Some thoughts on the Psalms

It felt a little odd to be back in the Langley CanRC last weekend, but since I remain (at least officially) a member I figured that I probably should attempt to attend at least 1% of the year's services.

One thing that I was rather worried about when I wandered into the church was the liturgy sheet notice about a pre-service song. I've been in a fair number of churches that have done such and generally speaking its been something that I found could make visitors uncomfortable. It seems rather odd if a congregation breaks into song in a seemingly spontaneous fashion. Yet I thought that this worked out quite well in Langley's case - as there at least you would have someone saying something along the lines of "let's now sing __________". I suppose that I'm still not the biggest fan of pre-service songs (they still don't really seem to fit), but at least they can be conducted in a largely non-disruptive fashion.

One thing that I also reflected upon that Sunday were the Psalms and how they fit in
the contemporary church. There was a little bit of recent talk on this topic over at the yinkadene blog, and this is the subject that I focus on for the rest of this post.

There was some talk on a recent podcast about the purpose of copyright on the Book of Praise being to protect the integrity of the work. Yet blasphemous variants of it would generally be protected from legal actions as parodies, the CanRC would be unlikely to sue another church using it (as per 1 Corinthians 6), and here I can also quote from it under the copyright act's exemption for criticism and review. To repeat my question previously asked - what purpose does copyright serve upon such a work? I remain unsatisfied with the answers offered thus far.

The liturgy sheet for Sunday is yet to appear on the church's website, but one psalm of which several verses were sung was Psalm 81 of the Book of Praise (copyright the Standing Committee on the Book of Praise). Here are verses 2 - 4 of it:

2. O all Israel,
Voice your jubilation.
Let your music swell;
Harp and timbrel play.
Show in every way
Joy and exultation.

3. With the trumpet’s tune
Herald, in due season,
Feastdays of the moon:
Let its echo sound.
To let joy abound
God gives every reason.

4. Keep by God’s command
Your commemoration:
When in Egypt’s land
Captive Israel
Did in bondage dwell,
He gave liberation.

So, as to my questions:

  • Do we use the same instruments the Psalm references?
  • Do you "herald in due season, feastdays of the moon"?
  • Do you still celebrate the passover? (the commemoration of Israel's captivity in Egypt)

As far as the applicability of the Psalms today goes, by and large I regard them as being as being as applicable today as are the rules and regulations of the Mosaic law.

Comments

I did a series on some select Psalms earlier this year addressing the very point you mention here, viz. can Christians sing the Psalms? Three of the sermons (Psalms 1,15,39) are on the church website. Hopefully the rest will eventually be posted there as well. Also, I do hope to do another series on the Psalms next year.

As for copyright, check out the Acts of Synod Smithville 1980 (pp.147-48) and we'll talk again.

As for copyright, check out the Acts of Synod Smithville 1980 (pp.147-48) and we'll talk again.

Why is it that I seem to get pointed to rather difficult to find resources on a fairly regular basis? Thus far I've discovered that the online version of the acts don't include all appendices and they also only cover back to 1998. Ditto some stuff in the Clarion that you've pointed me at before - I can probably track down any issue of that magazine from within the past year, but going beyond that becomes somewhat difficult.

At least the sermons you mentioned are things that I can fairly readily gain access to.

Any church library should have the Acts of all our Synods (as do all pastors and most elders), so I don't think they're that hard for a resourceful person to track down. Perhaps Clarion would be a little more difficult to track down, I agree. But if you're really interested, all you have to do is ask and I'll snail mail you copies. Just e-mail me privately with your address if that's the route you want to take.

My first encounter with pre-service singing was in Edmonton Providence about 20 years ago. IIRC nobody said that singing was going to begin; the elders sat down and the organ launched into the pre-service song. The congregation knew when to sing, but a newcomer would be lost. The practice continues to this day, and also in St. Albert, but I can't remember if they started introducting the song first. In Aldergrove, the "shake" elder (AKA elder on duty) gets up on the pulpit and announces the pre-service song.

My main gripe is that in Aldergrove, and presumably other churches as well, this occurs precisely at our scheduled start time, which is technically not pre-service. In Edmonton Providence and St. Albert, the pre-service song really is pre-service! The elders walk in five minutes before the start time.

My second gripe is that Aldergrove already has an extra song after the sermon, giving a total of seven songs as opposed to the usual five without pre-service song or six with pre-service song. This can end up being a LOT of singing, especially when a certain person who commented above likes to sing all the verses for each song. I don't know what the reason for a pre-service song is in other congregations, but in Aldergrove I was told it was added so that the congregation could learn the more difficult and uncommon tunes. Eventually people realized there is reason we don't sing those tunes often (they're hard!) and the pre-service song is now just an extra song.

Ok, with my griping out of the way, I'll attempt to address the second issue in this topic, the Psalms. I haven't heard or read any of the supporting material referenced above, but I feel the need to point out that not all Psalms fall into the category you have described. Psalm 81 might not be as applicable to us as it was to Israel, but it's appropriate to sing with a sermon about those events.

also in St. Albert, but I can't remember if they started introducting the song first.

When I was in St. Albert earlier this year, the song was not first introduced.

The elders walk in five minutes before the start time.

I suppose that this tradition of the elders walking in and sitting separately is another one of those traditions that I don't care much for. It sometimes seems OK (although still not something that I would do), but in other churches it is sometimes done in a fashion that appears rather pompous.

Psalm 81 might not be as applicable to us as it was to Israel, but it's appropriate to sing with a sermon about those events.

We could sing a song about such events - but in this case the song is sung from the perspective of Israel in that day and age. Such is not the position in which we find ourselves today, as the circumstances are different.

I don't know about Edmonton, but the pre-service song was introduced in Langley to deal with the problem of people not arriving at church in a timely way. Scripture teaches that everything should be done decently and in good order and stragglers coming in during the call to worship, votum, salutation, etc. is not orderly (besides the fact that it is extremely distracting to the pastor leading the service). We tried other ways first to encourage the congregation to show up in a timely way and when that didn't work, we decided to go with the pre-service song. So far, it's worked out very nicely.

I've always found stragglers to be annoying, but never connected it with that point before. Presumably though Langley also does not start five minutes early so technically it's not a pre-service song. :-P

Technicalities aside, a good justification for having a pre-service song. Many churches have the same stragglers problem.

A good justification for having a pre-service song...?

I find it strange that people 'always' come to late in church or at (church) meetings, bible study and what have you...

What if a student always come 5 minutes late at school? (Discipline...parent talk)
What if you come always 5 minutes late for an exam (Less time left to complete... or no exam at all!)
What if we come always 5 minutes too late for the bus or train (Wait for the next one...)
What if we come always 5 minutes too late at work? (I guess troubles...)
What if we come always 5 minutes late after the bank closes? (Come back another time...)
What if we come always 5 minutes late for a concert (you might not get in until the break!)
What if we come always 5 minutes late for a performance evaluation meeting (Bad results)
What if you come always 5 minutes late to meet with others (You waste their time... and is regularly showing up late not a sign of disrespect to others?)

What if you come regularly 2 minutes late in church?
The congregation starts to SING!!

***On a more serious note... the collection is sometimes time for a social conversations, during the sermon some people sleep - should singing address issues? Is the purpose of singing a pre-service Psalm or Hymn praising God, or covering up an (attitude) issue...

Realizing what we are doing in church and Who we are meeting should be enough to be early enough and prepare ourselves, right?***

What if a student always come 5 minutes late at school? (Discipline...parent talk)

That depends what level of education you're talking about. At the university level I've found that making it to class on time is generally seen as the student's responsibility.

What if you come always 5 minutes late to meet with others (You waste their time... and is regularly showing up late not a sign of disrespect to others?)

Yet somehow showing up on time to social gatherings is often unexpected. Think of the expression "fashionably late"

the collection is sometimes time for a social conversations, during the sermon some people sleep - should singing address issues? Is the purpose of singing a pre-service Psalm or Hymn praising God, or covering up an (attitude) issue...

To flip this argument a little bit around, why have a collection in the middle of a worship service? (From what I've heard the congregation my parents attend manages to fit in weekly communion in about the same amount of time as the CanRC requires for a collection - and then has a separate box for offerings).

I can recall the objection that someone made over against the placement of the collection bags on the table at the front of the sanctuary. They felt that this placed an inappropriate emphasis on money. (At least the argument went something like that. I can't remember all the details). Yet in response to this, the thought that came to my mind was why then they didn't have a problem with a collection during the service in the first place.

Personally I have difficulty, having certain commitments in a day, if someone decides that I just can wait and all my next events following... I still remember that I had agreed with someone to practise for the Sunday service on Saturday night many years ago, and after waiting for 30 minutes the person finaly shows up with "oh sorry", not realizing that I already had to cancel my visit later that night. I find that rude and disrespectful.

And no matter the collection bags in the front, or the Lords Supper in record time, singing in the worship service should not function like utility like the heating or lights. It's an integral part of Worship. And to come 360 degrees: you also want to be in church in time, not just 'you have to', right? (How many people do miss the first 5 minutes of a soccer game? They don't want to miss it; however they don't have to watch!)

Incidentally the last NHL game I attended, I missed the first 5 minutes of. I think that its one thing to arrive a little bit late every once in a blue moon if something comes up at the last minute that must be dealt with.

One question I would ask is whether or not its always the same people arriving late. I think that this has bearing on whether such an issue would be better addressed by speaking to those individuals instead of adding an extra song to the beginning of the service. (I'll note that I do not consider the "pre-service" song to be pre-service. I instead view it as a change in the structure of a service.)

the Lords Supper in record time

From what I understand that church does not read through the same ~2500 word form everytime prior to the sacrament.

I can recall the objection that someone made over against the placement of the collection bags on the table at the front of the sanctuary. They felt that this placed an inappropriate emphasis on money. (At least the argument went something like that. I can't remember all the details). Yet in response to this, the thought that came to my mind was why then they didn't have a problem with a collection during the service in the first place.

That was me. I don't have a problem with the collection as part of the worship service, but putting the bags in the middle on the table instead of back in the rack rubs me the wrong way. Giving is important, but worship is more important, and putting the bags in the middle makes it seem to me like they're making the money the focus of worship.

Is the purpose of singing a pre-service Psalm or Hymn praising God, or covering up an (attitude) issue...

I'll address these in reverse order. Due to your lack of question mark, I suspect you are pointing out that praising God is of greater importance than covering up attitude issues. As Rev. Bredenhof originally put it, the concern was that people showing up late for the votum was contrary to things being done in good order as we are directed by scripture. Is disorderly worship just as pleasing to God as orderly worship? We know from several passages that God likes everything to be in good order. While typing this I'm reminded of someone who suggested at Bible Study last year that we should randomize the order of worship to prevent people from falling into a routine.

I was reflecting a bit more on this copyright thing. David, are you aware of any Psalters/Hymnals that don't have a copyright on them? All the ones I checked do. So, if indeed this is a problem (which I think is unproven), it is not just a Canadian Reformed problem. Agreed?

It's definitely not only a Canadian Reformed only problem. As to Psalters/Hymnals which are in the public domain in use by any major denominations, I'm unaware of any.

Do you think they should be public domain? Or perhaps something like Creative Commons where only some rights are reserved?

Some sort of Creative Commons license might at least be more suitable.

I generally find copyright in practice to be a nuisance to deal with. There's the need to track down the source of the copyrighted material (which may be difficult or impossible), and there may be long delays required to gain permission for usage. Consider, for example, that electronic versions of the Book of Praise were around for quite a while prior to the CanRC's release of anything online. They couldn't be distributed as they were unapproved.

Consider what might happen if a church federation with a copyrighted psalm-book were to split over some issue. Separation is not generally a good thing, but there is precedent for such in the history of the church. Who then would maintain the copyright if the copyright lay in the hands of the original denomination? Would any denominations resulting from that be able to revise the book that existed at the time of separation, or would they have to start from scratch?

Suppose that some church in China (or in some other country where Christianity is banned) wanted to use the Book of Praise. It could be dangerous for them to seek copyright clearance - even if the songbook committee would be eager to grant them such.

I also don't think that a broadly restrictive copyright is particularly suitable for usage within the Christian church.

  1. What seemed to be the reason for the current copyright policy was not so much copyright as much as moral rights (the integrity of the work, etc.). This can be accomplished using a less restrictive license (which Creative Commons essentially offers multiple templates of).
  2. In spite of the present license would the CanRC utilize legal means to chase after a church that didn't follow copyright? (Here, once again 1 Corinthians 6 can be referenced). If the CanRC would not utilize such means, then why impose copyright restrictions on the work in the first place?
  3. If it is truly the impression of the CanRC that these songs are better fitted to worship than others, why limit their distribution?

There is also the added issue that most Psalters/Hymnals (including our own) are not usually made up of 100% original material. If you look at the back of the hymn section, you'll find a list of the Psalms and Hymns and a good number of them (not all) are used with permission of those holding the original copyright. Even if the Standing Committee wanted it to be public domain, they couldn't do it. So, the issue is much bigger than the Book of Praise or any other Psalter or Hymnal. The issue is why do Psalm and Hymn authors insist on having their work protected by copyright? Is that reasonable and/or ethical?

The whole issue of a church with a copyrighted songbook having a separation is not hypothetical, nor is it impossible to work through. In the case of the URCs, many of them chose to continue using the old blue Psalter Hymnal, even requesting the CRC to publish more copies (which they did). But there is a lot of dissatisfaction with the old blue and that's why they have their songbook committee working on a new one.