What are the first impressions of a casual visitor to an average Free Church service? Probably that we sing Psalms and sing them rather badly. ‘Unattractive and irrelevant’ might be a common verdict of many encountering contemporary Free Church worship for the first time. Unattractive? Perhaps. Irrelevant? Surely not!

The premise of this article is that what makes the Free Church relevant today is precisely the fact that we sing the Psalms! I will seek to demonstrate that the Psalms are our greatest strength as we seek, with God’s help, to be a living branch of the Church of Christ in early 21st Century Scotland! But I will also contend that the indifference with which we tend to sing the Psalms is arguably our greatest weakness since, in my view, the denial of the importance of the Psalms implicit in our lacklustre performance of them is neutralising our distinctive denominational asset.

Window of Opportunity⤒🔗

I believe that today we have a kairos — a window of opportunity — to turn this situation around — to convert what some perceive to be our handicap into our advantage. I say this for a variety of reasons.

Sing Psalms←↰⤒🔗

First, in Sing Psalms we now have a good, new, modern (or, at least, nearly modern) metrical version of the Psalms. It is much more intelligible than The Scottish Psalmody of 1650 and offers a greater range of metre and of tunes.

Psalmody Festivals←↰⤒🔗

Second, the excellent attendances at the two Psalmody Festivals held in Inverness in 2000 and 2003 suggest that, in the Highlands at least, there is a new enthusiasm for singing the Psalms well.

Psalms’ Renaissance←↰⤒🔗

Third, in contemporary Christian publishing the Psalms are being rediscovered:

• Dietrich Bonhoeffer’s reflections on the Psalms, originally written during his struggle with Nazism, were published in English in 2002, edited and translated by Edwin Robertson under the title My Soul Finds Rest.

• Eugene Peterson, one of today’s most popular American evangelical writers, in Answering God: Learning to Pray from the Psalms argues strongly for a recovery of the ‘School of the Psalms’ — praying the Psalms daily in sequence each month.

• Walter Brueggemann, a North American post-modern Old Testament scholar, seeks to popularise the Psalms as ‘the prayer and song of common humanity.’

• In the UK, Anglican Old Testament specialist, John Goldingay, is advocating the use of the Psalms as an ‘indispensable resource of praise and prayer.’

• Jonathan Aitken’s new book Psalms for People Under Pressure provides vivid illustration of how ‘during a period of maximum pressure’ he ‘found the Psalms to be spiritual gold seams of wisdom, comfort and guidance.’

• The recently published hymn-book Praise! Includes a version/paraphrase of all 150 Psalms (a few taken from Sing Psalms).

New Interest in Spirituality←↰⤒🔗

Four, there is a new surge of interest in spirituality in western society. Research undertaken in the University of Nottingham by David Hay indicates that three-quarters of the UK population are likely to admit to having had a spiritual or religious experience — an increase of 60% between 1987 and 2000.

All this suggests that in the Free Church we now have a kairos — a window of opportunity — to turn what many may regard as our weakness into our strength.

Demonstrating Relevance←⤒🔗

In this context, I believe that a combination of new enthusiasm for the Psalms with a new excellence in singing them, would enable the Free Church of Scotland to attain state of the art relevance in three dimensions: the ecumenical, the cultural and the spiritual.

Ecumenically←↰⤒🔗

First, ecumenical relevance. Eugene Peterson reminds us that it is only in the last 200 years that the Psalms have been marginalised in the church’s worship and — to a lesser extent — in Christian spirituality. The School of the Psalms is a tradition going back 25 centuries and is the inheritance of every branch of the church.

Although the Free Church is not formally part of the modern ecumenical movement, in a relatively small country like Scotland — and, indeed, also in the ‘global village’ — we inevitably interact to some extent with all branches of the Christian church. In such contacts, the Psalms are an asset, not a liability. Let me give two examples of this, one remote and largely theoretical; the other nearer and more realistic.

The first is at the inter-confessional level. Our commitment to the Psalms might enable Free Church people working in Eastern Europe to establish some meaningful interaction with members of the Eastern Orthodox Churches. These churches are liturgical and sacramentalist, but they are enormously devoted to the Psalms which they sing daily in their liturgy. Although most Orthodox Christians are deeply suspicious of the liberalism of the large mainline Protestant churches, they might well be more open to representatives of a Psalm-singing church working in their midst.

The second example, is at the national level. The Free Church could fulfil the role of a catalyst for the re-discovery of Psalm-singing and Psalm-praying among the other churches in Scotland by adopting a more creative role in inter-church relations.

Culturally←↰⤒🔗

Second, cultural relevance. Several recent developments in our secular culture suggest the Psalms are becoming more, not less, relevant!

• It is increasingly obvious that we live in a blame culture. People sue whenever they think they can enrich themselves at the expense of someone else. One sub-category of the Psalms of Lament is the songs of the falsely accused. Surely in a blame culture such songs are becoming ever more relevant.

• Again, we live in a society which is characterised by a sense of homelessness. In such a homeless culture the ‘Songs of Zion’ — which rejoice in the Lord’s dwelling among this people — strongly resonate with those searching for spiritual meaning and enlightenment.

• The protest movement is again finding its voice in western society, speaking out against globalisation, environmental pollution, media oppression, exploitation of the poor, etc. Such voices might respond positively to lament Psalms that were birthed in protest to God at the prosperity of the wicked. (In a sense, these Psalmists were the first ‘protestants’!)

• Our culture is increasingly a rage culture. In The Scotsman of 27 January 2004, Gillian Bowditch referred to road rage, air rage and work rage, and observes: ‘We have trolley rage, perpetrated by middle-class housewives; property rage, the preserve of gazumped yuppies, and web rage, the crime of choice for hi-tech geeks.’

On this last cultural feature it’s worth making the point that one answer to the rage syndrome is the imprecatory Psalms! For, contrary to popular opinion, these Psalms, by calling on God to deal with our enemies, affirm the principle of non-violence. The point that Goldingay, Brueggemann and — before them — Bonhoeffer, make is that the cursing Psalms enable us to ask God to deal with those we hate rather than violently assaulting them ourselves. These Psalms offer an antidote, not a toxin, to religious fundamentalist hatred!

Spiritually←↰⤒🔗

Third, the spiritual relevance of the Psalms. In our post-modern world people tend to be much more spiritually sensitive than they were in the predominantly modern world which has all but passed away. Many people today openly acknowledge they are engaged in a spiritual quest for meaning and fulfilment. For some this quest may be pre-eminently self-serving, as, for example, among many exploring New Age therapy. But there are others who appear genuinely concerned to discover some spiritual shalom, not only for themselves, but also for others and for the physical environment. For them life is basically a spiritual journey and they are open to exploring pilgrim Psalms like the Songs of Ascent (Psalms 12-134).

It seems that the younger end of the Generation X age-band is increasingly searching for ‘roots’ in ancient traditions. Surely for them the historical Psalms (for example Psalm 78) are tailor-made, for they encourage us to find our human significance in what the Lord had done for us in creation and redemption. Another characteristic of Generation X is its consciousness of pain — physical and psychological — arising from, among other causes, parental divorce, child abuse and fear of AIDS. The robust language of the Psalms, which finds expression in the vocabulary of searching, questioning, complaining, protesting and arguing in the presence of God, resonates with a generation marked by a degree of irreverence and a sense of immediacy.

Ways Forward←⤒🔗

But having argued for — and hopefully demonstrated — the relevance of the Psalms for today, we finally come to consider how we are going to use them. I think one of our problems is that we’ve emasculated the Psalter by singing only a fraction of it, and doing so in virtually identical musical idioms, in miniscule bits of Psalms and — still too often — in archaic words. All of this discourages thoughtful and emotional engagement with the lyrics. In addition, our prevailing indifference to musical quality means that our worship all too often presents a corporate image of praise apathy.

Our rendering of the Psalms is tame compared to the vigorous, exuberant and noisy way they were used originally. Perhaps society will only take the Free Church seriously when our strong advocacy of the Psalms is matched by a performance of Psalm singing that is meaningful, enthusiastic, expressive and clearly rooted both in the biblical story of redemption and in contemporary experience.

So how might we find a way to break out of the vicious circle which is turning our greatest asset into our greatest liability?

First and foremost, we must recognise that we can find a way forward only with the help of the Holy Spirit. Our constant prayer must be:

Cast me not from thy sight,
not take thy Holy Spirit away.
Restore me they salvation’s joy;
with thy free Spirit me stay.                                                                         Psalm 51:11, 12

However, we ought not to pray this prayer and then simply carry on as before! A close look at the Psalms suggests a whole range of questions to be asked in seeking ways to improve the quality of our praise. Allow me to suggest a few:

• Ought we to allow greater use of body language in singing the Psalms? The Book of Psalms often refers to the people kneeling, clapping, leaping, and lifting their hands as they sang. Modern research suggests that body language is hugely significant in human communication. Why are we so afraid of it in public worship?

• How can we achieve a greater engagement of our emotions with the Psalms? Free Church worship tends to be a very left brain activity! But Psalm singing in the Old Testament engaged the whole personality — the people used the Psalms to express their emotions to God and to one another: they shouted for joy, they vented their anger and they wept in sorrow or in shame. Because they face the congregation, ministers know that so often the facial expression and bodily posture of the vast majority of Free Church people changes not one twitch, whatever the mood of Psalm or of service!

• How can the congregation have greater involvement in the praise of God? Ought we to encourage people to choose a Psalm as apparently happened in the church in Corinth (1 Corinthians 14:26)? Ought we to take advantage of the Psalms which appear to have been sung antiphonally in the temple, by encouraging parts of these Psalms to be sung by different sections of the congregation?

• How can we get everyone to take seriously the attainment of musical excellence? Suggest singing a hymn or even a paraphrase and some people go ‘ballistic’. Ought we not to be equally ‘ballistic’ about many ministers’ indifference to Psalmody classes and the Psalmody festivals? Do not outsiders see such inconsistency as theological humbug? Do we have an undue fear of ‘entertainment’ in worship? Entertainment in the sense of amusing the audience is, of course, alien to true worship which is addressed to God. But while many Psalms are, indeed, addressed to God (Psalm 84), others are designed for the people to sing to each another! (See Psalm 24; cf. Ephesians 5.19.)

• Why is our concern for purity of worship so lop-sided? By singing only small fragments of individual Psalms which are given to us as complete units of praise, are we not, in effect, putting asunder what God has put together and worshiping him in a way not appointed in his Word? In addition, is not this fragmentation inhibiting a more meaningful use of the Psalms by contributing to the popular ignorance of the genre and theme of specific Psalms?

By grappling with such questions prayerfully and imaginatively we might, under God, find ways to convert one of our great denominational liabilities (unimpressive praise) into our greatest asset (exuberant praise). In view of our greatly diminished size in comparison with the Disruption Church of 1843, we are in practice more a niche church than a national church (but we continue to uphold the Establishment Principle). If in commercial terms niche markets can flourish while national markets decline, surely the unique strength of the Psalms — attractively and enthusiastically sung — might enable us to extend and grow at a time when the general church ‘market’ is in free fall!

Singing the Psalms is one thing the Free Church of Scotland does that few other churches do. In marketing terms we might say it’s our ‘usp’ (unique selling point)! Or in biblical terms, it is our great talent. But it’s a talent we’ve unwittingly hidden under a welter of spiritual indifference and ecclesiastical hypocrisy! Let’s dig it up now before the Master returns so that it can be used to extend the Kingdom of God!