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Content about Genevan Psalter

June 1, 2010
Lessons I Learned from Singing the Psalms

Growing up in a conservative Reformed church in the Netherlands, I sang only from the Genevan Psalter, a collection including all 150 psalms that was created hundreds of years ago under the supervision of John Calvin.

Behind this almost 500-year-old practice was the belief that singing the words of the psalms together meant we were singing the divinely inspired Word of God.

June 1, 2010
Singing the Psalms

As to public prayers, there are two kinds: the one consists of words alone; the other includes music. And this is no recent invention. For since the very beginning of the church it has been this way, as we may learn from history books. Nor does St. Paul himself speak only of prayer by word of mouth, but also of singing. And in truth, we know from experience that song has a great power and strength to move and inflame the hearts of men to invoke and praise God with a heart more vehement and ardent.

December 3, 2003
Holding Fast to the Psalms: Stories from Hungary

The book of Psalms, embodied in the Genevan Psalter, has nourished Reformed Christians for centuries. This spiritual heritage has a special place in the hearts of Hungarian Reformed believers who have survived the harsh years of Communist repression and domination. Their stories testify to the influence of the psalms in the ordinary and extraordinary details of their lives.

March 1, 1997
Opening Hymn: I Greet My Sure Redeemer; Communion Hymn: Come, Let Us Eat; Closign Hymn: Lord, Dismiss Us

The long summer season after Pentecost (in many churches called Ordinary Time) offers an opportunity for congregations to become acquainted or reacquainted with hymns that, while not seasonally specific, are especially appropriate for certain times in the worship service. On these pages we will look at a hymn particularly suited to the opening of worship, a communion hymn, and a hymn for the close of worship.

I Greet My Sure Redeemer
December 1, 1993
Hymn of the month
MARCH

Christ, the Life of All the Living

June 1, 1993
Hymn of the Month: Hymns for September, October, and November

Anyone who takes a close look at the history of the Christian church in the United States and Canada cannot help but be struck by the many ways in which our cultural and ethnic diversity has enriched and blessed us. We are truly a body that has been influenced by people of "every tribe, language, and nation."

September 1, 1992
Hymn of the Month: Hymns for December, January, and February

DECEMBER — ADVENT
On Jordan's Bank the Baptist's Cry

March 1, 1992
Hymn of the month

JUNE
God of the Prophets

Pentecost, the celebration of God's gift of the Holy Spirit to the church, falls on the first Sunday of June this year. At this time of the year we also find ourselves in the midst of a variety of ordinations, making "God of the Prophets" a good hymn to sing.

December 1, 1990
Hymns for Lent, Easter, and Pentecost
MARCH
I Love the Lord...(Psalm 116)

Lenten worship services usually include a time of confession. If they don't, they certainly ought to. This year consider beginning your Lenten worship not in the typical way—with strong praise-filled singing—but rather with a subdued liturgy of confession and assurance of pardon. The people first come confessing, are assured of God's forgiving love, and are then eager and ready to approach God in praise and thanksgiving.

March 1, 1990
Hymns for June, July, and August
JUNE
O Holy Spirit
March 1, 1990
Serving the Hymn: Some thoughts on hymn introductions

Jan Overduin, professor of music at Wilfred Laurier University, Waterloo, Ontario, is skilled in organ improvisation. He has performed throughout North America and is frequently heard on CBC (Canadian Broadcast Corporation) radio. He is pictured on this page at the Reil organ at Redeemer College, Ancaster, Ontario, where he accompanied three choirs in a recording of psalms entitled Sing a Psalm of Joy (available from CRC Publications for $8.95; $11.20 CDN).

March 1, 1989
Hymn of the Month
April
O Sons and Daughters

Psalter Hymnal 393
The Hymnbook 206
Rejoice in the Lord 318

This month's Easter hymn is a carol, a type of song usually associated with Christmas. Actually carols have been written for many seasons and occasions. (See "Carols for Easter," RW 6). They are spontaneous, direct, simple songs and can be either secular or sacred. The tune for this hymn, like most carols, has the quality of a joyful dance tune.

December 1, 1988
Hymn of the Month

The various seasons and festivals of the church year reflected in the Hymn-of-the-Month series focus on the life and the teachings of Christ. The church year may be called Christ's year.

December 1, 1987
Hymn of the Month
January
Songs of Thankfulness and Praise

Christopher Wordsworth, the author of this text, may not be as well known today as his famous uncle, William. But during his lifetime (1807-85) Christopher distinguished himself as a scholar, professor, pastor, and eventually a bishop in the church of England.

Bishop Wordsworth included this hymn in his Holy Year: or Hymns for Sundays, Holidays, and Other Occasions Throughout the Year, with the following heading:

March 1, 1987
Hymn of the Month
Easter: This Joyful Eastertide

While most of us know many Christmas carols, we may be less familiar with carols for other times of the year. One of the finest Easter carols is "This Joyful Eastertide." The tune, which originated in a seventeenth-century Dutch love song, came into church use in Joachim Oudaen's David's Psalmen (1685) as the melody for "Hoe Grootde Vreuchten Zijn" ("How Great the Fruits Are")—hence, the tune title VRUCHTEN.

September 1, 1986
Hymn of the Month

The Hymn of the Month features old as well as new hymns for worship. Some hymns are presented simply, others in festive arrangements for choirs, congregations, and instruments.

If a hymn is new to your congregation, you may want to sing it once every Sunday during the month so that the people become familiar with it. On the other hand, hymns that are already familiar to the congregation may be sung only once during the month or saved for another occasion.