Living Psalm 37 – Epiphany 7C

Living Water

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 37: for the Seventh Sunday after Epiphany C

Psalm 37:1-11, 39-40

Do not hand over your energy to the wastelands of destruction.
Our time is too limited.
Our possibilities too powerful.
Our well-being too connected.
The preciousness of life is only wasted in pursuit of the profits of evil.
The treasures of the wicked will soon crumble in their hands.
But the riches born of Love are eternal,
stretching across the ages, bringing hope to each generation.
Make your home in the ways of the Sacred.
Trust in what is Courageous, what is Just, what is Tender.
Even when your soul is weary,
even when your body aches with grief,
do not lose yourself to the cycles of violence.
When racism strikes,
do not return it with sexism.
When sexism strikes,
do not return it with queerphobia.
When queerphobia strikes,
do not return it with degrading words
about body types or mental capacity.
Do not respond to one form of systemic evil by confirming another.
Do not let others coerce you into injustice.
Seek to demolish the systems that possess,
using people like conduits to sustain power and prejudices.
Rise up to protect your neighbors and all of created life.
Rise up to disrupt what is oppressive in all its forms.
Rise up to create, to birth, to build something new.
Though the spirits of coercion and control surround us,
in God, we find a refuge:
A place to learn and unlearn,
to connect and to heal,
to enflesh our collective freedom,
and bring an end to all that destroys.

M Barclay

Living Psalm 37, for the Seventh Sunday after Epiphany, was written by Rev. M Barclay, the Executive Director of enfleshed where they provide progressive spiritual resources through writing, preaching, teaching, and prayers. They are a provisional deacon in The United Methodist Church and an advocate for queer and trans justice and inclusion across the Christian connection.

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.