1. Reformed Presbyterian congregations can get free PDFs and Word files of the psalter.

Many non-RP churches like to use psalms from The Book of Psalms for Worship and The Book of Psalms for Singing in their bulletins or on overheads. They pay an annual licensing fee based on the size of their congregation to receive a set of PDFs and Microsoft Word files for use. RP congregations that use the new psalter can receive those files for free—just by asking.

2. The next edition of The Book of Psalms for Worship will have several significant changes. In response to a paper brought by the Great Lakes-Gulf Presbytery, the Synod of 2010 decided to make the following changes to the fifth edition of The Book of Psalms for Worship:

• Eliminate the following selections that use refrains and other unnecessary repetition: Psalms 19C, 47C, 150 C and D,

• Eliminate the “hallelujahs” and “amens” at the end of 24B, and

• Add a new selection of Psalm 136 with a translation that does not use poetic compression in rendering the Hebrew to the English meter.

The fifth edition of The Book of Psalms for Worship should be available in late winter or early spring. Crown & Covenant is planning on providing the new Psalm 136 on sticker paper for updating books from the last three editions.

3. In general, Reformed Presbyterian congregations do not need permission to reproduce psalms for weddings, Bible studies, or other congregational activities.

If you are having a conference at your church or a special joint worship service and need to make a few hundred extra photocopies of a particular psalm, type a copyright statement at the bottom of your master copy and go ahead.

Because RP churches supported the psalter development with their tithes and offerings, they may duplicate psalms as needed from the new book for one-time use. Placing the copyright statement on all copies lets users know where the translation and tune came from so that it is not mistakenly used elsewhere without proper permission. This statement is already added to the digital files.

This license does not apply to anything that would be reproduced for sale or for multiple uses.

The exception to this policy is the handful of psalms that have tunes that are used by other publishers. Psalm 134A is an example of this, and the reader will see an extra copyright line beneath the tune name. This means permission for reproduction must be sought from that publisher. Crown & Covenant Publications does not own that tune and pays that publisher for every copy of the psalter that it prints.

4. The new psalter contains some new extras.

If you haven’t read Duncan Lowe’s “Understanding the Psalms as Christian Worship” in the introductory material of The Book of Psalms for Worship, you should treat yourself today. His essay and Robert Copeland’s on “The Experience of Singing the Psalms” are valuable additions to the psalter and worth sharing with your non-psalm-singing friends.

On page 559 is a Copyright Resources page which, among other things, offers a liberal copyright policy for non-RP churches that want to photocopy from the book occasionally. Share this policy with your friends who own a copy of the new psalter.

5. A few noteworthy errors were fixed in the fourth edition of The Book of Psalms for Worship.

The publishing errors that normally show up in the first few editions of a hymnal have been minor in The Book of Psalms for Worship—a missing comma or misplaced Scripture verse number.

In the fourth edition, however, a few significant mistakes were remedied. Make a note of these so that all your psalters will “be on the same page.”

• In Psalm 96A, the word “splendor” is in the third line of the second stanza. The word should be “honor.” (The word “splendor” is also in the last line of the second stanza and that is correct.)

• The beginning of the third stanza of Psalm 72C now reads “May God be blessed…,” instead of “May He be blessed….”

• In the third line of the second stanza of Psalm 109D, the word “that” is removed. Notice how this changes the matching of words to notes.

6. Many free resources are available online to support the psalter.

The Book of Psalms for Worship, The Book of Psalms for Singing, and Trinity Psalter are supported by psalter.org, which is maintained by Crown & Covenant. A tune library, sortable by composer or meter, is one of the helpful resources you can find there.

Also, crownandcovenant.com offers free support documents for the new psalter, including a Familiar Hymn Tune List, a chart comparing the 1973 psalter to the new one, and free ready-to-photocopy psalms and matching recordings for non-Reformed Presbyterians who want to introduce psalms to their church.

Perhaps the best free feature on crownandcovenant.com is a free choral psalm recording to download each month. If you download the free psalm each month, you will have an album of 12 by this time next year!

7. The best concordance for the new psalter is the iPhone app.

Besides tunes and words for The Book of Psalms for Worship, the new iPhone app allows you to search for any word in the text. The link for the new app is on the right side of the home page at crownandcovenant.com. For those of you who really want a Droid app, be assured that C&C is working on one next.

8. Five albums are now available for learning the psalms from the new psalter, and one more recording is expected by spring.

The Education & Publication Board knows that learning the new words and tunes in the new psalter can be a long process, so they asked Crown & Covenant to release as many recordings as possible during the transition. C&C hopes to have the whole psalter recorded in a few years.

9. The Associate Reformed Presbyterian church is using The Book of Psalms for Worship as the core of its new psalter.

The ARP church, a sister denomination of 37,000 members, is using The Book of Psalms for Worship as the basis for a new psalter. Their last psalter was called Bible Songs, first published in the 1930s. They will retain some of those familiar arrangements as an appendix in the back. In the main text, they will use selections from The Book of Psalms for Worship, covering every verse of every psalm.

Crown & Covenant Publications plans to print and distribute this new psalter in 2011.

10. The Book of Psalms for Worship is being received well in other denominations.

Baptists, independent churches, messianic Jewish churches, and other Reformed denominations have always ordered the 1973 psalter. The word is starting to get out about the new psalter, too, and the feedback has been good.

Recently, a Lutheran site posted a very positive review. You can read it here: http://lhpqbr.blogspot.com/2010/11/hymnody-review-psalms.html