Living Psalm 118:1-2, 19-29: Psalm Sunday C

Living Psalms Book

Psalms in the form of words and art, reborn in the specific contexts of our world, privileging the voices of historically marginalized communities and those acting in solidarity with them.

Let us tune our voices
singing scales moving up and down
into the movement of praise. 

I don’t feel ready to praise.
Or at least I’m not sure what to praise.
I believe in God’s goodness but
I need your help to remember how to sing.
Remind me to breathe from deep within my belly 
as I try to sing about love.

Open my nose and throat. 
Remind me of this because everything is tight.
Remind me to loosen my shoulders and straighten my spine.
Open the breath in my body and set it to music
so that praise is a song that I can sing 
even when I’m not sure what love sounds like now.

God is listening. Thank God that God is listening 
and makes sense of every broken note and flat chord. 
Sometimes it feels like I’m just pushing 
a boulder uphill and I can’t do it anymore.
I’m not strong enough. I can’t do this alone
but I’m not alone. God is my strength and my might. 

We’ve been singing this song through the Reed Sea 
and through every other rock and hard place. God is our help. 
It is a song that we sing together. Help me fill in the words.
We can teach each other how to sing and carry each other’s tune 
uphill and through valleys full of shadows and death.
We can sing together that God makes a way even when we are not sure it is possible.

God is our help. We put it to music because it is so hard to understand.
We can only sing. God is our help and we give thanks. 
We breathe life into each other and our voices reach higher and louder.
We give thanks that God makes a way. God gives me reason to sing
and I am so glad for this parade. This is what praise feels like. 
It is a song to sing together.

Living Psalm for Palm Sunday C: Psalm 118:1-2, 19-29 was written by Elsa Anders Cook.
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Living Psalms Book is created by UCC Witness & Worship Artists’ Group, a Network of UCC connected artists, activists and ministers bridging the worship and liturgy of the local church with witness and action in the community. Maren Tirabassi, editor

Logo is detail from Living Psalm 80 by Sophia Beardemphl, Redwoods, CA. Recovering from significant bullying, Sophia, age nine, read Psalm 80 and thought of brokenness that needs mending. She drew this broken and mended bowl.

© Copyright 2022 Elsa Anders Cook. Permission granted to reproduce or adapt this material for use in services of worship or church education. All publishing rights reserved.