Celtic Psalms will be on RTE (Irish National Television) Sunday Service this week, on 17 July 2022 at 11am Ireland Time (6am Eastern Time).
Tune in to the RTE Player or live TV for a services focused on Psalms of Lament and Hope.
We are delighted to announce that our fourth album, Celtic Psalms: May We Rise, is now available to purchase!
This album is a testament to the joy, depth and hope that can be found even in the midst of difficult circumstances.
We hope you enjoy the new songs. You can order HERE or contact us directly. Thank you!
For those who enjoy Celtic Psalms music, you might also be interested in checking out the Psalms for the Spirit Podcast.
Rev. Kiran Young Wimberly explores the connection between spirituality and resilience with a wide range of guests, hearing about how the Psalms weave into the spiritual journey, how they lead us toward healing and hope, and how they lift our spirits in difficult times.
Celtic Psalms music is featured in every episode, speaking into the themes that arise in the conversations.
The psalms are an endless supply of something we all need right now: resilience. Here is a playlist of soulful songs that connect us with our lament and remind us of our hope. Click on the link below and listen while doing something that gives you joy today.
Celtic Psalms for Resilience Playlist:
Hello! We’re excited to announce a few concerts coming up in Spring 2019. We hope to see some of you there!
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
*featured image above from the Vanderbilt Library Lectionary resources
In October 2018, Celtic Psalms has been invited to be a part of a pilgrimage to Ireland. As you journey, you will learn about Celtic music, spirituality, and peacemaking. This is sure to be a wonderful experience, and we’d love to meet you in Ireland if you’re able to come along!
Celtic Music, Spirituality & Peacemaking | October 17-26, 2018
Our new album, Celtic Psalms: Rest in the Shelter, will come out in the Spring of 2018. If you’d like to pre-order it, the links are below!
In the third installment of psalms set to Celtic melodies, Kiran Young Wimberly and the McGraths come together once again to lift up life’s joys, laments, and hopes in soulful song. If you’ve appreciated the first two albums of Celtic Psalms and if you’d like to order the third volume in advance, we invite you to pre-order your copy now!
Kiran Young Wimberly is an American Presbyterian minister who has spent much of the past decade in Northern Ireland. While living and serving in the Belfast area, she became an avid fan of Irish traditional music and wished she could see more of this style of music in the context of worship. She began arranging psalms, her long-time favorite section of scripture, to Irish and Scottish melodies. Desiring to link up with local musicians in recording the songs, she asked the talented musical family The McGraths of Dungannon, Co. Tyrone, and Dónal O’Connor of RedBox Recording, Belfast, to collaborate with her in creating this music. They recorded their first album in 2013 and their second in 2015. Their music has been featured on RTE televised Sunday services as well as the BBC documentary on hymnwriting in Northern Ireland entitled “Then Sings My Soul.” In 2017, GIA Publications released full scores/choral versions of Volumes 1 and 2 to encourage congregational use of these songs, and Celtic Psalms was asked to share their arrangements in Calvin Worship Symposium’s Vespers service. In the summer of 2018, Celtic Psalms will lead a workshop at the Hymn Society’s annual conference in St. Louis.
Why do we want to keep recording more Celtic Psalms? The psalms are such a powerful way to offer up our joys and sorrows, hopes and fears before God, and since we began making this music, we have heard that the combination of the poignant words of the psalms with soulful Celtic melodies provides a healing balm for many. We believe that music reaches the heart in ways words alone cannot. By continuing to make more of this music, we continue to invite people to be honest about their deeper emotions before a God who listens compassionately.
We’re excited to share this new album with you.
A new album is being born!
Really looking forward to launching our third album of Celtic Psalms in the spring of 2018.
We’ll keep you posted!
