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A Psalm for Every Sigh
The Introduction to the Book, A Psalm for Every Sigh,
by Stephen M. Crotts
The Psalms make up the heart of the Bible. In the Hebrew language a psalm is a poem set to musical notes. It is to touch the strings, twanging and musing upon the harp. The completest utterance.
The Book of Psalms is the most quoted book in the New Testament. It is the book Jesus Christ himself drew from most in His teaching.
In the last five hundred years the Psalms have been the best source of inspiration for classical and contemporary music, from Bach's "Sheep May Safely Graze" to the praise chorus "As the Deer Pants for the Water."
The collection of Psalms begins with Psalm One and introduces us to two sorts of people: the godly and the godless. The one lives life in reference to God. The other lives life on his own terms.
The next 148 show us these two sorts of people living their lives through all manner of situations.
The final psalm, 150, tells one how to use the book. It basically answers who, where, how and what.
What? "Praise the Lord."Where? In and out of the temple.How? With music, dance, loudly, and quietly. And it mentions eight different musical instruments!Who? "All with breath" should praise the Lord.The Book of Psalms was meant to be sung to the accompaniment of instruments. However, the music has long since been lost for sheet music is only around 500 years old and these psalms are over 2500 years old.
Five hundred years ago, the Geneva Psalter set each psalm to music. And many contemporary choruses render some of the psalms beautifully.
When I was a youth I read the Psalms and thought, "What is this person groaning about so much?" Now that I am old I read them and say, "How sublime are his yearnings!"
It has been said, "There is a psalm for every sigh."
Yes, there is a psalm for praise, Psalm 34:1-5...
There is a psalm for nature, Psalm 19:1-2...of confession, Psalm 32...of gratitude, Psalm 100...of depression, Psalm 42...old age, Psalm 71:17-18. There are psalms for vacationers, the psalms of sweet ascent, Psalms 120 through 134. Even some psalms rail against one's enemies, Psalm 3...
The point is, worship is not stuck in one gear. Just as celebration is a legitimate part of our worship experience, so is lament, confession, quietness and reflection.
John Wesley said it well in observing certain Christians of his day. "Strange that a man with a harp of 10,000 strings should pluck on so few strings." Certain Christians of our own day likewise do not give the harp its full voice. They are seemingly stuck in celebration mode or the judgment mode.
Authentic Christian worship, however, is musical, even poetic. And its moods are myriad.
A few years ago, in Germany with a group of theology students, I visited Buchenwald, a Nazi concentration camp near Weimar. Oh, the human depravity, man's inhumanity to man! I put my hand on the oven door handle where corpses were incinerated. We left to drive to Leipzig. It was a somber drive, each of us lost in thought over the human predicament.
In Leipzig we went to St. Thomas Church where J.S. Bach is buried. And as providence would have it, there was just starting a Bach concert of Psalms with a trumpet and organ. For an hour the music of Christ's praise filled the nave. And our spirits were lifted. The Psalms have been ministering like that to people for many centuries.
Bach himself wrote, "All music should have no other end and aim than the glory of God and the soul's refreshment. When this is not remembered there is no real music but only a devilish hubbub."
Do you realize that persons of the Judeo-Christian faith are the only religion with a hymn book? We've got something--- Someone--- to sing about!
Stephen M. Crotts is the interim pastor at Rivertown Associate Reformed Presbyterian Church in Hillsborough, NC. He is the director of the Carolina Study Center, Inc., a student ministry also based in Chapel Hill. He can be reached at carolinastudycenter@msn.com
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