About the Contributor(s): H. Mark Abbott was lead pastor at Seattle's First Free Methodist Church for twenty-eight years. In retirement he now serves as an adjunct faculty member at Seattle Pacific University and Fuller Seminary in the Northwest. He is the author of A Psalm-Shaped Life (2011), and The Story of Beginnings (2013).

Ever felt glad, sad, or mad and didn't quite know how to talk to God about it? How long since you have used something other than a "happy" psalm in corporate worship? A Psalm-Shaped Life explores how these ancient prayer-songs give us a vision of God and voice to respond to God in all of life, in its joys and sorrows. Psalms of all kinds have shaped the life of God's people for three thousand years. They can and should do so today, also. Reading and praying the Psalms individually and together puts us in a long line of men and women who have poured out their hearts to God using these ancient texts and have been shaped in doing so. A Psalm Shaped Life is a plea for regular and informed immersion in the Psalms, both individually and as a community.