Singing God's Psalms: Metrical Psalms and Reflections for Each Sunday in the Church Year

By Fred R. Anderson and Walter Brueggemann

Drawing on his decades of experience as a pastor, hymn writer, and hymnal consultant, Fred Anderson here offers pastors and worship leaders a rich treasury of singable psalms — one for each psalm text or canticle appointed in the three-year Revised Common Lectionary.
 
Anderson renders each psalm into metered text, using contemporary, biblical, inclusive language, and suggests appropriate pairings with familiar hymn tunes. Short pastoral reflections on each psalm text provide background on what is being sung — and are also useful for sermon preparation and personal meditation.
 

• Language: English
• Publisher: Eerdmans
• Release date: Dec 2, 2016
• ISBN: 9781467445955

Fred R. Anderson

Fred R. Anderson is pastor emeritus of Madison Avenue Presbyterian Church in New York City, where he retired after forty-two years of pastoral ministry in the Presbyterian Church (USA). A well-known preacher and author of hymn texts and psalm paraphrases, he is a pastoral theologian with special interest in the theology of worship, preaching, and sacraments, and known for his efforts to promote weekly eucharistic celebration in Christian worship.

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PSALMS

Psalm 1

CM

DUNFERMLINE

The blest are those whose footsteps shun

The path the sinful walk,

Whose lives turn from all wickedness,

Whose mouths avoid loose talk.

In God’s instructions they find health,

His laws are their delight.

They meditate upon this word

In thanks both day and night.

Like mighty trees by flowing streams

Their living bears good fruit.

There is no dryness in their lives,

No weakness at their root.

The wicked sing a different song,

Like dried-up leaves they blow

From place to place with no true joy;

In emptiness they go.

Before the Lord they will not stand,

That judgment is secure;

Nor in the company of saints

Can their works long endure.

You, Lord our God, still bless our days;

With fullness they do teem.

All those who ground their lives in you

Shall find the living stream.

Psalm 1 begins the entire collection of psalms with a celebration of God’s gift of Torah, and a reflection on two ways of life: one centered and nurtured by the law of the Lord, the other surrounded by scoffers and sinners; one righteous, the other wicked. The former are like trees planted near streams of water, deeply rooted, richly nurtured, and produce fruit in their season. The latter are like chaff during threshing; the wind simply drives it away because it has no substance. The wicked will not withstand the judgment or be among the congregation of the righteous because the Lord watches over the righteous, while the wicked perish.

Psalm 2

7.7.7.7 D

ABERYSTWYTH, HINTZE

Why are nations grumbling,

And conspiring plots in vain?

Rulers of the world rise up,

Weaving webs of death and pain.

Then against the Lord they cry,

And against God’s Holy Son,

"Let us tear their bonds from us,

And with their control be done."

But the Lord has scorn on them,

Laughing and enthroned on high;

God brings wrath upon their work,

Filled with anger God replies:

"It is my own holy will

That the Christ on earth shall reign,

And on Zion’s holy hill

My anointed I’ll maintain."

God’s decree unto the King

Tells us what the Lord did say:

"You are my own holy child,

I’ve begotten you this day.

Ask of me and I will make

All the nations your own stay.

These possessions you shall rule,

Strong as iron smashing clay."

Therefore leaders of the earth,

Serve the Lord with holy fear;

Trembling come before the throne,

Or God’s anger will appear.

Kiss God’s feet in trembling awe,

Or the Lord will use the rod,

Making beggars of all kings.

Blest are those who trust in God.

Psalm 2 is the first in a series of royal psalms, probably used at the annual reenactment of the king’s enthronement, reminding him that he is God’s viceroy, God’s anointed, and God’s own adopted son. The nations can rage and conspire against him, but the Lord, for whom he reigns, sits in heaven laughing at them. God will speak to the king’s enemies in wrath, reminding them that the king who reigns in Zion (Jerusalem) is there at God’s hand and doing. Then the king repeats what the Lord has said to him, You are my son; today I have begotten you. Ask of me, and I will make the nations your heritage, and the ends of the earth your possession. You shall break them with a rod of iron, and dash them in pieces like a potter’s vessel. From this psalm the idea arose that Israel’s king was the Lord’s adopted son. The psalm then turns to the other rulers of the earth, warning them to hear and be wise. They too are called upon to serve the Lord with fear. All rulers of the earth are called on to reign under God’s sovereign rule or experience God’s judgment themselves. Happy are all who take refuge in him. After the loss of the monarchy in Israel, following the Babylonian captivity, the idea of the king as God’s anointed ( meshiach ) began to develop into the notion of an ultimate Messiah-King who would appear and return God’s reign to God’s people. He would be known as God’s son because he would inherit David’s throne. The New Testament capitalized on this psalm as a means of identifying Jesus as that Messiah, but a Son of a different order than all the other kings of Israel—an ontological one—therefore the capital S in