psalm 100

I was reworking psalm 100 for a small worship service recently.

Shout! Shout! Yell it all out.
I'm happy Lord
That - your glory, your majesty
your joy fills the earth
Everyone embrace the very fact
That- we are his artworks and his craftsmanship
We are his family,sitting and eating at his table.

Shout! Shout! Yell it all out.
We are thankful, grateful,
witnesses full of feelings of seen grace.
For the Lord is good
and his love endures forever.
For the Lord's faithfulness fill all of Time.

A Reworking of Psalm 84

Somehow working poetically forces me to embrace and think more deeply about a psalm. This is my reworking of Psalm 84 from earlier this year.

Psalm 84 - adllto
O how desperately lovely is your presence O God
My heart, my soul, my earthbound being
yearns and faints with longing
for your life-giving presence and sovereignty
Even the little bird has her place and the traveling one a nest
near your altar
O Lord of Hosts, my king, my God
At home are those who live in your presence
responding in everlasting praise
Happy are those who find strength in you
whose heart is on the pilgrim’s way
passing through the vale of weeping
seeing it as a place of springs
As if early rains had brought pools of blessing
From strength to strength,
Life-giving moment to life-giving moment
to stand in glorious presence
Alone, a longing in my prayer
Hear me, O Lord, God of hosts
Give me your attention
Look at our shield, Look on with favour on your chosen
Better one day with you than a thousand somewhere
I would rather stand out in the open, close
than live in the shelter of the wicked
For God is warmth and protection
For God is grace and glory
Never holding back goodness from those walking uprightly
O Lord of Hosts - Happy is the longing one – trusting in you

Is the talking head the only way?

Why do sermons or homilies have to be preached, or spoken? After all the spoken word is not necessarily as key as it once was. We became written cultures after aural cultures and since then we have moved on again to become visual cultures. Our worlds are massively full of conscious and unconscious symbols. The symbol that this video was shot, without conscious thought, riding the King streetcar down and onto King Street is not lost on me. I made it over 4 years ago and the soundtrack calls to mind the chorus of the people crying out "his love endures for ever". The phone tones are yhwh - the dialing code for God. This seeks to have the same intents that a conventional (whatever that means) sermon, i.e. to move people to seek change.

my reworking of psalm 111

"Getting in real close with a psalm"

Psalm 111

Hallelujah

A heart, my heart in all its entirety gives thanks,
Both with the close company and far reaching family of the righteous.

Cosmic are the handiworks of the Lord,
Delighting those who would know them,
Even his magnanimous acts reveal his splendour and glory,
For his righteousness endures forever.

Graphically given for us to recall are his acts,
He, our Lord is full of grace and favour,
In the journey he provisions those who fear him.

Judicial thoughts constantly bring his covenant to mind,
Knowledge of his powerful works come from him,
Lands of promise, taken and given.

Making by hand true faithfulness and justice,
Nurturing, all his precepts are trustworthy,
On sure ground for all eternity.

Placed in the soil of true fidelity and uprightness,
Quintessential, he provided redemption for his own,
Released and raising his covenant for ever,
Showing how awesome and holy is his name.

The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom.
Understanding comes to those who keep this.
Very praise of him is forever

reworker adllto