1855 Knollcrest Circle SE, Grand Rapids, MI 49546-4402 USA
On the campus of Calvin University
© 2025 Calvin Institute of Christian Worship
This setting of Psalm 89:1–18 was written and submitted by Ken Michell. It focuses on God’s covenant community praising him for his love and faithfulness.
Psalm 89
How does this psalm piece interpret the psalm?
The first 18 verses of Psalm 89 are a declaration of praise to God who calls his people into covenant relationship with God. God reaches out to us in order to make a way for us to reach out to God. We experience God’s love when God reaches out to us. And God is always true to God’s love for us (faithfulness). Worship begins with God, who reaches out to us. “For God so loved the world that he gave . . .”—this is where worship begins.
In saying this, we’re admitting that worship doesn’t begin with us. We don’t “start” worship when we gather on Sunday morning or Wednesday night. We join worship that is ongoing. Psalm 89:1–18 reminds us that the beautiful work of worship is already underway, in heaven and on earth. And it began when God reached out in love and faithfulness.
Psalm 89:14 says, “Righteousness and justice are the foundation of your throne; love and faithfulness go before you” (NIV). The way of God’s kingdom (founded upon God’s righteousness and justice) is the way of love and faithfulness. God’s love and faithfulness are the arms that reach out to us from the body of God’s righteousness and justice. The full embrace of God draws us into the pursuit of God’s righteousness and justice. The full embrace of God in worship forms and reforms us as God’s covenant family, the church.
This psalm setting invites us to read, pray, and sing Psalm 89:1–18, where we are reminded that we are formed as God’s people through worship that declares God’s love and faithfulness. When we bless God, we are blessed. Refrain:
“I will sing of your great love now and ever;
With my mouth I will declare your faithfulness.
In your promise I am formed, in your covenant restored,
O bless the Lord forever, Amen.”
This psalm setting would fit well during a time of praise (declaring God’s love and faithfulness) and/or response (calling us to love and faithfulness, to be formed and restored as God’s covenant people who are loving and faithful).
Text and Music: Psalm 89:1–18; Ken Michell, © 2020 Ken Michell
Used by permission.
Contact: Ken Michell, kenmichell@gmail.com
Why and how did psalm singing become such a hallmark of Reformed worship? Join Dr. Karin Maag for a fascinating journey through time, from Reformation Geneva to Scotland and from the Netherlands to New England, exploring the roots and impact of metrical psalm singing. Along the way, we will hear the voices of early modern Christians as they learned how to sing the psalms, both in unison and in harmony.
Sister Kathleen Harmon of the community of the Ohio province of the Sisters of Notre Dame de Namur in Dayton, invites us to be transformed by the psalms and experience them as the whole story God is revealing to us. As we keep praying and singing them, the psalms interpret us, and that’s when the transformation comes.
Vinroy D. Brown Jr.—conductor, musicologist, educator, and minister of creative worship and music at the historic Abyssinian Baptist Church in New York City—explores the vibrant intersection of Black sacred music and the psalms. He talks about Black composers and how they have reimagined the psalms through choral music, spirituals, and the gospel tradition for the benefit of everyone.
Why and how did psalm singing become such a hallmark of Reformed worship? Join Dr. Karin Maag for a fascinating journey through time, from Reformation Geneva to Scotland and from the Netherlands to New England, exploring the roots and impact of metrical psalm singing. Along the way, we will hear the voices of early modern Christians as they learned how to sing the psalms, both in unison and in harmony.
Sister Kathleen Harmon of the community of the Ohio province of the Sisters of Notre Dame de Namur in Dayton, invites us to be transformed by the psalms and experience them as the whole story God is revealing to us. As we keep praying and singing them, the psalms interpret us, and that’s when the transformation comes.
Vinroy D. Brown Jr.—conductor, musicologist, educator, and minister of creative worship and music at the historic Abyssinian Baptist Church in New York City—explores the vibrant intersection of Black sacred music and the psalms. He talks about Black composers and how they have reimagined the psalms through choral music, spirituals, and the gospel tradition for the benefit of everyone.
John Goldingay, an Anglican priest and the senior professor of Old Testament at Fuller Theological Seminary, posits the psalms are the densest material in the entire Old Testament. They expound the nature of God as the compassionate, faithful, and committed one, but also as the one who makes demands upon us. The psalms help us talk to God, even about difficult things—and when we do, we are talking to someone who is in a position to do something about it.
