Live Dangerously: Sing Psalms

Recently, I ran across an article written by Chris Hume entitled Five Reasons Pastors Should Not Allow the Psalms to Be Sung. The satirical approach drove home the great need we have for singing Psalms in worship. His points are:

1. You Will Make People Uncomfortable
2. You Will Offend People
3. You Will Have to Adjust Your Presentation of Christianity
4. You Will Have to Deal with the Really Difficult Aspects of the Christian Life
5. You Will Be Playing a Part in the Downfall of Modern Worship Music

I admit that the last was my favorite; however, each reveal that Christians do not understand Christianity. Admittedly, that statement is an over-generalization, but we must face the truth that most churches are more concerned with being culturally relevant than being Christian. Psalms provide inconvenient truths, providing a needed corrective concerning God and His work within a doctrinally perfect songbook. Why not use it in worship?

The benefits of knowing and using the Psalms became recognized as so important in the early church that the entire Psalter was to be memorized in order to be a bishop. From the Second Council of Nicaea (787 A.D.), Canon II states in part:

When we recite the Psalter, we promise God: "I will meditate upon thy statutes, and will not forget thy words." It is a salutary thing for all Christians to observe this, but it is especially incumbent upon those who have received the sacerdotal dignity. Therefore we decree, that every one who is raised to the rank of the episcopate shall know the Psalter by heart, so that from it he may admonish and instruct all the clergy who are subject to him.

While this directed toward the office of bishop, I would apply the requirement to the local priest or pastor. Is this too much? Might I offer the following notes from the above canon?

The Synod teaches in this canon that "all Christians" will find it most profitable to meditate upon God's justifyings and to keep His words in remembrance, and especially is this the ease with bishops.

And it should be noted that formerly not only the clergy, but also the lay people, learned the Psalms, that is the whole Psalter, by heart, and made a most sweet sound by chanting them while about their work.

This seems an overwhelming task, but how many hymns or worship songs do you have memorized right now? You learned these by hearing them on a regular basis and singing along. I dare say that consistent use of the Psalter in Sunday worship would implant such sound, beneficial knowledge that we could not but be transformed, personally and corporately, into the image of Christ.

When can we start?