Freshen up your Psalm Singing

I love the Psalms. I’ve been singing the Scottish Metrical Psalms for forty years and we still use them every day in family worship. I’ve now been singing the from the Dutch Psalter (“the 1912″) for ten years and have developed a deep appreciation for many of them.

However, from time to time, I like to search out and explore other Psalters in order to freshen up my personal worship with new arrangements, phraseology, and tunes. Recently, in my devotions, I’ve been using the Book of Psalms for Worship, published by the RPCNA (Reformed Presbyterian Church of North America). Many of the arrangements are refreshing and, in some cases, better and closer translations of the original Hebrew text of the Psalms than either the Scottish or Dutch Psalters.

The RPCNA are also to be commended for the beautiful production of their Psalters. The bindings, covers, print quality, layout, and design are outstanding in both the Slim Mini Psalter edition and the Words Only edition. I’ve also been learning some new tunes using the superb audio resource the RPCNA have compiled online. Not only can you listen to the tune to help you sing, but even learn the parts. Click through and try it.

If you need some extra convincing and motivation to get started on Psalm singing, why not have a read of 150 Questions About the Psalter. And if you simply want to deepen your understanding of the Psalms, try Robert Godfrey’s recent book Learning to Love the Psalms.

I’m deeply grateful to the RPCNA for their ongoing commitment to promoting the Psalms, and especially for their passion to inspire the upcoming generations to continue singing them by providing them with lyrics they can understand and varied tunes that are appropriate to the words. I still say there’s no better argument for Psalm singing than an RPCNA congregation in full and harmonious voice.