Little did I know...

[irresistible_grace]

Back in my Assemblies of God (Pentecostal) days, we sang a lot of contemporary Christian "worship" songs at church. I vividly remember as I was reading Scripture each night with my husband (when we read a Psalm), I would find myself bursting out into acappella singing of portions of these contemporary Christian songs because they would have a verse or two of the Psalms in them. And, I also vividly remember saying to my husband, "Someone should put all of the Psalms to music so we can sing the whole thing, just like God's people did from Moses to Christ & throughout the Early Church." Little did I know, less than a decade later, I would be worshipping as a communicant member in the FCC & singing the Psalms (exclusively) in worship!

Am I the only "Reformed" Christian on this board who (at one point) had no clue that all of the Psalms could be [& should be] sung [in corporate worship]?

When did you first learn that all the Psalms were translated from the original languages & put to Metre so they could be sung in Corporate Worship as well as Family Worship?

Was there ever a time when you asked yourself a similar question concerning putting the Psalms to music that I did?

It is so amazing to hear my children singing God's Word randomly throughout the day as they play etc. It is truly a privilege & a joy! God's steadfast love endures forever.

 

[joejohnston3]

It was only after I dated and married my wife as her background was Lutheran before she became a believer!

 

[Afterthought]

The thought of singing the Psalms--even wondering why none had put them to music--had never crossed my mind until I took note of the EP debate. Perhaps that is a bit odd, considering that there are quite a few contemporary songs that string together verses and ideas from the psalms. And I was familiar with at least one contemporary rendering of a portion of a Psalm. But anyway, while investigating the EP debate, I found out about the metrical translations and was quite thrilled about it. Back then I figured, though I may never become convinced of EP, it is quite obvious these Psalms should be sung and sung with a good translation. (I hope someday I too will be able to be a member of such a church, or even a congregation, that practices such singing exclusively.)

 

[irresistible_grace]

(I hope someday I too will be able to be a member of such a church, or even a congregation, that practices such singing exclusively.)

It is a joy & privilege to sing God's Word in corporate worship!

I hope someday that every Christian [especially the Confessional Christians here on the Puritan Board] will desire to sing God's Word (exclusively) in corporate worship. And, it would be even more exciting if every Christian would enjoy singing God's Word as much as my children do! But, that seems more like wishful thinking than "a confident expectation."

Nevertheless, I'm ing for you!

 

[Cymro]

I was ignorant of the fact that Psalms could be sung metrically, and that there were churches who
sung them exclusively. In my unconverted state I belonged to the Established Church of Wales and
therefore chanted two psalms every service, doing so because that was the order.
Even after I was converted by attending an Evangelical Presbyterian Church, I remained ignorant
of EP because only hymns were sung. In the Providence of our gracious God we holidayed on the Isle
of Lewis in the Outer Hebrides, Scotland, and it was there I was confronted not only with the practice
of EP, but with having to defend in debate my stance of hymn singing. Eventually I had lay down my arms
and concede to a stronger than I. The battle was long, hard and proved costly even to this day. Understand
that Welsh hymn singing is second to none, and without bias the tunes are world beating, and Oh that they
could be set to the Psalms but the metre is different.
Further more , I found out that the psalms had been written in our mother tongue before the Scottish Psalter
had been produced. And it was due to subsequent Revivals that hymns were slowly introduced, so that the Psalms
have almost been abandoned in 99% of the churches. I discovered not only the Biblical order but also the heritage
of my Fathers. To me now the singing of the Inspired psalter is meat and drink, and to think that my Lord not
only sung them, but also composed them, places them above any attempts of man to supersede them
The story is too long, but if I was more adept with the computer I would put my testimony on which was broadcast
on the Isle of Lewis radio. It traces our change to the Reformed position.
" Let us before His presence come
with praise and thankful voice;
Let us sing psalms to Him with grace,
and make a joyful noise."

 

[jwithnell]

I start humming with a lot of the scriptures what with the work of Bach, Handel, hymns, songs .....

 

[Tim]

And, I also vividly remember saying to my husband, "Someone should put all of the Psalms to music so we can sing the whole thing, just like God's people did from Moses to Christ & throughout the Early Church."

I was not as sharp, and never "figured it out" as you did, but I have since come to embrace and defend EP. It seems to me that there is still very much a need to make little suggestions to people (like myself before I understood), who wouldn't have otherwise recognized one of the major uses of the Psalms:

1. "Did you know that you can sing every one of the Psalms?"
2. "Did you know that there is a hymnbook right in the middle of the Bible?"

I think my point, apologetically speaking, would be to simply get people connecting the Psalms with "music" and "singing" - not just as just Biblical sources from which to quote (for may CCW songs do that), but to actually sing a Psalm from verse 1 to the end.

 

[O'GodHowGreatThouArt]

Most Christians today are flabbergasted (including myself when I found out) when they learn that the Psalms are meant to be sung and thus have their own melodies in line with the verses.

We have definitely departed history to some degree. Two-hundred years ago, singing psalms and hymns would've been commonplace. Now, you're lucky to get a single, well known hymn (or at least the first and last stanza with no lyrics modified if it's a REALLY good day) into a typical worship service. Christian contemporary music has completely invaded the churches and almost all of the lyrics presented pail in comparison to those found in the hymn books and psalter.

When I'm down at school, I've been attending a RB church that has a normative view of worship, and it is very distinct, when compared to my home church, that a lot of the lyrics in the CCM lacks the substance and theological depth that Psalms and hymns bring. If you ask me, I don't know why the psalter shouldn't be used. It was not just intended to tell us about God, but to be sung in worship.

 

[Backwoods Presbyterian]

I had little idea this was possible until i started attending RPTS. By God's providence my first class at RPTS?

ST71 Intro to Reformed Worship

The rest, as they say, is history.

 

[Zach]

I remember saying to a friend one time, "I wish we could have heard the Psalms sung in the temple." I didn't know that the Psalms were translated and put to metre before reading about exclusive Psalmody debates on PuritanBoard.

 

[Tim]

I remember saying to a friend one time, "I wish we could have heard the Psalms sung in the temple." I didn't know that the Psalms were translated and put to metre before reading about exclusive Psalmody debates on PuritanBoard.

I would like to know if there is a (modern) Hebrew Psalter that is used by Christians in the Near East today.

 

[Rom]

Sadly the question never crossed my mind until I sang them at our PCA church. Wow. The power of singing Gods Word hit me like a ton of bricks! Then researching psalmody on the PB brought me to the EP argument and then I was trapped

I also explored Rev. Koller's exclusivepsalmody.com and saw the arguments for and against.

Now here I am in the RPCNA.

But what a blessing to see my children too with the songs of God on their lips. I am so grateful to the historic denominations like the FCC and the RPC churches who have maintained this practice for the saints of this day to sing the Songs of Zion. And it is my hope and prayer that our brothers and sisters in non-EP denominations will at least start to rediscover the psalter!

 

[PuritanCovenanter]

I am an unusual situation. I read the whole Bible through before I ever read a book about Christianity. I knew the Psalms where sung by Israel. But I thought they were to be studied more for their content and prayed through. Then the Maranatha Singers came out with an Album Psalms Alive. I started using them for Private Worship during devotions. There were two more albums that came out after that, Psalms Alive II and III. After I was discharged from the Navy I was introduced to the Reformed Presbyterian Church back at home and I learned a lot about the early Church and Worship. But I wasn't convinced of EP until I heard Dr. Richard Bacon give an interview with William Hill Jr. on Covenant Radio. The etymology of psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs is important when discussing the topic. I was allowing too much of the Greek etymology enter into the context. I had heard some of the arguments before but it just didn't click. I wasn't allowing the Jewish etymology define how the words were being used.

On a side note Dr. Frank Smith has a good little booklet to help reintroduce the Church with singing Psalms.

The Joy of Rediscovering God's Hymnbook.

 

[jwithnell]

but to actually sing a Psalm from verse 1 to the end.

Now with Psalm 119, that would be a looonnnggg worship service! (Though I thoroughly agree the entirety of a Psalm best gives you the writer's intent.)

 

[irresistible_grace]

but to actually sing a Psalm from verse 1 to the end.

Now with Psalm 119, that would be a looonnnggg worship service! (Though I thoroughly agree the entirety of a Psalm best gives you the writer's intent.)

Thankfully with Psalm 119 being an alphabetic acrostic, each part represented by a letter of the Hebrew Alphabet can be sung in its entirety without losing the writer's intent.
Also, each of the EP congregations I have worshipped at make it a practice to sing through the ENTIRE Psalter (every verse of the 150 Psalms) each year. That said, I find it hard to argue that by not singing an entire Psalm like 119 in one setting, that you somehow miss the writers intent.

When my children don't finish a large meal, we do not force feed them, we put what remains in the fridge and they finish it the next time they sit down to eat. So it is with a looonnnggg Psalm, we sing through each part, little by little until we sing it in it's entirety! We don't require Pastors to preach through the ENTIRE Chapter of Psalm 119 in one sermon (or any other book of the Bible for that matter) but a good expositor will preach as many sermons as it takes for him preach the entire chapter of book he is in. Why is it different with the singing of a chapter of God's Word?

(Thank you for contributing to this Thread I started, JWithnell. I do enjoy reading what you have to say!)

 

[Tim]

I suppose I should have wrote something like "singing continuous sections of a Psalm". My intent was to contrast with the practice of extracting a few Psalm verses here and there for a CCW song.

 

[Zach]

Sadly the question never crossed my mind until I sang them at our PCA church. Wow. The power of singing Gods Word hit me like a ton of bricks! Then researching psalmody on the PB brought me to the EP argument and then I was trapped

I also explored Rev. Koller's exclusivepsalmody.com and saw the arguments for and against.

Now here I am in the RPCNA.

But what a blessing to see my children too with the songs of God on their lips. I am so grateful to the historic denominations like the FCC and the RPC churches who have maintained this practice for the saints of this day to sing the Songs of Zion. And it is my hope and prayer that our brothers and sisters in non-EP denominations will at least start to rediscover the psalter!

Without derailing this thread by turning it into a debate about Exclusive Psalmody and its practice, I don't think it is fair to characterize non-EP denominations as having a need to rediscover the Psalter. I love to sing the Psalms and we sing a Psalm each worship service. One of the things that often discourages me when reading about exclusive Psalmody on the PuritanBoard is that often those on the EP side make it sound like those who do not practice singing Psalms exclusively a cappella do not appreciate the riches of the Psalter.

I understand the desire and need to discuss and debate exclusive Psalmody. But, I wish that in threads like this we could just talk about our love of singing the Psalms without the (mis)characterizations that often mark debate about EP.

 

[NaphtaliPress]

Historically at least in the PCA, which is not EP, there have been endeavors to encourage more psalm singing; even to the point of seeing the need for creating the Trinity Psalter; the point being, you don't need to encourage more psalm singing if there is enough of it going on.

 

[Rom]

Dear Brother Zach,
When I made that statement it was not meant to be comprehensive of every church in every denomination. Most of the PCA and OPC churches that I have visited do not sing a single psalm during their worship services.

While individual churches may differ (like the PCA church that I was a member of, and I am forever grateful to them), most denominations (taken as a whole) do not cherish the Word of Christ which is to dwell within them richly. Certainly the majority of Protestantism appears to have disregarded the Psalter.

So I still think that's a fair statement. I didn't know that the psalms could be sung most of my Christian life, and I think if you asked the average conservative Protestant today they'd say the same.

Sadly the question never crossed my mind until I sang them at our PCA church. Wow. The power of singing Gods Word hit me like a ton of bricks! Then researching psalmody on the PB brought me to the EP argument and then I was trapped

I also explored Rev. Koller's exclusivepsalmody.com and saw the arguments for and against.

Now here I am in the RPCNA.

But what a blessing to see my children too with the songs of God on their lips. I am so grateful to the historic denominations like the FCC and the RPC churches who have maintained this practice for the saints of this day to sing the Songs of Zion. And it is my hope and prayer that our brothers and sisters in non-EP denominations will at least start to rediscover the psalter!

Without derailing this thread by turning it into a debate about Exclusive Psalmody and its practice, I don't think it is fair to characterize non-EP denominations as having a need to rediscover the Psalter. I love to sing the Psalms and we sing a Psalm each worship service. One of the things that often discourages me when reading about exclusive Psalmody on the PuritanBoard is that often those on the EP side make it sound like those who do not practice singing Psalms exclusively a cappella do not appreciate the riches of the Psalter.

I understand the desire and need to discuss and debate exclusive Psalmody. But, I wish that in threads like this we could just talk about our love of singing the Psalms without the (mis)characterizations that often mark debate about EP.

 

[Zach]

To show that I really do love to sing the Psalms (and because the post is really good!) I want to share a blog post by Daniel R. Hyde on Psalm singing to which I give a hearty I hope you all enjoy the post!

Why We Sing Old Testament Psalms

 

[Rom]

I saw that this morning, brother! Thanks so much for sharing...]. And I do not doubt for a moment your love for singing the songs of our Christ

To show that I really do love to sing the Psalms (and because the post is really good!) I want to share a blog post by Daniel R. Hyde on Psalm singing to which I give a hearty I hope you all enjoy the post!

Why We Sing Old Testament Psalms

 

[Zach]

Dear Brother Zach,
When I made that statement it was not meant to be comprehensive of every church in every denomination. Most of the PCA and OPC churches that I have visited do not sing a single psalm during their worship services.

While individual churches may differ (like the PCA church that I was a member of, and I am forever grateful to them), most denominations (taken as a whole) do not cherish the Word of Christ which is to dwell within them richly. Certainly the entirety of Protestantism appears to have disregarded the Psalter.

So I still think that's a fair statement. I didn't know that the psalms could be sung most of my Christian life, and I think if you asked the average conservative Protestant today they'd say the same.

Sadly the question never crossed my mind until I sang them at our PCA church. Wow. The power of singing Gods Word hit me like a ton of bricks! Then researching psalmody on the PB brought me to the EP argument and then I was trapped

I also explored Rev. Koller's exclusivepsalmody.com and saw the arguments for and against.

Now here I am in the RPCNA.

But what a blessing to see my children too with the songs of God on their lips. I am so grateful to the historic denominations like the FCC and the RPC churches who have maintained this practice for the saints of this day to sing the Songs of Zion. And it is my hope and prayer that our brothers and sisters in non-EP denominations will at least start to rediscover the psalter!

Without derailing this thread by turning it into a debate about Exclusive Psalmody and its practice, I don't think it is fair to characterize non-EP denominations as having a need to rediscover the Psalter. I love to sing the Psalms and we sing a Psalm each worship service. One of the things that often discourages me when reading about exclusive Psalmody on the PuritanBoard is that often those on the EP side make it sound like those who do not practice singing Psalms exclusively a cappella do not appreciate the riches of the Psalter.

I understand the desire and need to discuss and debate exclusive Psalmody. But, I wish that in threads like this we could just talk about our love of singing the Psalms without the (mis)characterizations that often mark debate about EP.

I understand, brother. I appreciate that and agree with your sentiments. I know that there are many Reformed churches where the Psalms are rarely sung. I would like there to be more Psalm singing in Reformed churches and hope the practice increases. One of the things I am greatly looking forward to is the new Psalter-Hymnal of the OPC and URC with complete selections from all 150 Psalms. Maybe I was being overly defensive. Please forgive me.

 

[Rom]

Nothing to forgive, brother! If anything, I am sorry that my post caused offense in the first place.
I hope the remainder of your Lord's Day is blessed!

I understand, brother. I appreciate that and agree with your sentiments. I know that there are many Reformed churches where the Psalms are rarely sung. I would like there to be more Psalm singing in Reformed churches and hope the practice increases. One of the things I am greatly looking forward to is the new Psalter-Hymnal of the OPC and URC with complete selections from all 150 Psalms. Maybe I was being overly defensive. Please forgive me.

 

[Edward]

Why We Sing Old Testament Psalms

Just saw a link to that posted over at Free Republic.

 

[BrettLemke]

I too am relatively new to the Psalms, as songs meant to be sung, position. I will say that like some others posters, of having grown up in a CCW scenario, my most cherished cherished praise choruses and hymns from my childhood were the ones that contained, or based in the Psalms. For example, "Come let us worship and bow down" chorus of Psalm 95 has always been a constant favorite. So, in God's providence, He found ways for me to treasure His sung Word in my heart. Now that I have come to a deeper understanding in why God placed a hymnbook within His word to us, as words back to Him, I cannot help but rejoice and love to sing the praises He has graciously given, and graciously blesses! It will be a rare day that I am not promoting the Psalms in my church, which until only recently, has begun to incorporate sung Psalms back into public worship. And for any increase given there, and I am thankful to God, may He continue to shape our hearts with His own word.

 

[Vladimir]

Wow. I always was conscious of the thought that:

there is a hymnbook right in the middle of the Bible

I thought that hymns were sort of a modern day replacement. And I know that some (if not all) of the hymns are inspired by the Spirit.
But this thread has really made my day. Thank you.