Living Psalm 19

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

It is so much more than the words of our mouths
and the meditations of our hearts –
this psalm often reduced
to a get-home-free-card before a sermon.

It is cosmic glory …
telling the stories of lightyears passing,

It is day to day words … I love you,
you are a child, precious …
we welcome you, whoever you are.

It is night to night knowing
the grief of Gaza, Ukraine, Nepal,
of tomorrow’s sorrows
willingly embraced and never ignored,
and the holy weeping
for any last creature of its kind
before extinction.

No speech of a campaign is truth-telling
if a single voice is still unheard,
yet holy breath speaks wonder
for those quiet enough to listen,
and Signs in the sky for those
who read in hands
love’s unexpected shape.

Truth is the tent of the sun,
joy is a spin of axis on the way to hope –
for everyone receives a rising,
the same and beautiful hours of day,
the heat that grows the seeds
and does not destroy,
the peace of night, a soul’s reviving,
gold shining in fish of deep rivers,
sweetness of the honeycomb,
the taste and hope and sting.

Place on my tongue your words, O God,
in my heart, your kindness,
and teach me to accept them as both true
yet always changing,

that even the most clumsy speaking
and the imperfect meditations
of all our beating hearts may be acceptable
as an echo and shadow of your love.

#Living Psalm 19 for October 4_Tirabassi Download

Living Psalm 19 was written by Maren Tirabassi.

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.