Living Psalm 32

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.

Psalm 32 – Healing from Guilt

Happy indeed are the hearts of those who have been renewed by God’s forgiveness and grace.
They are full of song and laughter, and God’s receives their prayers with joy.

Is it the sin that corrodes, or our failure to confess it to God?
You can cover that big gaping hole of your integrity with brocade
Or other fine cloth, but it’s still going to be there.
You can wallpaper over the mold in your soul, but
It’s going to bleed through.
Eventually, you will need to lance that boil and let the pus seep out,
Scrape away the things that have stuck like barnacles on the hull of your holiness.

So offer it all up to God and see what liberation feels like!
Vulnerability is expensive, but if you can’t be vulnerable with the God who made you and loves you and wants you to be whole, then how can you hope to be compassionate and loving and kind toward others?

So tell it all – confess the empty places, the moldy places, those pus-filled places.
God will love you through it and you’ll be able to move uprightly in the world once more.
Soon enough, you’ll sing songs of joy that come from all your places of healing.

Elizabeth Dilley

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Living Psalm 32 was written by Elizabeth Dilley.

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.