Watch this episode on YouTube here. Paid Subscribers can view the video directly in Substack.

In this episode of Psalms for the Spirit, we are joined by MaryAnn McKibben Dana ~ pastor, writer, and author of the new book Better Than Normal: Virtues for an Off-Script Life.

Get MaryAnn’s new book here

MaryAnn shares the heart behind her latest book, inspired by her journey as a parent navigating neurodiversity, and her growing awareness of how narrow definitions of “normal” can limit both individuals and communities. Together, we explore how the Psalms ~ through themes of orientation, disorientation, and reorientation ~ offer a powerful framework for making sense of life when it no longer feels predictable or clear.

This conversation invites listeners to move from certainty to curiosity, from comfort to courage, and from striving to presence. It is an honest reflection on faith, vulnerability, and the beauty of a more inclusive and compassionate way of being.

“Having gone through the disorienting experience and realizing how we might put it is that God was with us or helped guide us and never abandoned us, even when we felt like we were abandoned… if I can make it through that, I can make it through anything. And it's God's leading that will ultimately help us in this new chapter.”

Whether you feel grounded, lost, or somewhere in between, this episode offers a reminder that you are not alone ~ and that even in disorientation, there is a way through.

Rev. MaryAnn McKibben Dana is a writer, pastor, speaker, and ministry coach living in the Virginia suburbs of Washington DC. She is author of four books, most recently Better Than Normal: Virtues for an Off-Script Life. She writes a weekly newsletter for thousands of subscribers called The Blue Room, and her writing has also appeared in multiple outlets including TIME.com and The Washington Post. She was featured on PBS’s Religion and Ethics Newsweekly for her work on Sabbath and was recognized by the Presbyterian Writers Guild with the 2015-2016 David Steele Distinguished Writer Award. MaryAnn currently serves as associate pastor at Trinity Presbyterian Church in Herndon, Virginia. She is a graduate of Rice University in Houston, Texas and received her M.Div. from Columbia Theological Seminary in Decatur, Georgia. She is a mother of three young adults, an aspiring gardener, and an occasional ultramarathoner.

Click here to learn more about Rev. MaryAnn.

Featured Celtic Psalms Songs:

Psalm 30: You Have Turned My Sorrow

Psalm 116: I Love the Lord

Psalms for the Spirit is a listener-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.

This psalm of longing is set to the relatively well-known traditional melody, ‘Down by the Salley Gardens.’ Its iconic imagery of the deer panting or longing for streams of water, as our souls thirst for God, leads us into this depiction of someone whose soul is “cast down” and needing to be reminded of something to hope in.

Get your accompanying journal, which includes further questions for reflection and some invitations to prayer and practice

Paid subscribers receive a free journal PDF, or you can purchase a paperback version

Visit the Celtic Psalms website for scores/books, mp3s, CDs, and videos for As the Deer Longs for Streams

Find out more about the Habits for the Spirit course: an 8-week online course exploring habits and daily spiritual practices to promote wellbeing in body, mind, and spirit

Follow Kiran’s monthly reflections on Bless My Feet

Psalms for the Spirit is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.

This prayer for strength, courage, and refuge during a time of distress is combined here with the Irish traditional song Spancilhill. The Psalm resolves by transitioning into a testament to God’s help in the past, and an encouragement to those in distress as it offers the words “May courage fill your hearts.”

Get your accompanying journal, which includes further questions for reflection and some invitations to prayer and practice

Paid subscribers receive a free journal PDF, or you can purchase a paperback version

Visit the Celtic Psalms website for scores/books, mp3s, CDs, and videos for Rock of Refuge

Find out more about the Habits for the Spirit course: an 8-week online course exploring habits and daily spiritual practices to promote wellbeing in body, mind, and spirit

Follow Kiran’s monthly reflections on Bless My Feet

Psalms for the Spirit is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.

Proclaiming God’s power to transform sorrow into ‘dancing and song,’ this Psalm is sung to the uplifting Irish melody, “Green Grows the Laurel.” It’s a testament to coming through a time of sorrow and mourning, and finding dancing, song, and joy once again.

Get your accompanying journal, which includes further questions for reflection and some invitations to prayer and practice

Paid subscribers receive a free journal PDF, or you can purchase a paperback version

Visit the Celtic Psalms website for scores/books, mp3s, CDs, and videos for You Have Turned My Sorrow

Find out more about the Habits for the Spirit course: an 8-week online course exploring habits and daily spiritual practices to promote wellbeing in body, mind, and spirit

Follow Kiran’s monthly reflections on Bless My Feet

Psalms for the Spirit is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.

Watch this episode on YouTube here. Paid Subscribers can view the video directly in Substack.

In this meaningful conversation on Psalms for the Spirit, we are joined by Rev. Riana Shaw Robinson, a preacher, pastor, prophet, and Executive Director of Faith Matters Network, to explore the power of lament in our spiritual lives.

Drawing from her experience in the Black church tradition, Riana shares how lament is not separate from faith, but a vital expression of it. Together, we reflect on how the Psalms give us language for the moments when life feels overwhelming ~ when prayers are not polished, but raw, honest, and real.

Riana offers a refreshing perspective on prayer as truth-telling, naming what hurts, what feels broken, and what we long for while still holding on to trust in God. She also shares practical ways to engage lament, both personally and in community, including the powerful practice of writing collective lament prayers.

This conversation is an invitation to let go of perfect words and instead bring your whole self before God ~ your questions, your grief, your hope ~ and to do so bravely and courageously.

“To me, lament is truth-telling about the very real things that we are negotiating. And it’s not separate from praise. It is…I’m struggling, this is hard… And I name it because I trust God. And I can rely on others to remind me of God’s faithfulness, even when things are hard.”

Rev. Riana Shaw Robinson is an ordained Minister of Word and Sacrament in the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), a seasoned nonprofit leader, and a trained spiritual director whose work sits at the intersection of faith, justice, and community transformation. She brings more than a decade of experience in leading organizations and initiatives that advance racial, economic, gender, and environmental justice.

She is the Birthing Pastor of Miriam’s Song Church ~ a bold spiritual community that centers the healing, wholeness, and flourishing of women and non-binary people of color, rooted in the liberative way of Jesus.

Throughout her career, Riana has built a reputation as a visionary leader and community-driven strategist. She has led transformative justice initiatives, cultivated cross-sector partnerships, and provided values-based consulting to churches and nonprofits. Her expertise includes leadership development, DEIB implementation, organizational capacity building, and justice-centered evaluation and facilitation.

Riana holds a Master of Divinity from the Pacific School of Religion and a B.A. in Ethnic Studies from Mills College. She is also a graduate of the inaugural cohort of the Liberated Together Spiritual Direction School, where she honed her gifts for spiritual accompaniment and communal healing.

Riana lives in the San Francisco Bay Area with her four children. In her (rare) spare time, she enjoys listening to audiobooks, doing Pilates, and baking treats for family and friends.

Learn more about Riana here: https://faithmattersnetwork.org/

https://miriamssongchurch.org/

IG - revshawrobinson

LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/riana-shaw-robinson/

Featured Celtic Psalms Songs:

Psalm 90: From Dust We Came

Psalm 88: God of my Salvation

Psalms for the Spirit is a listener-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.

The air ‘Down in Yon Banke’ is originally a wordless Scottish country dance song, and in this rendition becomes a prayer for God’s eternal presence, especially in times of turmoil and fear. The Psalm speaks of enemies stumbling and falling in the midst of raging war, and expresses that longing to behold God’s beauty and to see God’s face.

Get your accompanying journal, which includes further questions for reflection and some invitations to prayer and practice

Paid subscribers receive a free journal PDF, or you can purchase a paperback version

Visit the Celtic Psalms website for scores/books, mp3s, CDs, and videos for The Lord is My Light

Find out more about the Habits for the Spirit course: an 8-week online course exploring habits and daily spiritual practices to promote wellbeing in body, mind, and spirit

Follow Kiran’s monthly reflections on Bless My Feet

Psalms for the Spirit is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.

In this episode of Psalms for the Spirit, Kiran sits down with Terry Wildman to explore the beauty and depth of the Psalms through an Indigenous perspective. Terry shares the story behind the First Nations Version of the Bible, a translation that seeks to express the message of Scripture in language and imagery that resonates with Native cultures.

Together, they reflect on the power of naming God in ways that speak to the heart ~ Creator, Great Spirit, Grandfather ~ and how these expressions can help readers encounter the Psalms with fresh ears and renewed understanding. Terry also shares the collaborative journey of translating Scripture alongside a council of Native leaders and elders, uncovering rich meanings of the original Hebrew language and Indigenous wisdom.

Throughout the conversation, the Psalms come alive as honest prayers ~ in prayers of grief, hope, justice, and trust. They remind us that faith is not only about certainty, but about bringing our full humanity before God.

As Terry reflects, the Psalms show us that even in chaos and doubt, we can still send our voices to our Creator.

“The Psalms include hope that God does hear us, that God does understand, that God is a God of justice, and He’s working out His justice in the world through His people.”

Terry M. Wildman (Ojibwe and Yaqui) is the lead translator, general editor, and project manager of the First Nations Version. He serves as the director of spiritual growth and leadership development for Native InterVarsity. He is also the founder of Rain Ministries and has previously served as a pastor and worship leader. He and his wife, Darlene, live in Arizona.

Learn more about Terry here: https://firstnationsversion.com/

Featured Celtic Psalms Songs:

Psalm 90: From Dust We Came

A Psalm of recognition of the fragility of life as well as God’s eternal nature, set with the Irish traditional song ‘Casadh an t’Súgain.'

Psalm 1: Their Delight

This first Psalm, set to the Irish traditional tune BánChnoic Éirann Ó, speaks of being like trees planted in streams of water, where we can flourish and thrive.

Psalm 27: The Lord is My Light

The air ‘Down in Yon Banke’ is originally a wordless Scottish country dance song, and in this rendition becomes a prayer for God’s eternal presence.

Psalms for the Spirit is a listener-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.