Category: Prayers

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Protestant Prayer at #NATCON 2022

When I was invited to offer an invocation at #NatCon2022, I knew that I would be preceded by an opening prayer by a Jewish Rabbi and a prayer on day two by a Roman Catholic priest, and I was to conclude.I was concerned about the amorphous nature of these events, especially in light of the presence of political and media figures–especially hostile ones–in the audience. But the host gave me a green light to pray as a Protestant, and I did. I was extremely honored to do so. My gratitude to Dr. Yoram Hazony and Dr. Clifford Humphrey for the invitation. P.S. The line of my prayer quoted in the media had a larger context, which, as you can see below, was fairly Christian in orientation.

Prayer for #NatCon2022:

Almighty God, Father, Son and Spirit, we give you thanks for your goodness and faithfulness; for the cup of creation, which overflows with praise and adoration to the Triune God in every square inch of this world. We come before you wholly dependent on your care. We give thanks to your holy name for sins forgiven, redemption displayed, love shown, and justification that comes through the resurrection of Messiah Jesus. We bring ourselves–hearts, minds, souls, and strength–to the great God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.

We pray boldly that our nation would be uncompromising in her convictions concerning life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. May she preserve life that comes only from the poetic words of a Creator who uttered, “Let us make man in our image and likeness.” May she preserve liberty that comes only from the Gospel-filled language that the truth will set you free; may she find happiness not in the unrestrained sexual revolution but in the marriage between a man and a woman, the bringing up of a godly offspring, the fellowship of the saints, and the love of country.

We pray that you would save and defend your Church universal, which you purchased with the blood of our Lord. Do not allow the Church to be seduced by false messages of prosperity, power, perversion, and self-preservation, but let us be rooted in your love, law, and life. We pray for the proclamation of your Word in this land that it might pierce our hearts and renew our longing to be disciples of the Son of Man who gave his life for us on a tree.

May we not grow weary in well doing, but rather let your Church proclaim the full Gospel that calls kings and nations to acknowledge and serve the king of nations. And therefore, to abandon hope that America might become Christian is to abandon the promise that the nations will be Christianized.

In your infinite wisdom, O God of glory, you have bound us together as allies and co-belligerents seeking the good of the city, the county, and the country. And so, as we pursue the renewal of this nation, remind us that our goal is not ultimately to find refuge in good policies but to find the favor of the good and holy God who made us for his good pleasure.

Bless the labors of Yoram Hazony and NatCon this year and the years to come and prosper this work so that our beloved nation might taste the kind benefits of a society rooted in biblical truth and law.

And so, Father, Son, and Spirit, we pray as Chesterton did, that you may not take thy thunder from us, but indeed take away our pride; the pride that keeps us longing for a new ethic, and ultimately, a new god. Keep us humbled before your truth that it may shine deeply in this dark land; keep us steadfast in thy word that we may always build on the sure promises that are yes and amen, the assurance of a God who does all things well, and on Zion, holy city of our God.

We thank you for your promises in the Psalter that the nations would be your footstool. And so we implore that you would exercise your dominion, O Lord, over this nation. May every valley be exalted and may your throne be established on all the earth.

Enrich us this day with learning that we may grow in wisdom and in knowledge and so find that all wisdom and knowledge is ultimately found in the greater Solomon, Jesus Christ, the Word made flesh, Amen!

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The Problem with Prayer

Some things are very normal in the Christian life. One would think that praying would easily fit that category. But for some reason, praying has become a difficult Christian exercise. “I will pray about it” has become synonymous with “Thanks for letting me know,” or “so sorry to hear it.” In fact, in some cases to say you are praying for someone is an easy way out of a conversation. You can separate yourself from the person and the person’s story with one easy sentence. “Ok, I will pray for you. Bye.”

If statistics are right, 14% of  Evangelicals pray once a week and 4% of us pray once a month. If you are in the 14%, that means that church is the only time in the week you invest in self-conscious prayer.

The Scriptures provide a buffet of prayer options. But for too many Christians, they come to this buffet and out of the 700 options for feasting, they choose none of them. Imagine if we treated prayer like food. Many of us in the Church would be either unhealthily thin or dead by now. And indeed many suffer from a prayerless life which is incompatible with our call to pray at all times in the Spirit (Eph. 6:18).

Definition

Paul tends to combine the gift of prayer with the Spirit. The Spirit is the unifying voice in the Godhead. It’s the Spirit that urges unity, that intercedes for us in our weakness (Rom. 8) and it’s the Spirit who bathes our armor to war well in this world. Thus, it’s clear that to pray is to be invested in spiritual life. To be more precise, prayer is participation in the life of the Spirit. To live a fully Trinitarian life, we need a life of prayer. Perhaps one reason we think so rarely about the role of the Spirit is that we are not continually abiding in the presence of the Spirit in prayer. So, if this is how we participate in the life of the Spirit, it would be wise to be in the Spirit as we walk together to the cross of Jesus these remaining days of Lent.

How Then Do We Pray?

What does it look like to participate in the life of the Spirit? Paul magnifies God for his depth of wisdom and riches and knowledge (Rom. 11:33-36). To pray in the Spirit is to explore his depth. Therefore, the Spirit would lead us to pray meaningfully. Sometimes we fear anything formal or written, but we all agree that when we think about what to pray and ponder what to say, our prayers become more meaningful. In no way does this imply that using more theological words means more depth. Rather, praying in the Spirit means exploring more the depth of our union with the Spirit. And how does this depth manifest? Sinclair Ferguson put it this way:

You do not become a master musician by playing just as you please, by imagining that learning the scales is sheer legalism and bondage! No, true freedom in any area of life is the consequence of regular discipline. It is no less true of the life of prayer.

We don’t want to practice prayer because we think it’s just something we do, and as a result, we find ourselves unequipped to pray more faithfully. But prayer implies practice. Jesus condemns the vain repetition of the Pharisees, but what about the casual vain repetition we use because we refuse to learn how to be meaningful and intentional in our prayer; to explore the depths and riches of the Spirit?

Perhaps practicing requires intentionality. One strikingly fruitful recommendation is that of Psalm-like prayer. The practice is simple. Write prayers based on psalmic language. Let’s take Psalm 23 as an example. “The Lord is my Shepherd, I shall not want.” How can we write or form prayers based on that inspired truth? My own children came with these examples:

“O, Lord, you watch over me. You teach me to desire your ways and to want your truth. Thank you for watching over me even when I don’t desire your care.”

Let’s take another line: “He leadeth me beside still waters.”

“Lord Jesus, you never lead me astray. Your ways keep me at peace in times of uncertainty. When everything is changing around me, you keep me in perfect peace.”

These are just a couple of examples of how this can be fleshed out. It’s a great practice for long-term maturity in our prayer life and it keeps us constantly in word and prayer in the Spirit who inspired the very words of the Psalms.

Prayer is normal in the Christian life. But like most ordinary things in our Christian lives, we need to nurture this practice. The problem of prayer is a lack of practice. We need an urgency to pray, not just as a necessary duty of words, but an essential duty of godly wisdom. We should not just casually say, “I will pray about it,” but actually be about prayer.

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Post-Resurrection Prayer: A Brief Homily

Text: John 16:23-33

When we face challenges, our temptation is to either accept some form of fatalism (“Lord, whatever happens, happens”) or some kind of desparationism (“I can’t believe this is happening! Why didn’t you choose to do this with someone else, God. Am I deserving of this trial?”)

In the Upper Room Discourse in John 16, Jesus says that there will come a time when he will no longer be with the disciples. How would they live in the absence of their Master? When your source of hope is gone what do you do? How do you maintain this life of communion when your Lord and Master is gone? And what our Lord teaches is that your present pain does not define who you will be. Pain is not the final period in your story it is only a comma. What is the turning point then in the prayer life of the disciples?

The disciples—as we have seen—have already asked Jesus many questions. Jesus, when is this going to happen, and when is this going to happen?” Does that sound like us at times? “Lord, just give me a sequence of events in my life?” It’s very instructive that in the four Gospels the disciples ask dozens of questions, but after the resurrection, in the Book of Acts, the apostles seldom asked any questions. Why do you think? Primarily because they were under the guidance of the Spirit of God. And they were living a life of communion with one another.

But before the resurrection, they were filled with uncertainty. Do you ever feel uncertain? Take heart. The disciples felt that way often. Jesus is saying that in the period of resurrection the night of darkness and doubt will become the morning of deliverance and hope. Before the resurrection, we asked in doubt, after the resurrection we ask with certainty.

Do you realize that before the resurrection no one prayed in Jesus’ name? “Jesus’ name is not a mantra or a magical formula, but a historical and theological reality! Have you ever wondered why we pray in the name of Jesus? It’s because His name is now above every name and His name is able to intercede and speak on our behalf. We can only pray in Jesus’ name because he is no longer dead.

Here’s our lesson: Ask boldly.

So, how do we pray? We all bring personalities into our prayer life: some are more passionate, some are more meditative, some are more introspective, some are more formal, some less formal. God hears them all. But here is the theme of post-resurrection prayer: It’s the kingdom of God. If you were to dissect the model prayer of Jesus, you would see that point: “Thy kingdom come, on earth as it is in heaven.” If we are to find delight in praying post-resurrectly, then our prayers are to correspond with the priorities of the Kingdom. In other words, our prayers are better grounded when they fall under the mission of God for the world. Sometimes what we are asking in Jesus’ name is really asking in our own name. God will still answer you, but are we missing on a richer answer to our prayer? I believe the answer is yes. God will always answer is, but the question is, “Will he answer us in richly or will he answer from the crumbs of heaven’s table? Now: Heaven’s table is rich and even the crumbs are delicious but are we missing better things from our prayer life because of our lack of boldness, lack of communion, lack of proper priorities? This is a question you and I need to consider today.

What we need is not a casual prayer life, but a fiery one that calls the kingdom of God to crush our enemies and answer our needs. What are we asking? And when we ask are we asking in a pre-resurrection manner? Fatalistically, desperately, weakly, cowardly, hopelessly? When the tomb was silent, we did not pray in Jesus’ name, but when the voice of victory rolled the stone away, we pray in the name of Jesus to whom the kingdom, and the power, and the glory belong.

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What can we learn from the Josh Duggar scandal?

By now the entire Christian community is aware of the Duggar debacle. Josh Duggar, son to Jim Bob and Michelle Duggar, has not only been found out for his despicable acts of molesting five girls in 2002, but also his name turned up when hackers released stolen customer data from cheating site AshleyMadison.com earlier in the week. So far social media celebrity, Matt Walsh, has apologized for giving Josh a pass after the molestation revelations. Walsh used his gigantic platform to treat Josh as a victim of leftist propaganda. If I could summarize Walsh’s first reaction, it would be like this: “Yes, he sinned, but don’t you see why the left is making such a big deal out of this? This is a selective political sniper kill.” The good news is that Walsh’s most recent statement has been very clear in his criticism. Here is a lengthy quote:

So I was wrong about Josh Duggar being a repentant man. Clearly, he isn’t. Or at least he wasn’t. Maybe now he’ll finally begin the process, but it’s certainly impossible to believe that someone could be truly sorry for past sexual sin while currently in the process of fishing for affairs and “experimental” one night stands.

He’s a traitor to his family. I feel awful for them, and I pray that Josh really does come to Christ. Beyond that, I pray his wife and kids somehow recover from all of the shame Josh has brought upon them. Because, let’s be clear, if you sign up for an adultery website and then your information gets hacked and your family ends up embarrassed and devastated — that is YOUR fault. You are the one who victimized them. The hackers acted illegally, but this all happened because of your choices. Don’t want your information stolen from an adultery website? Don’t sign up for an adultery website. Pretty simple formula.

I must also admit that the more I think about this, I realized I was too easy on the the Duggar parents as well. Jim Bob and Michelle knew that their oldest son was struggling with severe sexual sin, they knew their daughters had been abused, they knew their family was in the midst of moral and spiritual turmoil, yet they STILL decided to put themselves and their children on TV for ten years.

I hope others will take the same path and recognize that no matter what royal family one is born into and no matter the influential position he may have in the culture war, no man should be exempt from the lawful discipline of the Church or state, or both.

I concur. Josh Duggar is guilty. Repentance bears fruit (Lk. 3:8). There is a long continuous pattern of sexual misconduct  by Josh Duggar. At this point we should stop and think why are we so comfortable giving a pass to these Christian celebrities? And then we should consider very carefully how we can begin fighting passionately to protect the many victims in our culture who suffer at the hands of such men, but yet are trivialized into a category of “wrong place and wrong time.” Where is the safest environment for them to be restored and emotionally healed from such torments? Who will care for their trauma? The difference is vast.

I am deeply saddened for Josh’s wife and children who will have to live and re-live these awful events due to hyped media attention. As for Josh, words of contrition only go so far. His next few years will prove whether his repentance is genuine or not. I have learned long ago that not all sin is created equal. Repentance can be easily couched in evangelical lingo. Those who defended Josh Duggar without second thought or who assumed his initial incoherent words of confession made everything just fine or who treated repentance like some nebulous concept divorced from the reality of the pain caused to victims will hopefuly have learned a significant lesson: God is not mocked. Sins are not inconsequential. This is not a left vs. right issue. This is an issue of morality  and God has made clear that his justice will not be in vain. Josh Duggar affirmed that, “He is the biggest hyprocrite ever.” But hypocrisy can only be dealt with by understanding what God hates and what he loves.

Paul spoke of temptations that are stunningly difficult to face. When he says “flee from temptation” he is not simply using a 1st century  bumper sticker. This is more profound. Paul’s context is an ecclesiastical one where confession and collective sorrow manifests themselves continually in a community of grace. But even then sin is subtle. You must flee temptation, but you must first understand what temptation looks like. Yahweh speaks about the seven sins that he hates and provides this list as a step-by-step calculation made by those who embrace evil:

16 There are six things which Jehovah hateth; Yea, seven which are an abomination unto him:

17 Haughty eyes, a lying tongue, And hands that shed innocent blood;

18 A heart that deviseth wicked purposes, Feet that are swift in running to mischief,

19 A false witness that uttereth lies, And he that soweth discord among brethren.

Duggar’s long history of sexual perversions was not born after a particularly miserable day. There is a pattern of thought and action. There is an anatomy of evil involved. There is a whole-body determination to follow these sins from the eyes to the feet. There is a calculated narrative that culminated in sexual abuse and adultery. For those who do evil the feast of the wicked is incredibly appetizing. One drink leads to another and only increases the hunger.

Where do we begin then? If situations like this do not cause us (particularly men) to be ever cautious then we will not have learned from it. Every person’s crime is a reason to re-consider our strategies to fighting sin and living righteously. If I had five minutes to counsel Josh I would tell him to look at this list and begin to detail where his narrative went awry. Where and when did his eyes become arrogant and haughty? At what point did he think he was invincible? At what point did he rationalize the presence of God away from his actions in secret? Then, when did he begin to put into words his pride by lying about his reality? I would be sure to point him to Jesus; not the Jesus that dismisses sins, but rather takes them with utmost seriousness and urges him to put on Christ and put off the deeds of darkness.

Josh needs to re-consider this list. He needs to see grace as redeeming the mind and abolishing calculated plans for evil. God has plans of his own. His plans involve demolishing our plans and replacing them with plans that are good, true, and beautiful. The task is great. Josh is only a clear example due to his high profile status. There are many Joshes out there currently afraid that they may be found out; afraid that their secret adventures will come out in Duggar fashion. The good news is God has already found you out. The bad news is that God has already found you out. In the end of the day to be found out by God is the best news. His throne is justice. He makes no mistake. His discipline will hurt, but it will not damn you. Accept it. Receive it. Confess it. Find refuge in Him.

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Heaven is not a perfect place

Note: It’s not very common to post writings from others on my own blog, but I have done it a few times in the past as a way of revealing my joy in exposing the profound observations of others. Tom is a dear friend, parishioner, and a capable student of the Bible. He took a single thought from a sermon of mine and developed it to something much better than I could have written.

Guest post by Tom Robertson

“…as it is my eager expectation and hope that I will not be at all ashamed, but that with full courage now as always Christ will be honored in my body, whether by life or by death. For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain. If I am to live in the flesh, that means fruitful labor for me. Yet which I shall choose I cannot tell. I am hard pressed between the two. My desire is to depart and be with Christ, for that is far better.” –The Apostle Paul

“Heaven is the blueprint; earth the raw material.” Uri Brito

Uri Brito is the pastor (my pastor) at Providence Church in Pensacola. The quotation above comes from a sermon he preached a few Sundays ago. The Apostle Paul is familiar to you all. His words were written nearly 2000 years ago from an Ephesian prison. I believe Uri’s illustration may be a little unsettling to the average Christian, especially when compared with Paul’s description of Heaven as “gain” and “far better.” Now, no one believes Pastor Brito is talking about mere drawings and measurements. However, he is at a minimum suggesting that Heaven is a kind of starting point and not the finished product. After all, a blueprint is the plan, not the dwelling place. If this is true, then it follows that Heaven is imperfect. And this sounds a bit alarming.

A Place Where No Storm Clouds Rise?

Most of us – at least most of us in “the South” – grew up singing songs that promised we’d leave this world and fly to a place of eternal and undiminished joy. Our understanding was that Earth is toilsome, a place where we must spend “just a few more weary days.” We all thought Heaven to be a place where “no storm clouds rise”, where “joy shall never end”, “no tears ever come again.” Heaven was not a mere temporary lodging. Yet, scripture teaches that Christians will live in a new heavens and a new earth forever and ever. In fact, all things will be made new (Rev 21:5). We ourselves will be made new; our resurrected and glorified bodies will be fit to enjoy a renewed cosmos (Phil 3:21).

So, we will not live forever in Heaven. In fact, Heaven and Earth were never intended to exist forever as separate places. The plan was always for a unity (See Gen 1 and 2, Acts 4:21, Phil 3:20-21, Col 1:20, Rev 21 and 22). At the moment, however, we are in the midst of a cosmos which has undergone what C.S. Lewis described as The Great Divorce. When Adam sinned creation “fell”; Heaven and earth were “torn asunder” with all the resulting pain and consequences of a divorce.

The Coming Unity

It was Ephesians 1:9-10 – “making known to us the mystery of his will, according to his purpose, which he set forth in Christ as a plan for the fullness of time, to unite all things in Him, things in heaven and things on earth” – which occasioned Pastor Brito’s comment “Heaven is the blueprint; earth is the raw materials.” God’s plan, said my Pastor – said the Apostle Paul, no less – is to unite all things in Christ, both in heaven and on earth. It has always been the plan, which is why Jesus taught us to pray, “Our Father who art in heaven, hallowed be Thy name, Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven.” Neither Heaven nor Earth is meant to be alone.

Heaven is Imperfect

Does this mean that heaven is not a pleasant place? Certainly not! Paul’s confession, that to “die is” not only “gain”, but “far better” (Phil 1:21-23), settles that. To be sure, the comfortable accommodations of heaven are preferable to a sin-ravaged world. Yet, Heaven separated from Earth is imperfect – imperfect, but not defective. Neither was Adam defective. Yet, He was not perfect until joined to Eve. Just as it was not good for Adam to be alone, it is not good for Heaven or Earth to be alone. The ink pen resting on the desk is not defective, but when taken in hand, put to paper and employed by a master poet it becomes perfect. Similarly, Heaven will become perfect when it is intertwined with a gloriously liberated Earth.

So, until then, we are to do what we can to “heavenify” earth, so says my Pastor – “Heaven is the blueprint; earth the raw materials.” And if we happen to leave this Earth before Christ speaks into existence a new cosmos, we’ve been told by a reliable source that our temporary accommodations will be quite comfortable. For to depart and be with Christ is “far better” says Paul – far better, but not perfect.

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Wine and Thanksgiving: A Prayer

Most merciful God, we celebrate with great delight your good gifts this evening. We delight in this community of saints; for the peace You have established among us; for the faithfulness manifested in your church and in the many homes represented this evening.

May we remember that because of the incarnation, we have life and life more abundantly. Bless our friendships; take joy, O God, in our joy for you created us to reflect the blissful harmony of the Trinitarian community: Father, Son, and Spirit.

We thank you for this wine before us. In the garden, you gave us of all good things, and even though our first parents sinned, yet you continued to bless your righteous servants. We remember that Noah began a new world by planting a vineyard; we remember Isaac who believing he was blessing Esau actually blessed Jacob with “plenty of grain and wine.”

Our God, not only did you create wine, but commanded that it be included as a necessary part of the sacrifices that your people offered (Ex. 29:38, 40;Lev. 23:13;Num. 15:5, 7, 10; 28:7). Wine was part of feasts (Dt. 14:22-26) and a prerequisite to “rejoicing in your presence.” The Psalmist declares that wine is given to gladden our hearts, and indeed may our hearts be glad, for enjoying your good gifts is what we are called to do in this world and for all eternity. Wine even gladdens your own heart, O God, which speaks of how much we resemble our Creator.

With thanksgiving we remember that the greater Noah, Jesus Christ saw fit to turn water into wine, and by doing so making wine the Christian drink in the New Creation. Grant us hearts filled with gratitude for you drank the sour wine at the cross, so that we might drink the sweetness of the wine in the new world you established by your resurrection. For this, we bless you and thank you for no man can take this joy from us, because of our King, Jesus Christ, who was born of a virgin and now rules and reigns with the Father and the Spirit world without end. Amen.

 

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All Saints’ Day Prayer

Almighty God, you have knit together your elect in one communion and fellowship in the mystical body of your Son Christ our Lord: Give us grace so to follow your blessed saints in all virtuous and godly living, that we may come to those ineffable joys that you have prepared for those who truly love you; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who with you and the Holy Spirit lives and reigns, one God, in glory everlasting. Amen.

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Prayer on 9/11

Prayer from the Lutheran Church– Missouri Synod

Lover of the human race, kind heavenly Father, on this anniversary of the tragedy that befell our nation 12 years ago, we pause under Your embrace to remember.

We remember those whose lives were lost that fateful day.

We remember the compassion and courage of our first responders.

We remember the families that were torn apart, never to be united again in this fallen age.

We remember all who ministered to broken hearts and sought to bring them Your comfort.

We remember the way our nation changed that day.

And as we remember, we beg Your mercy on all who carry wounds of heart, body or mind.

We ask Your mercy on all who continue to serve in our armed forces, strengthening and upholding them in every good deed.

We ask Your mercy upon all our first responders who so frequently put themselves in harm’s way to protect us.

We ask Your mercy for our public servants that they be given wisdom as they continue the struggle against terror and violence in our world.

We ask Your mercy also on those who meant us harm, begging You to give them the gift of repentance, changed hearts and new minds.

And we ask all these things in the name of Him who knew in His own body the pain inflicted by unreasoning hatred and religious violence, our Lord Jesus Christ, whose love triumphs over all, whose forgiveness holds us fast, and who lives and reigns with You and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. Amen.

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Lots of Resources for Psalm-Singing (Psalms, Hymns, and Spiritual Songs)

My article entitled 10 Reasons Why You Should Sing the Psalms received a lot of attention and several days later it is still on the front page of The Christian Post. I am grateful for all the e-mails I received from pastors and parishioners alike seeking to benefit from the psalms for their own spiritual edification and the maturation of their own congregation.

In order to provide those resources to a broader audience, I will list many of them here and hope to update them occasionally.

I’d encourage you to visit the Genevan Psalter website. It will provide music and lyrics and a host of links to articles on the Genevan Psalter. This is my favorite Psalter.

You may also wish to visit this site, which will give you some ideas and a general introduction to psalm singing.

Another way to benefit from sung psalms is to simply start listening to psalms on your ipod or computer. For a more contemporary rendition of the Psalms, this CD by Greg Wilbur with Psalms and Hymns published by Ligonier is quite good. Nathan Clark George has done some beautiful versions of the Psalms with guitar accompaniments.

If you want to listen to some beautiful Scottish Psalmody, go here on Groove Shark.

One indispensable selection of psalms put into music is from a dear brother, Jamie Soles ( a CREC elder). Jamie has a wonderful gift of bringing psalms into easy and memorable tunes for children, but I confess I listen to them myself often.A great hymnal to get you started is Psalms for Singing. You can find audio samples on-line. You can also purchase the Cantus Christi, which is a Psalter-Hymnal. The Cantus includes about 75 psalms of the 150 (with several chants).  If you would like to hear some of the psalms sung and harmonized, you can purchase this CD. You can also find samples of some of the Psalms on the Cantus Christi:

Psalm 117 – Youtube

Psalm 98 – Youtube (Christ Church, Moscow, ID)

Psalm 148, Psalm-Roar – Youtube

Psalm 42, Audio Only (sung at Providence)

Psalm 45, taught and sung at Providence

Psalm 22 (audio only, Psalm-Roar)

Psalm 122 (Youtube, Christ Church)

Finally, for an award-winning website with more information on the Psalms and psalm-singing than you will ever need has been compiled by the saints of Trinity Presbyterian in Birmingham, AL.  called The Psalm Project.

NOTE: If you find any additional resources, please let me know.

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10 Reasons to Sing the Psalms

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Many of us grew up in theological backgrounds where the psalms were known, but not sung. These theological backgrounds are anomalies throughout the history of the Church. E.F. Harrison observed that “Psalmody was a part of the synagogue service that naturally passed over into the life of the church.” Calvin Stapert speaks of the fathers’ “enthusiastic promotion of psalm-singing” which he says, “reached an unprecedented peak in the fourth century.” James McKinnon speaks of “an unprecedented wave of enthusiasm” for the psalms in the second half of the fourth century. Hughes Oliphint Old argued that Calvin appealed to the church historians (e.g. Eusebius, Socrates, Sozomen) as well as the church fathers (e.g. Augustine, Basil, Chrysostom) for the singing of psalms. While the Reformers did not advocate the exclusive singing of Psalms they did express “a partiality for Psalms and hymns drawn from Scripture.” a 

The Reformer Martin Luther urged that Psalms be sung by congregations so that “the Word of God may be among the people also in the form of music b.“ By the end of the 19th century, however, most hymnals produced had limited psalms to a couple of well-known pieces like Old One-Hundredth. Beyond that, scriptural references had all but disappeared. Terry Johnson summarized the state of psalmlessness:

This eclipse of psalmody in the late nineteenth century is quite unprecedented. The psalms, as we have seen, have been the dominant form of church song beginning with the Church Fathers, all through the Middle Ages, during the Reformation and Post-Reformation eras, and into the modern era. By the beginning of the twentieth century the church had lost the voice through which it had expressed its sung praise for more than 1800 years. c

Though the last hundred years were not psalm-friendly, we have seen in the last 30 years a kind of revival of psalmody in the modern church, especially in the Reformed tradition. New hymnals, like the Cantus Christi, and many others are including old and new psalms ( metrical and chants).

So why should we sing the psalms? Aren’t the 19th century hymns and contemporary songs sufficient to fulfill the worship demands of the modern congregation?

The answer is a resounding no!

There are ten reasons I believe congregations should begin to sing psalms once again:

First, Psalm-singing is an explicit biblical command (Ps. 27:6). The Scriptures encourage us to sing “psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, with thankfulness in your hearts to God” (Col. 3:16). To have the word of Christ dwell in you richly means to invest in the rich beauty of the Psalter. How can we sing what we do not know? Is there a better way to internalize the word than to sing it?

Second, Psalm-singing was the ancient practice of the Church and it continued for 1,800 years. We honor our forefathers and our history when we sing their songs.

Third, Calvin observed that the psalms are “An Anatomy of all Parts of the Soul; for there is not an emotion of which any one can be conscious that it is not represented here as a mirror.” The psalms are satisfying to the human being. We are homos adorans; worship beings. God is not against emotions, he is against emotionalism. The Psalter is an emotional book. It provides comfort for the people of God at different stages of life. As a minister I have never once walked into a hospital room and been asked to read a text from Leviticus or Romans, but rather every time I have been asked to read a psalm (most often Psalm 23). The psalms reach deep inside our humanity in time of pain.

Fourth, singing the psalms builds our Christian piety. It is nurturing to our souls. It is God’s devotional book; God’s hymnal. Singing the psalms restores the joy of our salvation. Ask me what book of the Bible I would take to a desert island, and I will not hesitate to say “The Psalms.”

Fifth, the psalms are ultimately made for the body. You may sing the psalms on your own, but they reach their culmination when sung together. They are meant to be roared (Ps. 47:1), because they were written by the Lion of Judah. When we sing together we are both being edified and edifying one another. “We sing because in singing we join together in common breath and melody in a manner that no other medium can duplicate…We become an assembly unified in purpose and thought. And by our singing, we hear God’s Word for us, and the world hears it loud and clear.” d

Sixth, we should sing the Psalms because they re-shape us; they re-orient our attention. We are a people constantly being sanctified by the Spirit of God, and the Spirit has specifically inspired 150 psalms for our sanctification. How should we pray? How should we ask? How should we lament? The Psalms helps us to answer these questions, and thus shape us more and more after the image of Christ.

Seventh, by singing the Psalms we are worshiping the Spirit. The Spirit hovers, shapes, re-makes in the Bible. He is the music of God in the world. In an age when the Third Person of the Trinity has become the source of theological confusion, the Psalms keeps us focused on His role and purposes in history.

Eighth, we should sing the Psalms because our current songs are often cheap and shallow. The Psalms are rich and full of substance. If we wonder why the evangelical community is so powerless, one reason for this is its trivialized worship. Modern worship is often a pietistic exercise, which is manifested in poorly constructed and pessimistic theology. But the Psalms teaches us that God is full of mercy and powerful over all His enemies (Ps. 2). The Psalms are political statements. They are direct attacks on those who challenge the supremacy of King Jesus.

Ninth, the Psalms should be sung because our children need them. Our little ones need to know the God they worship in profound ways from their earliest days. We become what we worship, and so our children will become what we sing.

Tenth, you should sing the Psalms because the world needs them. The world does not need a weak Gospel. She sees plenty of it already. She needs to hear a Gospel of a God who delights in praise, who will not allow evil to go unpunished, and who prepares a table for us.

This may all sound daunting and strange. But I’d encourage you to take that first step. What first may appear to be strange may become a wonderful journey into praise and thanksgiving to the God from whom all blessings flow.

For more information on how to sing the psalms, or for resources, please contact me at uriesou@gmail.com.

  1. See Terry Johnson’s The History of Psalm Singing in the Church; I depended heavily on that article for the quotes on this paragraph  (back)
  2. Luther, Martin. Tischreden. No. 2545. Quoted in F. Blume et al., Protestant Church Music (New York: W.W. Norton and Company, Inc., 1974  (back)
  3. Ibid.  (back)
  4. From the article: “Why do we sing the Psalms?”  (back)