As a Psalm singing Christian, it is hard to understand why anyone would want to sing anything other than the Psalms of the Bible(in the context of public worship). It is a beautiful and edifying event that promotes knowledge of Scripture, meditation on the Word, and having the very words of Christ dwell in us richly!As someone who, in my early Christian life, did not sing Psalms exclusively, or at all, it is understandably a 'hard pill to swallow' that God wants us to sing the Psalms of the Bible as our praise and worship. It is difficult to begin as an individual, and it is difficult to begin as a congregation.
The Evangelical and Reformed Churches are rediscovering Psalmody though. Many are being converted to the practice of Psalm singing. Reformation 21 chronicled it this week, here is the sum of the whole matter:
There was a point in the history of the church when a government official--on another errand--stumbled across a long neglected book hidden in the rubble of a temple. Sure of its importance he brought it to king Josiah. The king in terror and joy read the book realizing that it was the very word of God. His response to this rediscovery was a plan of radical obedience designed to plead God's covenant mercy and praise his long forgotten redemptive works. This is what it looks like to rediscover the Bible and on a smaller scale to rediscover the psalms. It is this radically renewed worship that is spreading throughout the church today. It has deeply encouraged my soul as so many others have joined me in rediscovering the psalms.
Read the article here.
3 comments:
Thanks for linking to this article. My congregation WILL sing the Psalms in worship (as well as traditional hymns as long as their theology is correct)...
"The inclusive psalmody position sings hymns in addition to psalms in worship. The inclusive psalmody position in worship is the bare minimum for Christian worship."
"Many are being converted to the practice of Psalm singing."
1.However Psalms+ isn't exclusive Psalmody.
“But neither of these hymns are the actual words of the Bible. They are reflections on it.”
2. Does “good and necessary consequence” have place in discussion concerning the issue of exclusive psalmody and fleshing out the RPW’s content? There are times when the Word preached is received as it is, the very Word of God?
Huh. I was going to do Psalms as next week's theme on my blog, and kick it off with this article... nice.
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