A Creative Approach to "Psalms: Songs of the Saints"

The Psalms are a collection of creative expressions that model for us the wide range of emotions that are felt by God’s people, seeking to trust in the Lord amidst life in a broken and sinful world. Throughout this book, we see doubts, laments, and even outbursts of praise to God, each being uniquely expressed in art forms such as poems and songs.

In the Psalms, we find freedom to express our hearts before God using the natural giftings that he has given us. So, with this Psalms Creative Project, we wanted to put this into action by commissioning various artists in our church to make unique pieces as they reflected on the specific Psalms for each week of the series. Our hope is that through these works of art, we are able to taste and see even more the goodness and beauty of God in the Word. We also hope that individuals in our church body would feel encouraged even more to express worship to God with their natural giftings.

Sermon Series Design
Jacob Hunter, one of the worship leaders at Gospel Community College Hill, put together the sermon series design; this is what he said about the process and how he approached it:

• The letters are rustic and tattered, to show the ancient nature of the Psalms.
• And, yet, there is gold lining in the letters, to show that new treasures are still found in these old songs.
• The background is multi-colored to show the full range of human emotion and experience found in the Psalms, relating to the “saints” idea in our title.

Digital Portrait
“Those who make them will be like them, and so will all who trust in them.”
Psalm 115:8

“I was inspired by this section of Psalm 115 to create this piece. Man becomes like what he worships. I chose the black background and monochromatic color palette to represent how worshipping anything but the one true God results in an existence void of purpose and true life. The gold can be seen as the toxic result of idolatry and how it spreads over every aspect of life, like a disease. The man’s eyes have become the same as the idol’s, for he has become blind to the truth. His hand is open, wanting more, since the idol cannot fulfill his needs. Although I chose to use a gold idol in this piece, anything else that takes our focus off of Christ and consumes our lives could just as easily take the place of the golden calf in this. Whether it be our phones, social media, food, jobs, addiction, or even a relationship. It all may seem like gold in the beginning, but it will surely suffocate and enslave us if it takes the place of Christ in our hearts. Only worshipping the one true God can bring about new life and truth.”
–Joanna Person, artist
©Joanna Person | Digital painting | 2020

Poem
Josh Anderson wrote this poem, “Hello, Death,” based on Psalm 16; it was read for this video by Brandon Read, our director of Gospel Student Ministries. Click to read and turn your volume on for the full effect. (Click here for video)

“Psalms: Songs of the Saints” sermon series—click to view each of the sermons:
Psalm 16
Psalm 23
Psalm 32 
Psalm 100
Psalm 116