Into It | Dangerous Songs study guide

Chapter 1: Groundedness

Study Guide for Dangerous Songs: The Psalms and a Gloriously Disrupted Life

First Words of Groundedness

When is a time you felt rooted in reality, solid in safety, with your basic needs met? Have there been times of the opposite?
Listen to Like a Tree (Psalm 1). What do you notice?

On Being Gardened

In the seedling story, what personal names for God would you remove or add to the author’s list?

Anchored in Good Soil

What expectations have you had of living in the Christian faith? Have your expectations changed over time? Share and listen carefully to one another.

By Water

Grounded in the Source

How do you think your faith is the same or different from the people in the Bible?

A Dynamic Stability

Listen to Where Can I Go (Psalm 139). Discuss.
Listen to I Love the Keeper of Life (Psalm 116). Reflect.
Listen to How Strong (Psalm 103). What do you notice?
Listen to God is Holding Your Life (Psalm 121). Sing along.
What does trust feel like? What does it mean to trust another person, gravity, or God?

The Story We’re Woven Into

What elements of your culture are counter to faith/trust?
“Our sense of success has to do with being able to (the first bias) to do it (we value doing over being) all by ourselves (the message being I am primarily alone in the world).” Of these ideas, what rings true to your personal experience?

Stability in Community

In what ways is your faith community intentionally subversive to the culture surrounding it?
Listen to Sharing the Road (Psalm 133).
Listen to Leaning On Love (Psalm 21).
What humans, animals, and natural systems are you interconnected with?

The Other Side

If life comes in seasons, what would you name the season you are in right now? How long has it been going on, and what are the markers of this era? What might the next change look like?

Grounded by Elders and Kiddos

Who are the elders and children in your life? How is their perspective on the world a gift to you?
Listen to You Were My Midwife (Psalm 71).
Listen to Imagine Happy Face (Psalm 128).

Grounded in Belonging

Listen to the chant Our Roots Are In You (Psalm 87).
Listen to the upbeat You Belong to the Holy One (Psalm 87).
Describe your relationship to your home planet and its inhabitants.
If you wish, turn to page 39 and sing “Open Now Our Hearts to Wisdom” (Psalm 90) to the hymn tune Beach Spring. What lines are meaningful?

Ever Mindful of Holy Presence

In Howard Thurman’s language, what activities and relationships help you “center down?”
Listen to I Am Ever Mindful (Psalm 16).