The churches in which I was reared, like those of most American Protestants, never once sang a metrical psalm as part of their public worship. Consequently, I had no awareness of psalm singing as an element of worship, or as part of any ecclesiastical tradition. However, at a Bible study my freshman year of college, Marshall Foster, the minister leading our group, asked us to turn to Psalm 92, which he led us in singing to the tune “If I Were a Rich Man” from the musical Fiddler on the Roof.

It worked. In my California Christian way, I thought it was “neat.” The psalms were meant to be sung, and we were singing them—or, at least one of them. What could make more sense? It was, for me, a third self-authenticating experience of an element of historic Reformed worship. Psalms are songs. They are in the Bible. We ought to sing them.

Scottish Internship

That was the beginning of my fascination with the Psalms. Nearly five years passed before I received any more encouragement. The first Sunday of my internship at the St. David’s Broomhouse Church in Edinburgh, Scotland, I discovered that more psalms than just the 92nd had been put to music. The hymnal of the Church of Scotland had nothing but psalms in the first 190 pages—all 150 rhymed and metered for singing. I was amazed. Where had these been hiding all my life? Why didn’t American churches use them? It seemed odd to me. Why would Bible-believing Christians in America not care about singing the Psalms?

I need to take these home with me, I thought. I purchased the Scottish Psalter, 1650, and the Irish Psalter, 1880. They were like treasures to me. I determined that someday I would encourage psalm singing back in the USA.

Return to the USA

The opportunities to do so began right after I graduated from seminary in 1981, while I was an intern and then assistant minister at Granada Presbyterian Church in Coral Gables, Fla. Its hymnal, like most evangelical hymnals, included a pathetically meager two metrical psalms (the obligatory 23rd and 100th). Presbyterians sang nothing but psalms for 250 years. Now they sang nothing but hymns. Why? I began to use these two whenever I had the opportunity to do so, always pointing out that they were psalms.

I also found out that there were psalm-singing American Christians. The Reformed Presbyterian Church of North America (sometimes called Covenanters, I was told), all 4,000 of them, still sang the Psalms exclusively and had a psalter of their own, which I purchased. The Book of Psalms for Singing, published in 1973, had the added advantage of recordings of a number of their psalms. I began to use some of them in Sunday school, and for special services, such as Reformation Sunday.

Independent Presbyterian Church

At the Independent Presbyterian Church (IPC) of Savannah, Ga., where I became senior minister in 1987, I had the privilege of using a psalm-based hymnal for the first time, The Hymnbook (published 1955). While it was a defective hymnal because of the amount of editing that had been done to great hymns (strong gospel stanzas often were dropped completely), I believed it was a better hymnal than any that the evangelical publishers had yet produced. We began using one of the 65 or so psalm settings from The Hymnbook every Sunday, designating it as such in the bulletin. After several years of singing all those I deemed singable, I undertook a major search to find tunes that could replace those in the hymnal, making unused settings more singable. I continued throughout this period to collect tunes and psalm versions for future use until it became clear that the time had come to do more.

PCA General Assembly Overture

I presented a personal overture to the Central Georgia Presbytery of the PCA in 1992, asking it to overture the General Assembly (GA) to form a committee to study how to promote psalm singing in the PCA and other Reformed denominations. The final form of the overture called for recognizing that “psalm singing has been a vital part of the Reformed tradition from the earliest years of the Reformation,” had “prevailed in the Presbyterian Churches for over 300 years,” and had “played a crucial role in the development in the distinctive piety of the Reformed tradition.” It concluded with the PCA resolving to “formulate ways in which psalm singing can be encouraged.”

The overture flew through the presbytery and the 1992 General Assembly, and I was named convener of the committee. My hope was that we would be able to produce a hymnal-companion psalter, that is, a thin, relatively inexpensive, words-only version would probably be our best hope for a widespread revival of psalm singing in the PCA.

Committee Work

Our committee was made up of a diverse group of psalm-singing enthusiasts with a variety of opinions as to how to proceed. For some, the Scottish Psalter of 1650 was the only psalmbook worth reproducing, having, for them, the status of Shakespeare or the King James Version of the Bible. Others who contacted the committee wished to revive the Anglo-Genevan Psalter. Still others wanted a long-term project of producing a completely new, modern psalter. We settled on the compromise that I sought: an adapted version of The Book of Psalms for Singing, limiting ourselves to one version per psalm. Its core was based on the old common meter Scottish Psalter, to which considerable metrical variety had been added. The musical types range from the old Genevan and Scottish tunes to Victorian gospel songs to 20th-century compositions. It offered something for everybody. Importantly, a book derived from it could be produced quickly and become the basis for revisions in the future. The vital thing, as I saw it, was to get a psalmbook into the hands of the people immediately rather than waiting 5–10 years to produce the perfect work.

General Assembly Report—1993

The 21st GA of the PCA was held at the Koger Center in downtown Columbia, S.C. For the first time, I had a major role to play in the assembly. As chairman of the psalm-singing committee, it was my responsibility to present the committee report. I was concerned that a significant number of commissioners would tune out before we ever said a word. There is a tendency among some in the PCA to view psalm-singing advocacy as a radical, nose-in-the-tent tactic in pursuit of an overwrought “thoroughly Reformed” agenda. Some of the men on the committee advocated exclusive psalmody; but doctrinal change was not the committee’s purview or intent. How would we keep open the ears of those who would tend to be skeptical and prone to be dismissive?

Our answer? Begin the report with singing, not arguments and proposals. We prepared 3,000 copies of what we named the Trinity Psalter, enclosing nine “sample” psalms within a red cover that matched the revised Trinity Hymnal. I asked the commissioners to pick up their mockup Trinity Psalter, and we proceeded to sing all of Psalms 91 and 128, and parts of Psalms 1, 23, and 100. The result? It was absolutely thrilling to hear nearly 1,000 men singing David’s inspired words. The whole assembly was visibly moved by the effect. My advocacy was easy from there.

The report itself began by asking and answering the question, “Why the Psalms?” from the perspectives of Scripture, tradition, and practical concerns. Then came the recommendations that the General Assembly reaffirm that psalm singing in the worship of God is a gospel ordinance, is commended by the Westminster Confession, and is a historic practice of Reformed churches; that congregations be encouraged to sing at least one psalm at each of their services; that hymnal-using congregations be encouraged to sing the psalms in the psalm-rich Trinity Hymnal; and that a program of re-education be undertaken by the Christian Education and Publications Committee (CEPC), including articles in denominational publications, instructional materials, etc., which promote the singing of psalms; and finally that a psalter be developed for use in the PCA.

Debate ensued. Several questions were informational. During the give and take of the discussion of the motions, we repeatedly clarified that this committee was not advocating exclusive psalmody, not against hymns, gospel songs, Scripture songs, or choruses; we were just for Psalms. The assembly voted overwhelmingly in favor of all the proposals. I was surprised to find out that I had been fielding questions for nearly an hour.

Crown & Covenant

I was humbled and thrilled. Barring any major obstacles, the Trinity Psalter could be printed and available by the meeting of the next assembly. For the first time in a long, long time, psalms for singing would be accessible to hymnal-using churches and individuals in a relatively inexpensive format.

Crown & Covenant Publications with Drew and Lynne Gordon shepherded the ### Trinity Psalter through the editing and publishing process. A more helpful duo could hardly be imagined. As it turned out, the final work was printed in late May and arrived from the printer just in time for the GA.

On Tuesday morning at the 22nd GA in 1993, we found in our seats beautiful, newly published copies of the Trinity Psalter. Over the course of the next four days, we sang Psalms 5, 7, 25, 46, 91, 92, 122, and 146. The response was encouraging. Some who had been quite skeptical, including a pastor of one of our larger churches, indicated that they would be purchasing them. By Thursday morning, all 1,000 copies of the Trinity Psalter at the PCA bookstore display had sold out. Dozens of interested commissioners had to be turned away. The level of interest, even enthusiasm, was very high.

Since publication in 1994, the Trinity Psalter and Trinity Psalter Music Edition have sold over 50,000 copies, and are currently used in hundreds of churches. The debt of the modern church to the RPCNA for persevering in the vital practice of singing the Psalms cannot be calculated. When nearly all others had abandoned singing the Psalms, you persisted, refining the resources others would need to build upon. We are your debtors.