Experience the Psalms:

Pray the Psalm. Read the Psalm for the coming week. Focus on an idea or phrase from the Psalm that speaks to you. Now pray that Psalm, using the words from the Psalm itself, in a prayer to God. Include your own concerns, needs and hopes within the prayer. Now read the Psalm again, addressing God with the Psalmist’s words. Let the words of the Psalm replace your own.
 

Meditate on a Psalm. Read the Psalm. Now write it out, in longhand. Consider the importance of each phrase, each line, each word. Now think deeply about one or two concerns that you are facing, and read the Psalm again, paying attention to your own issues and the ways in which the Psalm might address your issues.
 

Draw the Psalm. Read the Psalm. Now draw it out on a sheet of paper with markers, crayons, pencils, or oil pastels. Consider the images conveyed by a phrase, a line, or a word.
 

Read a Psalm to Someone Else. You don’t need to be alone with Psalms. Read this week’s Psalm to another person – at your dinner table, at the office, with a friend. Visit someone in the hospital or someone who needs encouragement. Talk about the Psalm with them, if that seems appropriate. Or simply read the Psalm, and continue your visit.
 

Paraphrase the Psalm. Rewrite the Psalm for the week in your own words. Feel free to be very creative, to paraphrase the Psalm’s language or to go in entirely different directions. · Write Your Own Psalm. Read the Psalm, reflect on its meaning, then write a new Psalm entirely your own. Use rhyme or free verse without rhyme. Try a Haiku Psalm. God is your audience; express your thoughts to God.
 

Sing the Psalm. Most weeks, we will include a hymn based on the Psalm for the week. Sing the psalm, softly or in full voice. See if in the singing the words of the Psalm grow familiar. Now try to sing without looking at the words. It doesn’t have to be perfect. Try to learn as much as you can.
 

Learn the Psalm By Heart. Read the Psalm aloud each morning and evening. Take your time. When you are ready, on the second day or the third, read each line, and then repeat each line without looking at the text. Then recite the Psalm without reading. Look down whenever you need to, but push yourself to risk speaking the Psalm from memory. Even one line or two is a great accomplishment. Come to church ready to read or to speak the Psalm aloud, with the community of faith.