The Modern Psalmist

Throughout primary school, my favourite music artist was Brooke Fraser. I had all her albums and a cut-out newspaper interview she’d done Blu-Tacked to my wardrobe. She was the first artist I knew who wrote songs about her faith that weren’t just worship songs. Of course, she’s also written some huge hits in the worship space—‘Hosanna’, anyone? But I think songs like ‘CS Lewis Song’ and ‘Albertine’ had more of an impact on my faith as a pre-teen, because they encouraged me to think about my faith outside of Sunday mornings.

Even now, I find that these kinds of ‘non-worship’ worship songs are often the ones that draw me towards God. Artists like John Mark McMillan (of ‘How He Loves’ fame) and Semler have written powerful music about growing up in church and working out how faith can make sense of both the beauty and the pain of life. Their songs may not be played in a church service, but I think they feel deeply consistent with the heart of the psalms: things are terrible and sad and confusing, but You are still God and You are still here with me.

In recent years, when I’ve struggled to see God in my life or in the world around me, I have clung to one particular song, ‘Joy’ by Kings Kaleidoscope. I let the lyrics speak on my behalf when I haven’t been sure that they’re true—trusting that one day I will be sure again.

‘Every moment I play back, You live in it (joy) I can feel every way that You’ve been in it (joy)’

The psalms—both those written thousands of years ago and those written today—remind us that we aren’t alone in saying, ‘Lord, do not be far from me’, and they give us words of praise and thanksgiving to lean on until we can say them for ourselves.