Why it is Good to Sing the Psalms–and a caution about congregational readings

 

An article originally written 18th Nov 2019, in the context of international churches seeking to help birth Kurdish churches, updated slightly in 2025.

Huge amounts of effort have gone into establishing indigenous churches among the Kurds in the last quarter-century, but there has been relatively little effort made to help these fledgling believers sing the Psalms.  

Remember, friends, that the first book ever published on American soil was the Bay Psalm Book (1640; Cambridge, Massachusetts).  What does this tell us about the high value those first settlers placed on the actual singing of the Scriptures?

In an earlier period of church history, churches sang mainly Psalms, together with some Canticles (other Scripture set to music).  Hymns not directly taken from the Bible were viewed with suspicion.*

Skip on to the 21st Century and the pendulum has swung to the other extreme; we sing mainly hymns and choruses, and churches that do sing the Psalms are few and far between.

My purpose here is not to be divisive and neither am I promoting exclusive Psalmody, which I simply don't find persuasive.  I just want us to, firstly, start with that historical perspective to shake up our thinking a little, and then to consider why it is worth singing the Psalms together.

1. The Psalms are songs.  Whilst they are Scripture and the public reading of Scripture is commanded, we should be prepared to reevaluate the tradition of reading the Psalms but neglecting to sing them.  I have often heard worship-leaders read out a Psalm (praise God) and then respond by leading into the more emotional engagement of a song.  I wonder why the Psalms themselves aren't used as songs with which to engage the emotions with their huge range of feelings.  

2. Reformed churches are often accused of being afraid of emotion.  We are scorned as being the 'frozen chosen'; or 'sound, but sound asleep'.  Perhaps there is more than a little truth in those criticisms.  To dedicate five minutes of our service to sending our emotions through the divine furnace of Psalm-singing would be a good thing.  Our joys would be less worldly (Ps 4), our doubts would be allowed to find expression (see Ps 73) and our anger made more righteous and less self-pitying (Ps 94:1-7).

3. When we sing the songs of the Bible, everyone preaches.  Thus we experience liturgically more of the truth we usually assent to, that of 'every-member ministry'.  This is in line with 1 Thess 5:11- "encourage one another and build eachother up"

4. Churches that sing the Psalms fulfil better the calling to ‘teach one another’ in song. Of course, many of the better hymns do this: ‘How firm a foundation, you saints of the Lord’- that’s not addressed to God but to one another.  But hymn/song-only churches do not, in my experience, teach in their singing the varied diet of history, ethics, science, agriculture (and international relations- Psalm 2:1-2!) that Psalm-singing churches do.  I can personally testify to how Psalm 65 has helped me appreciate and encourage in small ways (eg composting) good stewardship of the land, even while–  and wait for this if you want to see how profound and well-proportioned the Psalter is –  keeping me to an eschatological perspective and an overarching emphasis on the forgiveness of sins as my central message in life.

5. Singing lodges truth in our minds in a way that reading does not.  See Deut 31:21: this song of Moses "will live unforgotten in the mouths of their offspring"

When I originally wrote this article, the context was one in which there was widespread agreement that the Psalms should have a central place in our worship – more than their proportional share of the biblical canon. But there were some brothers I noticed that would opt for congregational readings, and here I will try to gently argue for a policy of 'sing them if you can; get an individual to read if you don't have the capability to sing them':

Some Observations About Congregational Reading of the Psalms 

This, I will admit, is not such a vital point as the one just elucidated above, but in a context where we want to reflect on what will be helpful when Kurdish gatherings copy our traditions, a brief evaluation could be helpful.

Interestingly, there is no Scriptural precedent for congregational reading of Scripture.  Not to say it is wrong, but the fact that it is never commended or modeled makes me cautious about its practice.  This is, I think, because Scripture-reading needs preparation if it is to be done well.  Congregational reading of a passage or a Psalm is, by the nature of things, done without prior preparation.  There is a lowest common denominator feel; we all trudge along at the pace of the slowest and least emotionally engaged reader.  (In a Kurdish setting, congregational reading would often be awkward; many simply cannot keep up with a corporate reading and we should be careful not to assume that women from the villages or Arabic-educated people will be even vaguely competent readers in Kurdish) 

1. Therefore, songs of joy become mere recitations.  Verses with outbursts of anger (Oh that you would slay the wicked, O God! Ps 139:19) cannot be given the sudden change of speed and tone that they deserve.  (This here is not an argument for singing only; note that a well-prepared reading of Psalm 139 by one voice would allow those changes of pitch and pace)

2. There is, I concede, evidence of congregational engagement in Scripture.  

"Blessed be the Lord, the God of Israel, from everlasting to everlasting!” Then all the people said, “Amen!” and praised the Lord." 1 Chronicles 16:36 (emphasis mine)

But notice that the people are responding in brief, with some enthusiasm it seems, to a Psalm introduced by trained people [a company that we could perhaps market today as Asaph & Bros ;-)] 

3. To nuance my suggestion above a bit, I am in favour of participatory reading, especially with passages from the epistles.  Or any passage which states something and then naturally invites the congregation to 'count themselves in' by reading a section of it, for example in bold on the service sheet. Here there is good Scriptural precedent:

Then he took the Book of the Covenant and read it in the hearing of the people. And they said, “All that the Lord has spoken we will do, and we will be obedient.”  Exodus 24:7

But we could highlight the end goal in this way by quoting Paul: let’s pray that the word of Christ would dwell richly in us as we sing Psalms, hymns and spiritual songs to one another.

  *Isaac Watts faced strong opposition for 'tampering with the Psalms' for that reason.  It's extraordinary to think that his hymns, which are on the whole such good Christian readings of the Psalms, were opposed back then.  Someone who wants to reply with a nuanced appraisal of my introduction is welcome to do so.  I don't have time to google around and find out to what extent the early church 'sang only Scripture'.  

** I sense that the argument above is being more widely received these days.  Note, the excellent Sing Psalms book (and free app), which I have endeavoured to make more useful to mainstream contemporary churches: www.tinyURL.com/easypsalmtunes

Praise! included all 150 Psalms in the first section of their hymnbook.

Jamie Soles has now finished writing modern tunes to a metrical Psalter used I think by the Reformed Church in Canada.  See the firstfruits of that in his Highways to Zion album. Update: see his YouTube & Substack.

Matt Searles has put out albums using familiar hymn tunes to sing metrical Psalms, as well as custom-composed tunes.

The Gettys are promoting Psalm-singing, though their output apparently will be more along the lines of songs inspired by the Psalms, or digests of certain Psalms.

Pastoral Review of Tim Dieppe's The Challenge of Islam

The Challenge of Islam: Understanding and Responding to Islam’s Increasing Influence in the UK

Tim Dieppe
Wilberforce Publications
Published February 6, 2025

224 pages

Available on Amazon

I have found the reviews —and the commendations from leading Christian scholars on Islam— very positive. However, one evangelical expert on Islam told me he wouldn't recommend the book unless it was accompanied with more about how we should respond to Muslims. That friend got me thinking.

My view is that it is an excellent book in many ways, and I have been recommending it to others. I've met Tim once, and I asked him if people claim he is exaggerating the extent of the Islamification of Britain. He quietly responded 'no, no one says I'm exaggerating the case', and that was a memorable comment at the end of our brief conversation at a busy conference. This suggests to me that he has done his homework; and though I might quibble with a few things, his case stands. If you do feel there are exaggerations or misrepresentations, feel free to add them in the comments.

I won't summarise the contents here (this is ably done by a scholar from the Latimer Trust: see pp2-4). What this article will do is explore the impact the book had on me emotionally. I found it a very troubling book to read.

Probably the most upsetting episode mentioned in the book is the Batley Grammar School incident:

"In 2021, a teacher at Batley Grammar School [the head of Religious Education] decided to teach a lesson about blasphemy and free speech. He illustrated the lesson by showing a cartoon of Muhammad. Crowds gathered outside the school to protest, forcing the school to shut for two days in a row. The teacher was subsequently suspended and was forced to go into hiding for his own safety. He remains in hiding to this day [with his partner and four children, using an assumed name, outside of Yorkshire]. This is certainly the most effective lesson he ever taught. The whole school and the rest of the country learned that we do not have free speech when it comes to Islam. There is a de-facto Islamic blasphemy law in place."

By the way, if you don't have the book or don't have time to read it, listen to this webinar where Tim talks you through his material (mainly chapter one).

I almost want to say it's a heart-breaking read. And yet that's where I don't want to leave readers: left broken-hearted about the state of our nation. And feeling somewhat alone. That's how I felt. I knew that if I shared what I'd been discovering about the extent of Islamic takeover in Britain some people would think I was being conspiratorial or 'far right'.

Tim Dieppe's personal journey into engagement with Islam is fascinating. He is an Oxford Mathematics graduate and former investment banker. It was while researching whether he could manage a Sharia fund at his bank that he began to see what a malign influence Islam was having on the UK. Perhaps the first anecdote in his webinar is the most compelling, where HSBC bank, for whom Tim Dieppe worked, decided to sack the Islamist chairman* of their Sharia fund advisory board because he had written in defence of killing unbelievers in the UK until they pay the jizya (which is what Qu'ran 9:29 says).

Now, Tim the former financier and Maths graduate, kind of looks and speaks the part: he's not the wild-eyed prophet with a biker beard you might expect to be the one to take on Islam! Now, I'm actually thankful he is prosaic and mathematical: this no doubt has dampened the gunpowder of those who might like to write him off as a rednecked, red-state conspiracy theorist. But there is a point to consider amongst the high praise of his work: though I have no reason to doubt Tim is a committed member of a local church, he is a religious scholar and social analyst, and not a pastor. I don't want to overstate the case: in his chapter on Salman Rushdie which details the UK's move 'from fatwa to fear', he appeals to us like a preacher (with some alliteration to boot) to move "from fear to faith and freedom". But he says all this in five lines, and this simply isn't enough to pastor fearful believers through the coming storms.

In ch 1 he gives his his manifesto for responding to Islam's growth in the UK. These 'Five Pillars of Responding to Islam' are as follows:

1. Pray
2. Love
3. Confront
4. Expose
5. Resist

Those are all good points he makes. But I would say this needs supplementing with the holistic care of soul-shepherds. I now move into my usual critique of Western evangelical culture, especially in the light of the way eastern cultures by contrast think and express themselves: we are not poetic enough. We need more than propositional statements; we need poetry, preferably well-chosen Psalms well-set to music.

Let me give you an example. Tim tells us that by 2050, according to Pew research, 17% of Britain will be Muslim and he quotes from Ed Husain to point out there are no go areas for whites in the UK. But there are Psalms that help me really make sense of that shocking prospect. Psalm 60:3 says "You have shown your people desperate times; you have given us wine that makes us stagger."

Immediately, that sounds problematic. Do churches want to hear that the Christian God is the one, through bringing Islam in great power to the UK, is causing this Islamification of northern towns like Bradford, Blackburn and Dewsbury? Worse, is it right they think of this change as God making us drunk, something elsewhere denounced as a sin? Well, here is poetry. It knocks us, it shocks us —but it has the power to shape us too: into the bold envoys of Christ, like the fearless apostles in Acts. That Psalm leads us into singing with conviction the petition "Give us aid against the enemy, for human help is worthless." And then David concludes "With God we shall gain the victory, and he will trample down our enemies." (With the proviso that texts like this need to read and sung with an understanding that we fight a spiritual war with the word of God, leaving the 'trampling of our enemies' to the just judgment of the Last Day: we're not talking the vigilante justice of some anti-Islam militants)

Some in UK Christian circles are clearly getting this point about the value of the Psalms. I hear of 'Psalm shouts' being held at different gatherings in the UK. Selden College, a Christian university starting up in Oxford, state that Psalm-singing is an integral part of their education of students. But we need this in our churches too: to replace some of the fizz and pop of our more superficial happy-clappy songs with solid meat for the soul.

Try Psalm 102** sung to the tune of My Song is Love Unknown. We need to express our sorrow and our loneliness and then proceed to sing triumphantly of our Saviour. When I preached on sharing the Good News with Muslims this year I led our congregation into a singing of Psalm 87 to the tune of Come Thou Fount, which I thought worked well (video clip here)— and I was moved to tears singing it.

There's a couple of other ways to process Tim's book biblically. I will try to expand on these in further posts if I have time.

a) There is a striking biblical precedent for the take-over of a country by an idolatrous religion (the north of a country, as it happens —which has an eerie likeness to the growing strength of Islam in the former mill towns of the north of England). It comes in 1 Kings 11-12. Note that these events, in which Israel turns to a counterfeit version of the worship of Yahweh and make a golden calf, happen according to the word of the LORD. Note 11:31;12:15. Now I do know that Tim Dieppe agrees that the progress of Islam is not a victory for Allah but rather the judgment of God on the apostate churches of the West. That's clear in the Q&A of the webinar linked above. But this needs to be written on our hearts through drinking deeply of the wells of God's salvation.

b) Tim's book can serve as a 'ten fearful scouts' report. Remember the ten who reported that Canaan couldn't be taken by the Israelites because there were giants there? "We looked like grasshoppers in their eyes", they tell the people. "We even saw the Nephilim there". If read in the wrong spirit, the book is a long, detailed account of Nephilim and the descendants of Anak! To be honest, that's the effect it had on me at times. Hear the key quote in full:

"The land we explored devours those living in it. All the people we saw there are of great size.  We saw the Nephilim there (the descendants of Anak come from the Nephilim). We seemed like grasshoppers in our own eyes, and we looked the same to them" (Numbers 13:32-33)

We naturally are swayed by the ten. But we need to listen to the minority voice within the church, those who say along with Joshua and Caleb:
"If the Lord is pleased with us, he will lead us into that land, a land flowing with milk and honey, and will give it to us.  Only do not rebel against the Lord. And do not be afraid of the people of the land, because we will devour them. Their protection is gone, but the Lord is with us. Do not be afraid of them.’" Numbers 13:8-9

Tim trifurcates the challenge of Islam in this way in that webinar:


I think he sells his own work a little short with that trifurcation! In the book he deals with the educational challenge, the economic challenge and the political challenge, like the killing of Sir David Amess MP in 2021 by a jihadist who said in court "If you encourage someone to an act of Jihad it is a good thing". But my point is, in conclusion, that we need to face up also to the emotional challenge of Islam. That's what this article has majored on. Even the cover of the book looks 'scary', and Islam does present a very bold face, in such way that even the most faithful Christians can indeed feel 'like grasshoppers' before their large and well-attended mosques. We need to fix our eyes on Jesus if we are to run the race with perseverance, and whilst it would be churlish to be over-critical of the book on this point, it must nevertheless be said that this book says very little about Jesus Christ. That's where pastors, and indeed every Christian speaking into this area, need to provide spiritual food that will strengthen weak knees for the spiritual marathon. To borrow from Robert Murray M'Cheyne: "For every one look at Islam, take ten looks at Christ"***

*A prominent Islamic scholar called Taqi Usmani, whose career is well-documented on Wikipedia

** using Sing Psalms' metrical version, posted freely online and via their app
*** Here's the original M'Cheyne quote:

"Learn much of the Lord Jesus. For every look at yourself, take ten looks at Christ. He is altogether lovely... Live much in the smiles of God. Bask in his beams. Feel his all-seeing eye settled on you in love, and repose in his almighty arms."

Bonar, Andrew. Memoir and Remains of the Rev. Robert Murray M’Cheyne (1844). This quote appears in the "Letters" section, often in editions published in the 19th and early 20th centuries.

The Quran's view of Christmas

Few Christians are aware of what the Scriptures of our Muslim friends say about Jesus' birth and childhood.

A careful study of the rival accounts is an opportunity to teach the doctrine of the full humanity of Christ. He did not speak from the cradle, and neither was he born under a palm tree. That is a shrouding of the poverty into which Christ was born...and he did that in order to make us rich eternally through his death and resurrection.

This is a very brief post. If I have time I may expand on it in the future.

Copy-Pasting Bilingual Bible verses en masse: Slaying a Time Waster

 Increasingly, we will find ourselves doing Bible studies, preparing ppt slides etc in different languages.

This eats up precious word ministry time, and typically the re-formatting needed after you've pasted the verse onto your page or slide is an additional time-chomper.

This is the best approach I've found so far:

(I can now produce a nicely-formatted doc like this in about 25 mins which is amazing and so much quicker than it was in the years BC (Before Chat GPT)

So, you have to give ChatGPT very clear instructions:

Using a free account on Bible.com, and then by using this bilingual online Bible platform, https://www.bible.com/en-GB/bible/113/PSA.100.NIVUK?parallel=503 please create a table for me with Sorani Kurdish (KSS) verses on the left and English (NIVUK) verses on the right:
AI should be able to paste the Sorani Kurdish verses into a table.

Ephesians 5: 25-28 

Galatians 6: 15-16 

Galatians 3: 27-28 

Matthew 27: 50-51 

Mark 7: 18-23 

1 Timothy 2: 5 

 Acts 20: 7 

1 Timothy 5: 17-18 

James 5: 16 

1 Corinthians 11: 23-29 

Revelation 21: 1-4

Strangely, this didn't work. But it did do half the grunt work following my earlier instructions:

Using this bilingual online Bible platform, https://www.bible.com/en-GB/bible/113/PSA.100.NIVUK?parallel=503 please create a table for me with English NIVUK verses on the left, and Sorani Kurdish verses on the right: Ephesians 5: 25-28 Galatians 6: 15-16 Galatians 3: 27-28 Matthew 27: 50-51 Mark 7: 18-23 1 Timothy 2: 5 Acts 20: 7 1 Timothy 5: 17-18 James 5: 16 1 Corinthians 11: 23-29 Revelation 21: 1-4

I was then able to copy-paste the nice table AI created for me and then I got Chat GPT to produce a list of links that would navigate me straight to the verses I was looking for.

By creating a free account on Bible.com, you can access parallel translations, including Sorani Kurdish alongside English. This feature allows you to view the verses side by side.​ Please give me links to verses which will allow me to copy-paste verse in the Sorani Kurdish (KSS) translation: Ephesians 5: 25-28 Galatians 6: 15-16 Galatians 3: 27-28 Matthew 27: 50-51 Mark 7: 18-23 1 Timothy 2: 5 Acts 20: 7 1 Timothy 5: 17-18 James 5: 16 1 Corinthians 11: 23-29 Revelation 21: 1-4

Then I put the data into a Google Doc, landscape, font size 14 for Kurdish and 12 for English. It's best to click on the Text Direction icon

then the Kurdish will display RTL. Landscape is best.

My finished product on Google Docs is here.

NB My spaces are odd, I admit. Mark 7: 18-23
But bear in mind that if you're using Arabic script, which goes RTL but LTR for numerals, that crucial space can get the chapter then the verse displaying correctly.

The Challenge of Ramadan

"I will be satisfied as with the richest of foods" Psalm 63:5

Dear Friends,

The month of fasting for many Muslim neighbours begins the evening of Friday 28th February. How can we speak kindly and saltily to our Muslim neighbours who will be fasting this month?

Of course, Jesus speaks against the abuse of fasting in Matthew 6 and this is a very powerful word to share with our friends who choose to fast. But there is a deeper issue: Westerners have been so conditioned to live for comfort that the idea of no food between sunset and sundown sounds almost outrageous. Job's comment (23:12) that he treasured God's word more than his daily bread needs to challenge us and recalibrate our appetites.

All this convinces me that the church in the West needs preachers who stand, as it were, in Ideological Istanbul: meaning that we need to understand both East and West and show how both cultures have strengths but also serious blindspots.

Our Western mindset means that we can be weirded out by our neighbours who do fast, which is such a strange instinct, given the positive view the Bible takes of fasting (rightly practised). We have been conditioned to think these people are not likely to want to hear about Jesus. My experience in recent years is that Muslims are now coming to the light of Christ in significant numbers. The challenge for us is: will we expect them to embrace all our Western norms or will we accept them as partners in Christ from whom we can actually learn a lot?

Philip Jenkins suggests that Ramadan had its origins in the season of Lent observed by the Eastern Christians. This explanation is contested, but nonetheless it is a reminder that Western Christians in today's age have moved a long way from their heritage, in which fasting definitely had a place.

What I highly recommend is having Psalm 63 written out, or on your phone. When you ask a shopkeeper if they're fasting during Ramadan, say that you have a short poem that you love to read during Ramadan. Read out to them Ps 63:1-5 (or the whole Psalm if there are no other customers!)

1 You, God, are my God,
    earnestly I seek you;
I thirst for you,
    my whole being longs for you,
in a dry and parched land
    where there is no water.

2 I have seen you in the sanctuary
    and beheld your power and your glory.
3 Because your love is better than life,
    my lips will glorify you.
4 I will praise you as long as I live,
    and in your name I will lift up my hands.
5 I will be satisfied as with the richest of foods;
    with singing lips my mouth will praise you.

As a follow-up, offer to ping it to them on Whatsapp in Urdu/Kurdish/Turkish or whatever is their mother tongue.
If you have time to explain, you can say in David's time the sanctuary was a tent containing the Ark of the Covenant. But when David's great descendant came, he was himself that sanctuary, the meeting place between God and Man. "I have seen you in Christ Jesus
and beheld your power and your glory"

Don't be afraid to pray out loud for your shopkeeper and his family:
"O Great God who made the Heavens and the Earth and all that is within them, I pray for Abdul-Rahman and his precious family. As they struggle to work in the shop and at home and study at school with no food to keep them going, I pray that they will be satisfied with you as with the richest of foods; would they celebrate all that you have done in history especially in sending 'Isa al Mesih'; would it be true of them that as the Holy Zebur says 'with singing lips their mouths will praise you.'
Amen.

Muslims do not sing in the mosque. They recite Arabic phrases in a mournful, submissive tone. But for believers in Christ singing is the fitting response to what God has done: we break forth in song because we have a great Saviour who left heaven for this broken world, to teach us a better way but also to open a way for us, through the curtain into the very presence of God, through giving his life as a sacrifice for us: "with singing lips my mouth will praise you."

Amen!

May the Lord make his face shine upon you this Ramadan,

Jeremy

PS I was saddened to enquire a while ago and find that there are virtually no booklets and no tracts addressing the big issue raised by Ramadan. Apart from Piper's A Hunger for God, the church does not publish or preach much about fasting. Neither does there seem to be a booklet we can give to our Muslim friends who face a very challenging month. But please comment and recommend any resources that may have more recently emerged.