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.

Living Psalm   29—Trinity Sunday B
(may be responsive or two voices)

Braid a sweetgrass of praise to God, 
O Squash, Algae, Goldenrod, 
three glories and three strengths.

Make adobo-tasty God’s communion; 
worship God in salt, garlic and peppercorns.

God’s voice is over the Ganges, Indus, and the Brahmaputra; 
that healing may drown the crematory fires of India.

God kneels in the Yemeni streets calling, “Come and eat 
– mandi, flat bread, masoub.”

God breaks the Tatmadaw, giving hope to Myanmar. 
Hope is free speech in Chin State, 
safety at home to Yangon division, 
a skipping of joy in the smallest village.
 
God’s voice speaks words of precaution against three unholy flames 
– wildfire, gunfire, incendiary speech.

God shakes the human wilderness of racism; 
God shakes white privilege; 
God shakes deadly prejudice in American policing.

God’s voice rises against violence in schools: 
car bombings in Afghanistan, 
kidnappings in Nigeria, 
mass shootings in the United States. 
May all in God’s house weep.

God sits, not on a throne, but in the lap of all creation, 
longing for extinct creatures, 
weeping over climate change, 
kissing each holy frozen inch of Arctic, of Antarctica.

Threefold holiness, Community of love, may God bless all the earth with peace!

Psalm 29 for Trinity Sunday claims the holy threefold interconnection in the metaphors of different places. These are slivers of  background for some of the psalm’s lines:

“Braiding Sweetgrass,” a book by Robin Wall Kimmerer, Anishinabekwe scientist, brings together Indigenous Wisdom, Scientific Knowledge, and the Teachings of Plants.
Adobo is Filipin cuisine, and Filipin heritage people are the largest Asian group in the United States where anti-Asian ostracism and violence is growing.
The Ganges, Indus, and the Brahmaputra are the major river systems of India, where a coronavirus surge races through available resources.
In the midst of desperate hunger Yemen waits for rescue. These three are common foods.
Tatmadaw is the reigning coup in Myanmar. States are mountainous ethnic areas. Divisions are found in plains. Villages receive the brunt of violence without warning.
Internationally wildfires are rising. In the United States there have been 19,459 large wildfires from January to the beginning of May, already 6000 more than last year at this time. 
 
Living Psalm  29-Trinity Sunday B 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.  

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 2021Maren Tirabassi.  Permission granted to reproduce or adapt this material for use in services of worship or church education.  All publishing rights reserved.