Psalms: The role of Poetry in the Bible

This is a spoken word piece I wrote based on Ellen Davis’ book: Opening Israel’s Scriptures.

The inclusion of the Psalms (clearly human poems about human experiences) in the canon of God’s Word is pretty radical, if you think about it. The Psalms allow us to cry out angrily to God, to accuse Him, to curse and moan and to stay rooted in worldly reality while describing heavenly truths. It is a kind of preamble to the artistic reality of the incarnation; before God became flesh, God’s word collided with flesh experiences in the Psalms. In many ways, Psalms are the most obvious example of the intended relationship between art and faith.

Psalms are meant to carry rhythm themselves, but also to be read in rhythms, over and over again, training us to lament when we are joyful and to rejoice when we lament. I wrote and collaborated to execute this spoken word piece to help us to process what that means and why it is significant; rhythm gets into the body and the mind in a way little else does.