit my spirit;
deliver me, Lord, my faithful God.

Psalm 31 is the lesser known of the two psalms Jesus quoted from the cross. While not as obviously connected to the crucifixion as Psalm 22, Psalm 31 expresses the psalmist’s trust in God in the middle of terrible hardship. The description of the psalmist’s dire situation comes in a lament at the center of the psalm.

Be merciful to me, Lord, for I am in distress;
my eyes grow weak with sorrow,
my soul and body with grief.
My life is consumed by anguish
and my years by groaning;
my strength fails because of my affliction,
and my bones grow weak. (vv. 9-10)

In other parts of the psalm, the psalmist expresses commitment to and trust in the Lord and asks for deliverance. The closing section of the psalm is a declaration of thanksgiving.

The Revised Common Lectionary assigns sections of the psalm to the Psalm Sunday Liturgy of the Passion and to Holy Saturday in all three years and to three more Lord’s Days in Year A.

Psalms for All Seasons contains three Psalm 31 songs, none of which are full versifications or use traditional-sounding hymn tunes.

“I Give My Spirit” (PFAS #31A) has a mournful tune better suited for a chorale group than congregational singing. It has a short refrain (“Empty, broken, lifeless, I give my spirit, Lord”) and four stanzas based on vv. 1; 11-12; 14-15; and 16 & 24.

While the tune of “I Give My Spirit” captures the mood of the psalm’s dark sections, “You Are My Rock” (PFAS #31B) has a more upbeat melody and a refrain expressing trust in the Lord.

You are my rock. My life if in your hands.
You are my rock. I trust in you.

The three stanzas draw on 3-5; 10-11; and 18, 20 & 22.

“Haz resplandecer tu rostro/Make Your Face Shine” (PHFS 31D) has a Latin tune that strikes a balance between the moods of the other two. It has a simple refrain with no stanzas.

Make your face to shine upon your servant,
and in your loving kindness save me.
But as for me, I trust in you, O Lord.
I have said “You are my God.
My times are in your hand, O God.
You deliver me.

The responsorial setting is “My Times Are in Your Hands” (PFAS #31C/ LUYH #458/SNC #131), which is set to MARGARET. The text is vv. 1-5, 9-16 & 19-24, which includes all the sections called for by the lectionary. It is the only Psalm 31 setting in Lift Up Your Hearts, where it is followed by a “prayer in solidarity with the dying.”

My times are in your hands.
You strengthen me in strife.
My hope is in your Word.
Your love preserves my life.

Psalms for All Seasons also includes “A Litany for Good Friday” (PFAS #31) by John Witvliet that includes Hebrews 4:14-16. Its only connection to Psalm 31 is the response “into your hands I commit my spirit.”

The gray Psalter Hymnal Psalm 31 setting is “I Seek My Refuge in You, LORD” (PH87 #31). It’s another original versification by Marie Post set to COLERAINE, a 17th Century Irish tune, and another example of where the gray Psalter Hymnal would have been better served by keeping a setting from the blue Psalter Hymnal instead of creating a new one.

“How Great the Goodness Kept in Store” (PH57 #54), set to the Mozart-composed ARIEL, was the better of the two Psalm 31 settings in the blue Psalter Hymnal. It is based on vv. 19-24. One of our class members who grew up with the blue PH recalled singing that, but not the other Psalm 31 song, “In Thee, O Lord, I Put My Trust” (PH57 #53), which has 11 stanzas is set to NAOMI [tune of “Our Children, Lord, in Faith and Prayer” (LUYH #805/PH87 #270/PH57 #416)]. Both hymns have lyrics from the 1912 Psalter.

Frankly, our hymnals gave us fewer good options for this psalm than we’ve had in recent weeks, but we had some fun with some other hymnals, including a couple of old Dutch language hymnals and a 1912 Psalter owned by members of our congregation. Andrew played us the 1912 Psalter’s other Psalm 31 setting, “Defend Me Lord From Shame” (#82) and an old setting of OLD HUNDREDTH. Several guests, including Justin Struik, also enlivened the proceedings.