If you’re looking for some ideas for music to use in your congregations for the Lenten/Easter season, here’s a resource we’ve compiled featuring Celtic Psalms arrangements for Ash Wednesday, the weeks of Lent, Maundy Thursday, Good Friday, and into the Easter season. I’ve included songs from our three albums and (where available) have provided links to mp3s, full scores published by GIA, hymnsheets for congregational singing, youtube videos showing live versions of the songs, and the full album for each song. Many psalms fit well into the Lenten themes of longing, lament, repentance, forgiveness, betrayal, redemption, salvation, and hope, and the soulful sounds of the Irish and Scottish melodies help to draw some of the raw emotions of this season of the liturgical year.
Ash Wednesday
From the Depths (Psalms 130, 131/The Quiet Land of Erin)
lyrics | GIA full score | hymn sheet | youtube | full album
Key text: repeated refrain “With God, forgiveness can be found”
How to use: The refrain can be sung antiphonally, first by soloist/small group and repeated by congregation.
Featured instruments: guitar, viola, cello. Piano accompaniment is available in full score, and cello/C instrument scores can be ordered through GIA.
Lent
O God You Are My God (Psalm 63/Eleanor Plunkett)
lyrics | GIA full score | hymn sheet | youtube link 1 | youtube link 2 | full album
Key text: O God, you are my God, and I long for you… My whole being desires you, like a dry land, like a dry land
How to use: This is a beautiful introit. The first verse can be sung by a soloist and then a choir can then sing verse 1 and 2.
Featured instruments: guitar, harp, C instrument. Piano accompaniment available in full score.
As the Deer Longs for Streams (Psalm 42/Down by the Sally Gardens)
lyrics | GIA full score | hymn sheet | youtube | full album
Key text: As the deer longs for streams of water, so my soul longs for you
How to use: Because this melody is well known, it can easily be used as a congregational hymn (see hymn sheet link above).
Featured instruments: guitar, C instrument. Piano accompaniment available in full score, and C instrument scores can be ordered through GIA.
Hear My Cry O God (Psalm 61/Caisleán an Óir)
lyrics | GIA full score | hymn sheet | youtube | full album
Key text: Hear my cry, O God, and listen to my prayer when my heart is faint
How to use: This is a fast-paced song, but it is still one of urgent longing and yearning. This can serve as an anthem or special music at some point in the service. Because the arrangement is a bit more complicated, it is usually best to have a small group or choir sing it, but if you have an especially musically gifted congregation, it can also work to have the congregation join in on the melody the second time, and then split them into two parts to follow two leaders for the round the third time through (see https://vimeo.com/204894523 minute 26.00).
Featured instruments: guitar, bódhran, (or any kind of hand drum), C instrument. Piano accompaniment available in full score, and C instrument scores can be ordered through GIA.
The God of Jacob (Psalm 46/The Dawning of the Day)
lyrics | GIA full score | hymn sheet | youtube | full album
Key text: The God of Jacob is our strength, our help in times of trouble… The Lord Almighty is with us, our refuge, evermore
How to use: This melody is simple enough to serve as a congregational hymn. Or, the verses can be sung by soloists/duets and the congregation can come in on the refrain “The Lord Almighty is with us, our refuge, evermore.”
Featured instruments: guitar, C instrument. Piano accompaniment available in full score, and C instrument scores can be ordered through GIA.
How Long (Psalm 13/The Lament of the Three Marys)
Key text: How long, O Lord? Will you forget me forever?
How to use: This can be used as special music (soloist and choir) or as a congregational hymn (soloist and congregation).
Featured instruments: cello, fiddle/viola or keyboard drone, or light guitar strumming. Since this song is from our newest album, full scores aren’t yet available.
By the Waters (Psalm 137/The Emigrant’s Farewell)
Key text: Don’t forget, Lord, how I grieve, how my heart has wounds that have not been healed
How to use: This song could be done by a soloist or with a small group sing on the refrain.
Featured instruments: harp, cello. Since this song is from our newest album, full scores aren’t yet available.
I Am Weary (Psalm 102/Táim Cortha ó Bheith im’Aonar i Mo Luí)
Key text: I am weary from being alone, alone, I am weary from being alone
How to use: A haunting special music solo, capturing the weariness of loneliness of physical, emotional or spiritual weariness. This psalm tells the story of one who is ill at midlife, but it also expresses the loneliness of many life journeys.
Featured instruments: guitar, harp, flute/whistle, pipes. Since this song is from our newest album, full scores aren’t yet available.
Save Me, O God (Psalm 69/The Streets of Derry)
Key text: Save me O God, for the water’s rising… Save me, O God, for you are my hope
How to use: A song for a soloist with a small group or choir to offer the refrain “Save me, O God, for your are my hope.”
Featured instruments: guitar, keyboard, pipes. Since this song is from our newest album, full scores aren’t yet available.
Maundy Thursday
Wings of a Dove (Psalm 55/Ned of the Hill)
Key text: O that I had the wings, had the wings of a dove, I would fly far away to the home that I love; I would fly to the place where my heart is at rest, in the shelter far from the tempest and storm
How to use: This is a beautiful anthem, speaking poignantly of human betrayal and the longing for shelter and safety from the evils of this world. If you are planning a folk-oriented Maundy Thursday service, this could contribute to your selection of songs.
Featured instruments: guitar, keyboard, fiddle, flute, harp. Since this song is from our newest album, full scores aren’t yet available.
Good Friday
My God, My God (Psalm 22/Paddy’s Green Shamrock Shore)
lyrics | GIA full score | hymn sheet | youtube | full album
Key text: My God, my God… why have you forsaken me
How to use: This can be sung as a congregational hymn or by a small group. Alternatively, the congregation can join on the last line of each verse, “My God, my God; my God, my God…” See how it’s done in a congregational setting here: https://vimeo.com/204894523 minute 19.35
Featured instruments: guitar, C instrument, cello. Piano accompaniment is available in full score, and cello/C instrument scores can be ordered through GIA.
Easter
Praise God From Whom All Blessings Flow (Psalm 147/Mo Ghile Mar)
lyrics | GIA full score | hymn sheet | youtube link 1 | youtube link 2 | full album
Key text: Praise God, from whom all blessings flow; praise the healer of our souls; earth and moon and stars above sing praise to you, O God of love!
How to use: This is a joyful song that can easily be sung by a congregation if the hymn sheet is available. With printed words only, they can join on a refrain while a choir or small group sings the verses.
Featured instruments: guitar, C instrument. Piano accompaniment available in full score, and C instrument scores can be ordered through GIA.
I Love the Lord (Psalm 116/The Galway Shawl)
Key text: I love the Lord, who showed me mercy, who heard my voice and heard my cry; long as I live, I will call upon you, because you’ve listened and saved my life.
How to use: This melody is catchy and repetitive enough that it can be picked up easily by a congregation, with words on a screen or printed out. Note – recorded version and youtube versions offer two different interpretations of how to present the song musically.
Featured instruments: guitar, keyboard, pipes. Since this song is from our newest album, full scores aren’t yet available.
You Have Turned My Sorrow (Psalm 30/Green Grows the Laurel)
lyrics | GIA full score | hymn sheet | youtube link | full album
Key text: You have turned my sorrow to dancing and song, you’ve taken my sackcloth and clothed me with joy; so my soul shall praise you, be silent no more; my Lord and my God, I’ll give thanks evermore!
How to use: With a repetitive and catchy melody line, this song is easy for a congregation to pick up, either in full or just on the refrains. If you happen to have an Irish dancer (or liturgical dancer) in the congregation, that can add an element of joy to the song (see youtube link)! Also see this link on how this can be done with a congregation: https://vimeo.com/204894523 minute 27.19
Featured instruments: guitar, fiddle, harp, cello, flute. Piano accompaniment available in full score, and cello/C instrument scores can be ordered through GIA.
Hallelujah (Psalm 146/Here’s a Health to the Company)
Key text: Hallelujah, I will praise the Lord as long as I live; I will sing praise to God with all of my being
How to use: This works well as a call and response, with a cantor introducing the first verse, and for each verse after that the congregation singing the first part and the cantor singing the second part. The final verse can be sung by the congregation until the end.
Featured instruments: guitar, keyboard, fiddle, flute. Since this song is from our newest album, full scores aren’t yet available.
We hope this compilation has been useful to you. If you would like to ask us any questions about our music, please feel free to get in touch at info@celticpsalms.com. And, have a blessed Lent and Easter.
*featured image above from the Vanderbilt Library Lectionary resources
