Drawing Praise
A Creative Reflection on Psalm 148
by Samir Knego
This activity invites you to consider the joy and rich poetry of Psalm 148 and connect it to your own life. It requires very basic supplies and can be done individually or as a group.
If you struggle to find time for prayer or contemplation, this might be a good activity for you–it typically takes only 15-20 minutes depending how fast of a reader you are, and there is a variation that breaks that up into smaller chunks if that works better for your brain and/or schedule.
You will need:
Paper with concentric circles on it. Print this template or freehand your own.
Drawing materials of choice. Can be as simple as a single pencil/pen if that’s what you have on hand.
Bible. Use the Bible Gateway website or app (both are free and have many different translations available) or a print Bible.
Directions:
In the smallest circle in the center, draw something that sticks out to you from the Psalm. This could be an image, idea, or feeling. Spend around 4 minutes on this.
In the middle ring, draw something from your own life that you associate with your first drawing. This might be a memory related to that image or an emotional reaction. (4 minutes)
In the final outer ring, draw how you think God is related to what you drew in the middle ring. This could be how you experienced God in that memory or emotion, how you think God feels about the experience or image you drew, or how you look back and see God at work in that time, place, or feeling. (4 minutes)
Read or listen to Psalm 148 again. You could try reading a different translation than you did initially–sometimes slightly different words and phrases can help you read the text in new ways.
Go back to your first drawing, in the center circle, and add something. This might be something new that caught your attention when you read it or a new way you are understanding the text after this reflection–or anything else that feels important to add!
Variations:
You don’t have to do the whole activity in one sitting. Try doing just one step at a time over the course of a day or week.
There are a couple of different ways to make this a group activity. You can have everyone working separately on their own drawing sheet or create a large template and have everyone collaborate on it.
The following recording is an audio version of this guided exercise, with timed pauses for engaging with the activity. Readings of Psalm 148 are given first in the NRSV and then in the NIV translations. Other translations are also available at this link.
Contemplative Practices Editor Samir Knego spends his days photographing archival materials and thinking about the past. His essays, poems, and visual art have appeared all over the place, including in Religion Dispatches, Anti-Racism Daily, and Wordgathering: A Journal of Disability Poetry and Literature, and he has had solo shows at the Hillsborough Arts Council Gallery, Art Therapy Institute of NC, and Eno Arts Mill Gallery.
