Wilma Vander Baan

MARCH

How I Love You, Lord...(Psalm 18)

Psalm 18 may at first seem a strange choice for a congregational song, especially during Lent. Praise, militant language, despair, destruction, salvation, and apparent boasting present a confusing mix. Congregations will appreciate an explanation of the psalm or, better still, reading it responsively before attempting to sing it.

In Into His Presence James De Jong describes worship as a dialogue in which God's people receive God's greeting, pardon, instruction, and blessing, as well as respond in confession, thanksgiving, and praise. Many times the music in our services has blurred this view of Reformed worship. Howard Hageman tells of a worship service he attended in which the congregation had as much music to listen to as it did to sing, and the music had little or no relationship to actions of receiving and responding.