What is Psalm Sunday?

Psalm Sunday is a new tradition observed by evangelical churches in Colorado. For one week, the church celebrates the Psalms in an interactive way.

First, as the people arrive, they walk up from the parking lot singing the Songs of Ascent, just like the Jews did when climbing the hill to Jerusalem. If the church lot is flat, then the people sing while climbing a ladder to the roof.

While the younger children dress like shepherds and sheep, the youth group room is made into the Valley of the Shadow of Death. In order to escape, the teens have to lift their rod or staff and declare "I shall fear no evil!" If they forgot their rod or staff, they have to recite Psalm 119 from memory.

The adults cycle through four different rooms. In the imprecatory room, they pray against their enemies. It's amazing how long people have been staying in this room lately. And how loud they get. Church staff have started kicking people out after an hour. From there, they go to the room of lament, where they mourn for the damage their enemies have inflicted and the political delusion their fellow church-members are under. When they realize they are sinners as well, they head over to the penitential room where they pray psalms of repentance. Much of the repentance is about the anger they felt when they heard a friend praying imprecatorily against the politician they like. Emotionally exhausted, eyes filled with tears, and arms wrapped around each other's shoulders, they finish at the room of praise, thanking God for His gifts of forgiveness and reconciliation.

Once everyone is in the right frame of mind, they enter the sanctuary through the vestibule which has been tastefully decorated with chords of the grave and snares of death. As the people find their seats, they cry to God for help. The floor of the sanctuary trembles and quakes on the newly-installed pneumatic struts. Flames shoot from the walls. Hailstones fall from the ceiling. Arrows of lightening flash overhead.

It's quite the to-do.

When the service is over, the people file out, one-by-one stepping into a vat of mud, then onto a rock, while U2's "Forty" plays on the sound system. The lone high schooler who never managed to memorize Psalm 119 lies down to sleep, wondering if he'll have to dwell in the house of the Lord forever.

So, yeah. That's what Psalm Sunday is. Yup. You bet. It's totally not an attempt by the Got Questions staff to reassure the boss that his typo that went out to thousands and thousands of Question of the Week subscribers wasn't that bad and that everyone knew he meant "Palm Sunday."

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