A Psalm for Christmas Eve: Sing to the Lord (Psalms 98, 99 and 100).

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*Lamp photo from Unsplash

This Advent, I’ll be sharing four Psalms for the season leading up to Christmas. We may not think of Psalms during Advent, but they have been part of Advent liturgies for generations.

Today’s Psalm is Psalm 85: Love and Mercy. Pick up a free printable journal when you become a paid subscriber, or order a paperback version copy here.

For a deeper exploration of this Psalm, listen to Ep. 11 with Paul Hutchinson.

Check out my Resilient Spirit offerings ~ a membership, courses, and 1:1 sessions.

Psalms for the Spirit is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.

*Lamp photo from Unsplash

This Advent, I’ll be sharing four Psalms for the season leading up to Christmas. We may not think of Psalms during Advent, but they have been part of Advent liturgies for generations.

Check out my Resilient Spirit offerings ~ a membership, courses, and 1:1 sessions.

Psalms for the Spirit is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.

*Lamp photo from Unsplash

In this episode of Psalms for the Spirit, I’m joined by Rev. Julie Hoplamazian, an Episcopal priest in New York City and the founder of Faith on Pointe ~ a ministry exploring ballet as a spiritual practice and theological language. A lifelong dancer, Julie weaves together her grounding in ballet, her Armenian heritage, her love for stories and art, and her recent journey through cancer with a deep, honest faith.

Julie reflects on the Psalms that speak to her most and shares how these ancient words have met her in seasons of fear, recovery, and resilience, and how dance became part of her healing journey.

Through her ministry, Julie teaches ballet not as performance, but as prayer: a way of listening to the body, noticing the movements of the heart, and letting the Spirit speak through breath, balance, opposition, and grace. Her insights gently invite us to consider how movement can help us know God, know ourselves, and reconnect with hope in difficult times.

“Our bodies know things before our minds do ~ sometimes healing begins with simply lifting your heart.”

This conversation is a beautiful reminder that God meets us in every posture: in grief that folds inward, in courage that rises slowly, and in the unexpected moments when mourning really does turn into dancing.

Learn more about Rev. Julie here:Website: faithonpointe.comInstagram: @faith_on_pointe

Featured Song:

Psalm 30: You Have Turned My Sorrow

Proclaiming God’s power to transform sorrow into ‘dancing and song,’ this Psalm is sung to the uplifting Irish melody, “Green Grows the Laurel.” It’s a testament to coming through a time of sorrow and mourning, and finding dancing, song, and joy once again.

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In this episode of Psalms for the Spirit, I’m joined by Brendan McManus, a Jesuit priest from Lisnaskea, Northern Ireland. After years in the computer industry, Brendan felt a deeper call that led him into the Jesuits and into a lifelong exploration of Ignatian spirituality, pilgrimage, and finding God in everyday life. He now serves as a spiritual director, retreat leader, and author of Finding God in the Mess and other works rooted in hope and discernment.

Brendan reflects on how the Psalms have shaped his own journey—from the joy of Psalm 139’s reminder that we are “fearfully and wonderfully made,” to the cry of Psalm 130’s “Out of the depths,” and the trust of Psalm 23’s walk through the valley of darkness. He shares stories from the Camino de Santiago—times of deep encounter and unexpected struggle—and the wisdom that emerged from injury, loss, and renewal.

“When life feels like a storm, keep walking. Look at your feet and trust that God is on the path with you.”

This episode invites you to embrace the pilgrimage of your own life ~ to find God not in perfection, but in the sacred mess of the journey itself.

Featured Song:

Psalm 23: The Lord’s My Shepherd

This beloved psalm, describing God shepherding us through green pastures and dark valleys, is set to the well-known air, “The Parting Glass.”

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This song evokes praise with all our heart, soul and body ~ with all of creation, with all instruments, with all aspects of who we are. Indeed, praise includes what brings us pleasure, joy and delight ~ something we don’t often sing about in hymns, and yet which are such an important aspect of living as fully and vibrantly as God intends. Set to the Scottish tune with Irish words, this paraphrase maintains some of the original language in the refrain of the song ‘Happy are We All Together.’

Continue your reflections with the accompanying journal, which includes further questions for reflection and some invitations to prayer and practice.

Paid subscribers receive a free journal PDF, or you can purchase a paperback version

Visit the Celtic Psalms website for scores/books, mp3s, CDs, and videos for May We Rise

Find out more about the Habits for the Spirit course: an 8-week online course exploring habits and daily spiritual practices to promote wellbeing in body, mind, and spirit

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In this Psalm, all creation praises the God who heals the broken-hearted. It is combined here with the words from the Doxology and the rousing melody ‘Mo Ghile Mear.’ A song of joy at the outpouring of God’s blessings, this Psalm also tends to the outcasts, the forgotten, those longing for peace in home and hearth ~ that all creation will sing when such blessings are extended to all people.

Continue your reflections with the accompanying journal, which includes further questions for reflection and some invitations to prayer and practice.

Paid subscribers receive a free journal PDF, or you can purchase a paperback version

Visit the Celtic Psalms website for scores/books, mp3s, CDs, and videos for Praise God From Whom All Blessings Flow

Find out more about the Habits for the Spirit course: an 8-week online course exploring habits and daily spiritual practices to promote wellbeing in body, mind, and spirit

Follow Kiran’s monthly reflections on Bless My Feet

Psalms for the Spirit is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.

This joyful song praises the true ruler of the earth: a God of justice and compassion who stands with the vulnerable of this world. Set to ‘Here’s a Health,’ it is a jubilant song of praise, but one that recounts various forms of suffering ~ oppressive power, poverty, false imprisonment, injustice, bereavement, refugees ~ and continually places hope in the goodness and mercy of the one who will ultimately see us through such earthly struggles.

Continue your reflections with the accompanying journal, which includes further questions for reflection and some invitations to prayer and practice.

Paid subscribers receive a free journal PDF, or you can purchase a paperback version

Visit the Celtic Psalms website for scores/books, mp3s, CDs, and videos for Hallelujah

Find out more about the Habits for the Spirit course: an 8-week online course exploring habits and daily spiritual practices to promote wellbeing in body, mind, and spirit

Follow Kiran’s monthly reflections on Bless My Feet

Psalms for the Spirit is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.

This is a Psalm about the transformation from a call to battle into a prayer for peace, and is set to ‘The King’s Shilling’ by the Scottish musician Ian Sinclair. The desire for peace is hard won, after facing the realities of war. In the same way, our prayers for people also become more fervent when we encounter the dreadful realities of war, and our hearts are softened as we utter our prayer of blessing on the next generation, that they will become “trees full grown” and “pillars firm,” and that our streets may not be filled with sorrow any longer.

Continue your reflections with the accompanying journal, which includes further questions for reflection and some invitations to prayer and practice.

Paid subscribers receive a free journal PDF, or you can purchase a paperback version

Visit the Celtic Psalms website for scores/books, mp3s, CDs, and videos for Come, Spirit, Come

Find out more about the Habits for the Spirit course: an 8-week online course exploring habits and daily spiritual practices to promote wellbeing in body, mind, and spirit

Follow Kiran’s monthly reflections on Bless My Feet

Psalms for the Spirit is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.

Combined with the lyrical air, ‘The Banks of Claudy,’ this beautiful Psalm professes faith in a God who knits us together and knows us intimately. Whether we like it or not, God knows our every thought and movement, but this Psalm continually reminds us that God’s constant presence is one that is loving and accepting of who we are at our best and our worst moments, and that God will continue to lead us in the way that is everlasting.

Continue your reflections with the accompanying journal, which includes further questions for reflection and some invitations to prayer and practice.

Paid subscribers receive a free journal PDF, or you can purchase a paperback version

Visit the Celtic Psalms website for scores/books, mp3s, CDs, and videos for You Have Searched Me

Find out more about the Habits for the Spirit course: an 8-week online course exploring habits and daily spiritual practices to promote wellbeing in body, mind, and spirit

Follow Kiran’s monthly reflections on Bless My Feet

Psalms for the Spirit is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.