This is an extended choral option for the 6th Sunday, Year B. This one's for those of you who serve priests who don't mind you "being creative with the psalm." And yes, I know that there of some people who say that this point in the liturgy is not the place to be creative. I say, would you rather the people keep nodding off and looking at their watches during Mass, or do anything possible to achieve "full, conscious and active participation"?

It's based on the good old C major scale. Two mentors influenced the outcome of this setting. First is Fr. Leo Patalinghug (try Googling him, a talented and colorful priest) who told me many times to keep my psalms simple. So there are a few of these settings that utlize the scale, you can't get much simpler than that. The other mentor is Don Henderson, an excellent music minister who now teaches I believe at the high school or college level. He once told me that when you write for congregational you should write "from C to shining C". Which I can relate to anyway as a bass. I start straining at D, and Eb depends on the syllable and whether or not I've been drinking too much coffee that week!

But a great text nonetheless: "I turn to you, Lord, in my time of need, and you fill me with the joy of salvation."

God bless.