Practical Notes for Ministers
Voice: Unhurried. Warm but not sentimental. This rite asks people to claim something — give them room to actually do it. The pauses are not decorative.
Movement: Ask the congregation to stand for the psalm, if they are not already standing. The standing matters — it is a posture of claiming, not of submission.
The name moment: Announce this clearly before you begin the psalm, so no one is caught off guard. Practise the rhythm yourself beforehand — the pause where the name goes must be long enough for the slowest person in the room to say their name quietly.
Tone note: The David section is not a guilt trip. It is relief. The point is not even David sinned as a warning. It is even David was chosen as an invitation. Keep your voice open, not solemn.
Placement (primary): Penitential Rite — after the Sign of the Cross and greeting
Placement (alternate): Post-Communion thanksgiving, or a proclamation of faith after the homily
Time: 5–7 minutes
If used post-communion: Replace the opening invitation with: “We have received. We have been fed at a table prepared for us. Before we go, let us remember whose table this is — and who was invited.” Then continue from the David section.
The Rite
Opening Invitation
Spoken by the presider, reader, cantor or worship leader:
Before we ask for mercy, let us remember who it is we are asking.
Not a God who chooses the impressive. Not a God who waits for us to be ready.
A God who has a habit — a long, embarrassing, beautiful habit — of choosing the ones no one else thought to call.
David: The Chosen and the Broken
Spoken by the presider, or a reader with a strong, grounded voice. Not rushed.
There was a boy once, left with the sheep while his brothers stood in the ceremonial line.
His father didn’t summon him. Not because he forgot. Because — for whatever reason — he didn’t think the boy quite fit.
And God said: this one.
That boy became the greatest king Israel had ever known. He wrote songs to God that we still sing, three thousand years later. He defeated a giant with a stone and a sling and the absolute conviction that God was with him.
He was also the man who looked down from his rooftop and wanted what wasn’t his.
He was the man who took Bathsheba – another man’s wife. Who sent her husband Uriah to the front of the battle — knowing he would not come back. Who covered his desire with another man’s death, and called it military strategy.
He was the man who, when the prophet Nathan looked him in the eye and said: you did this — fell apart completely.
The greatest king of Israel. The author of the psalms. The adulterer. The one who covered his sin. The man who wept so hard when his consequences caught up with him that the floor was wet.
And still — still — the one God called a man after God’s own heart.
Not because he was perfect. Because when he fell, he did not pretend he hadn’t. Because he let himself be seen.
The Penitential Act
The presider:
We come now to this same God — the one who looked at David and said: this one. The one who pressed mud on a blind man’s eyes and said: go wash.
Let us bring what is true about us. The moments we didn’t show love — to God, to the person beside us, to ourselves. The ways we have been blind and called it clarity. The ways we have hidden and called it strength.
A brief, genuine silence. Thirty seconds at minimum. Let it breathe.
Lord, have mercy. Lord, have mercy.
Christ, have mercy. Christ, have mercy.
Lord, have mercy. Lord, have mercy.
The Psalm: Claiming Your Name
The presider, before beginning:
Now we are going to do something a little unusual.
We are going to pray Psalm 23 together — the most familiar psalm most of us know. And because it is so familiar, we are going to make it strange again.
Each time you hear a pause — a space where a name could go — I invite you to say your own name, quietly. Not in your head. Out loud, just under your breath, or loud enough for the person beside you to hear.
This psalm was written by a man who had done terrible things and was still somehow certain that the Lord was his shepherd.
It belongs to you too.
Begin the psalm. Speak slowly. The gaps marked [NAME] should be genuinely long — three to four full beats.
Feel free to download and use the slides below if you use screens
The Lord is my shepherd; there is nothing I, [NAME], shall want.
In green pastures he gives me repose. Beside restful waters he leads me. He refreshes the soul of me, [NAME].
He guides me, [NAME], in right paths — not because I have earned it, but for his name’s sake.
Even when I, [NAME], walk in the dark valley, I will fear no evil — for you are at my side.
You spread the table before me, [NAME] — in the sight of my foes. Not somewhere safe and hidden. Here. In the open. Witnessed.
You anoint my head with oil. The cup of [NAME] overflows.
Only goodness and kindness will follow me, [NAME], all the days of my life — and I shall dwell in the house of the Lord for years to come.
Closing Word
The presider:
That is whose table we come to.
Not the table of the impressive. Not the table of the ones who have it together.
The table of the left-with-the-sheep ones. The table of the thrown-out ones. The table of the blind men who said I don’t know the theology, I only know I was blind and now I see.
Your name belongs here.
Move directly into (the Gloria – if use it outside of the Lenten season), or into the Collect if the Gloria is omitted.
Adaptation Notes
For post-communion use: Begin at “We come now to this same God” and move directly to the psalm. The David section works beautifully as a reflection before the psalm in this context — but if time is short, it can be omitted and the psalm carries the weight alone.
For a proclamation of faith after the homily: Use only the David section and the psalm. Introduce it as: “We have heard the Word. Now let us claim it.”
If the congregation is unfamiliar with participatory prayer: Introduce the name exercise even more gently: “You don’t have to speak aloud if that feels like too much. But I invite you — if you’re willing — to say your own name quietly into that space.”
For smaller communities or retreats: The presider can invite participants to speak their names aloud, all at once, into the shared silence. The layered sound of many names being claimed simultaneously can be deeply moving.
More
Dive deeper into the Spirit of This Sunday
Now You Are Light: A map of where we are in the liturgical context and an overview of the resources for This Sunday.
The New Genesis: The Biblical Background post going deep into the scholarship behind what the readings are really doing
We Will Not Begin Without Them – Prayer of the Faithful including Intercessions for those left out, omitted, passed over.
