1855 Knollcrest Circle SE, Grand Rapids, MI 49546-4402 USA
On the campus of Calvin University
© 2026 Calvin Institute of Christian Worship
This setting of Psalm 146 was submitted by Larry Visser, who also composed this organ setting.
Psalm 146
How does this psalm piece interpret the psalm?
The English trumpet tunes of the 17th century composed by Jeremiah Clarke and Henry Purcell were played for nobility, kings, and queens, and are still to this day often heard at wedding ceremonies. This neo-baroque trumpet tune based on Psalm 146 evokes the majesty and royalty not of an earthly king, but of the sovereign King of glory, the Lord of all. While the psalm is framed with words of praise, the interior verses are a call not to place our trust in human power, position, or status, but rather in the Lord, the One who created heaven and earth, cares for the oppressed and hungry, sets prisoners free, gives sight to the blind, lifts the humble, watches over the foreigner, sustains the fatherless and the widow. In a time of political divisiveness, international conflict, racial injustice, famine, sickness, and death, this psalm brings hope for those whose help is in the Lord, the God of Jacob. The music is based on the hymn tune RIPLEY (Lift Up Your Hearts #518), composed by the famous American Lowell Mason who promoted and published music for schools, choirs, and congregations.
This organ setting is most useful as a prelude, postlude, or hymn introduction in any praise-themed worship service, at a service that focuses on God’s grace, or even as a wedding recessional.
Music: Larry Visser © Larry Visser
Used by permission.
Contact: Larry Visser, www.lagrave.org/leadership
Pastor-scholar Andrew Wilkes shares how his worshiping community, Double Love Experience Church, prayed and sang the psalms during the troubling times of 2020. The psalms gave them language and support for praise and lament, and Wilkes asserts that lament is the evidence of faith because we are bringing our troubles to God.
Author and pastor-scholar David Taylor shares how he came to appreciate the psalms and how he encourages people to bring their full, unedited selves to God in prayer and experience a richer and more honest life of faith.
Old Testament scholar Nancy deClaissé-Walford has spent her career studying the ordering of the Psalter. Most of the psalms, she says, are not tied to a particular situation, allowing us to sing and pray them honestly in our own contexts.
Pastor-scholar Andrew Wilkes shares how his worshiping community, Double Love Experience Church, prayed and sang the psalms during the troubling times of 2020. The psalms gave them language and support for praise and lament, and Wilkes asserts that lament is the evidence of faith because we are bringing our troubles to God.
Author and pastor-scholar David Taylor shares how he came to appreciate the psalms and how he encourages people to bring their full, unedited selves to God in prayer and experience a richer and more honest life of faith.
Old Testament scholar Nancy deClaissé-Walford has spent her career studying the ordering of the Psalter. Most of the psalms, she says, are not tied to a particular situation, allowing us to sing and pray them honestly in our own contexts.
A Psalm Talk by Jared E. Alcántara recorded at the 2026 Psalms 150 conference, with a visual prayer and embodied response from artist Dea Jenkins.
