This litany will work for an Easter Vigil, the Season of Easter, Christmas, or any other time you desire to highlight the hope and joy we have in Christ as we build God's kingdom. Some will encounter Psalm 98 toward the end of the liturgical year when the church does well to pause and contemplate the end of the Biblical story as we know it. There will come a day of judgement. For those who do not follow Christ, this day will be a day of great fear, but for those who are united with Christ, this day will be a day of rejoicing, for justice will come.
In a world where injustice and chaos seem to grow unabated, the church needs to be reminded of this reality. In the face of difficulties let us not lose heart; let us not grow weary of fighting for justice; let us not stop working to build God’s kingdom; let us not lose hope. It is hope that gives us the resilience we need, the strength to continue the work God has called us to do, and the joy to testify to God’s goodness and sing God’s praises despite being in the midst of difficult times.
Psalm 98 is a great psalm to turn to as an act of resistance to the fear growing around us. Below you will find the psalm adapted from the New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition, and divided between a number of speakers as part of a conversation. It is scripted for two individual readers and two groups of people. Group 1 and Group 2 could be composed of members of the choir or another group of your design— for example, you could divide the congregation into higher and lower voices, or right and left sides of the sanctuary. If the group divisions present challenges, you can merge those parts into one portion that the congregation reads together.
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Reader 1: |
Sing! |
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Reader 2: |
Sing what? |
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Reader 1: |
Sing to the Lord a new song, |
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Reader 2: |
Well, why would I do that? |
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Reader 1: |
Because God has done marvelous things. |
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Reader 2: |
What marvelous things? I’m not seeing marvelous things. I’d hardly call that marvelous. |
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Reader 1: |
God’s right hand and his holy arm The Lord has made known his victory; |
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Reader 2: |
Victory? What victory? I’m just not seeing it. |
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Reader 1: |
God has remembered his steadfast love and faithfulness |
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Reader 2: |
Is that victory? God has… [Insert ways that your community has seen God at work.] |
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Reader 1: |
Even better than all of that, God sent Jesus, |
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Reader 2: |
It is true that God has been good to us. Indeed, all the ends of the earth have seen |
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Reader 1+2 |
Make a joyful noise to the Lord, all the earth; |
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Group 1 |
Sing praises to the Lord with the lyre, |
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Group 2 |
With trumpets and the sound of the horn |
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Reader 1+2 |
At the presence of the Lord, |
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Group 1 |
Let the sea roar and all that fills it, |
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Group 2 |
Let the floods clap their hands; |
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Reader 1+2 |
for God is coming |
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Group 1 |
God will judge the world with righteousness |
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Group 2 |
and the peoples with equity. |
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Reader 1: |
Sing! |
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Reader 2: |
Yes, let us sing! For God is steadfast in love and faithful! |
Song of Response
“Joy to the World” Watts
—Joyce Borger © 2025 Reformed Worship, CC BY-NC-SA 4.0. Used by permission.
Revised Common Lectionary
All Years Easter Vigil
All Years Nativity of the Lord Proper III
Year B Sixth Sunday of Easter
Year C Proper 27 (Ordinary Time 32)
Year C Proper 28 (Ordinary Time 33)
