The Church's Songbook

The way Scripture sings should inform the way we sing. It’s one of many reasons I’m grateful for the book of Psalms. They are the church’s songbook. They teach us how to sing to the Lord in every season of life. Joy, sorrow, gratitude, confusion, expectation, and disappointment all find a godward voice in the psalter. And the same spectrum of experiences and emotions rightly find expression when we gather for worship as the people of God.

A two-volume congregational album released by Sovereign Grace Music this summer helps us sing the way Scripture sings. It’s titled "Unchanging God: Songs from the Book of Psalms". I had the first volume on repeat before my sabbatical and just downloaded the second a few days ago. The opening number from Vol 2, "Who is Like the Lord" (Ps 113), is one of my favorites. The bridge declares:

High and holy, meek and lowly
There is no one like you
Our Messiah, here beside us
There is no one like you

Yes, many of the psalms were written a thousand years before Christ was born. Yet they all anticipate and rejoice in him as the God who saves. I can hardly wait to introduce some of these songs on Sunday morning over the next few months. We are blessed as a family of church with theologically rich, Christ-exalting music.

Matthew Williams