The Place of Psalms in Reformation

Introduction

You all belong to a psalm-singing congregation, and for those who have been here for a while it is easy to assume that this psalm-singing is just part of “how things are.” Of course it might be something of a shock to those who just recently moved here, but for the most part, we are all pretty used to it. But for precisely that reason, it is good from time to time to be reminded of why we do the things we do. Why do we sing so many psalms?

The Text

“And when they had sung an hymn, they went out into the mount of Olives” (Mark 14:26).

Summary of the Text

The Lord had just instituted the sacrament of the Eucharist. He had taken the bread of the Passover, had broken it, and blessed it. “Take, eat,” He said. “This is my body” (v. 22). He then took the cup that was filled with what represented His blood, gave thanks for it, and they drank (v. 23). They concluded the meal by singing a hymn. The word hymn here is one of the words used for the different kinds of psalms in the Psalter.  

There is general agreement among scholars that what they sang was the “Hallel” from the Psalter, meaning Psalms 113-118. This is surmised from the Jewish custom of singing this portion of the Psalms on the first night of Passover. The first two psalms would have been sung during the meal, and the last four at the conclusion of the meal. Now the entire Psalter is Messianic, but this section is particularly rich in that way. “The stone which the builders refused Is become the head stone of the corner. This is the Lord’s doing; It is marvellous in our eyes” (Psalm 118:22–23).

Some Background

At Christ Church, we began the journey into psalm-singing about 30 years ago, and have been steadily plugging away at it since. We sing a lot during our services, and about 70% of what we sing is from the Psalter. And despite this diligent work for 30 years, we are still about 60 psalms short of being familiar with all 150 psalms. At the same time, we have published two editions of a Psalter, the Cantus Christi, and two apps to instruct the saints in psalm singing have been developed out of our community (Sing Your Part, and Moscow Armory). Give us 20 more years, and we should have the whole psalter down! And so why is this important?

Rethinking the Psalms

The Christian church has been dedicated to the psalms for almost all of her history. A drift away from them began (in the English-speaking world), in the 18^th century with the work of Isaac Watts. His work was a mixed bag—some very good and glorious and some of it not so good. He had first reacted to the moribund state of psalm-singing around him, and in that reaction he gave us some first rate versions of psalms to sing. But part of his project involved “Christianizing” the psalms, which some thought required dropping the imprecations and the laments/complaints. Over time, a hymnody developed that had no enemies in it, and we all came to the garden alone, while the dew was still on the roses.

As the church drifted farther away from singing the Psalter, with all of its angular features, the Psalter became less and less of a hymnal, with songs for us to sing, and more and more another book of the Bible, that you would read for edification, the same way that you would do with the book of Romans.

Thus the Psalter became a book from God, rather than a book to be sung to God. Of course, God inspired the Psalms also, but He did not do this so that we would just receive it, like we do with Ephesians. These words are our lines in the script that was handed to us. He inspired what we are to sing to Him. He also scripted what we are to sing to one another.

Rethinking the Choir

The next thing for us to consider is the place of Jesus in all this. God gave the Psalter to man, so that we could approach God rightly in song. But because we were lost and sinful, we could not come back to God in any way, still less while singing. This is why Christ was given to us—a child was born, a son was given—so that He could bring us back to God. And as He leads us back to God, He does so while singing.

As we meet in worship here, Christ is present with us. But please mark this—He is not here just watching us sing. He is here, singing with us.

Christ is not ashamed to be with us. He is not ashamed to be our elder brother. Neither is He ashamed to sing praise to God together with us. We do not know this simply on the strength of this verse from Hebrews (citing Ps. 22:22). We also know it because many of the psalms have parts broken out for different voices, including the voice of the king. In the psalms we have the king singing to God, the people singing to God, and the people singing to the king.

Here is an example of the king’s voice offered up to God.

So the Christian church is a singing army, and Christ—our Prophet, Priest, and King—is out in the vanguard. He is the Choir Master. He is the lead singer. Part of following Him is showing up for worship each week, having leaned into the joy of singing psalms. “Is any among you afflicted? let him pray. Is any merry? let him sing psalms” (James 5:13).

Conclusion

Having said so much, it is important to note that a recovery of psalm-singing will be attended with many great difficulties. But can you name one valuable thing that isn’t attended with great difficulties? There are obstacles, true enough, but long experience has shown us that in surmounting such difficulties, there is great reward. But if you persevere, when you turn around and look back, you discover that what was once the obstacle itself has become the reward itself. Musical literacy. Singing in parts. Learning syncopation. Singing about pain and injustice. Calling for righteous judgments.

You will have gained a vocabulary for life, one that God assigned to you, and one which has Christ in the very center of it all.