The Psalter

In Canterbury Cathedral, there is a stone staircase leading to the place where St Thomas á Becket was murdered and a shrine to his life and witness stood for centuries. The staircase's stones undulate in remarkable ways due to centuries of wear from the feet of the incredible multitude of pilgrims who visited the cathedral to pray at this sacred site. As they traversed these stairs, they inconceivably wore the stone down.

Like a river wearing down the landscape to form a valley, these stone stairs were worn down by the devotion and prayers of countless people over centuries.

The psalter is like this, for, like the staircase, the psalms have been tread upon for thousands of years by those who prayed them, making them a well-worn canyon of prayer still guiding people to the throne of God.

Of course, the difference is that as we tread the psalms, it is not the psalms which get shaped and worn. It's us. Our hearts. Our souls. Our very lives.

In this remarkable book you'll find the Coverdale Psalter as it was found in the 1928 Book of Common Prayer. Beautifully presented, it sets the psalter in a format where one can easily pray the entire Book of Psalms in thirty days.