Mark Ross, professor at Erskine Theological Seminary‘s Columbia Campus and dean of the Institute for Reformed Worship, spoke on “What Place Should Psalm-Singing Have in Christian Worship?” Below are a few notes from his lecture.

• The question of whether we should sing psalms is not simply a practical question but also a theological and ethical question.
• Must we sing the Psalms? Is it a divine imperative?
• This isn’t a question of “Should we sing?” or “Should we sing only psalms?”
• There is a biblical pattern of remembering God’s mighty deeds in song.
• God delivers Israel in Exodus 14 and then Moses sings of it in Exodus 15.
• Songs bookend Samuel – Hannah (1 Samuel 1) and David (2 Samuel 22).
• Psalm singing, like the Lord’s Supper, should be seen as ordinary and beneficial.
• Isaac Watts believed that as Old Covenant writings, the Psalms were outdated. (Hence his Psalms Imitated.)
• Calvin was eager to institute Psalm-singing in Geneva in 1537.
• As a remedy to the cold prayers of the people.
• People will learn “to make like prayers and render like praises.”
• There are two kinds of public prayer:
1. Words alone
2. Words with singing
• Singing in Worship is calling upon God.
• For Calvin, Psalms aren’t simply instances of prayer but are model prayers.
• The Psalms reveal forms of acceptable prayer.
• The Lord’s Prayer says little about thanksgiving, lamentation, etc.
• The Psalter is an anatomy of all parts of the soul. – Calvin
• All emotions we can express are present in the Psalms.
• The Psalms are channels of prayer.
• The Psalms form a complete topography of human experience.
• Psalms give us the rule to evaluate all our songs since they are paths of acceptable prayer.
• The work of Watts exemplifies the best of Reformed hymnody in relation to the Psalms.
• There should be a dynamic relationship between Psalms and hymns.
• Abandonment of the Psalter can only bring harm to our prayer and piety.
• The Psalms must be prayed! Not simply read.
• We can only understand the New Testament service of song in the light of the Old Testament service of song.
• Psalms can keep us from the delusions of false doctrine.
• In times when we do not know what to say, the Psalms give us words.

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