Psalmody

When reforms were taking place in England, and the Book of Common Prayer was formed, Cranmer ensured that Scripture was read so that the Laity could hear and understand it. This is for several reasons, but one reason that I think we often forget is that Scripture was meant to be heard. When St. Paul wrote the Epistles, they were read aloud in the presence of the church. Sometimes they were for a particular church, other times, they would be circulated to churches throughout an area. Pulling from the Jewish practice of the Old Testament being read aloud in synagogues, the Early Church would also read aloud the Scriptures and important letters that were circulated. Scripture was not meant to be read silently in your room and kept to yourself. Later theologians would emphasize the importance of kerygma, the proclamation of the Gospel. That proclamation was not a detached apologetic exercise but a participatory act of faith. In other words, it is the task of the Christian to encounter the Word made flesh through the proclamation of the Word of God. The Word of God should be read aloud in church, not simply to inform but to encounter Christ, who is the Word. There is something in putting Scripture in its original form that allows us to encounter it in a different way, a proper way, the way it was intended.

This extends to the Psalms. The word “psalm” means song. Both the Jews and the Church have sung the psalms, because that is what they are, they are songs. The Anglican priest William Law (1686-1761) writes on the importance of chanting/singing the psalms, saying,

“For singing is as much the proper use of a Psalm as devout supplication is the proper use of a form of prayer. And a psalm only read is very much like a prayer that is only looked over.

Now the method of chanting a Psalm, such as is used in the colleges in the universities, and in churches, is such that all persons are capable of. The change of the voice in thus chanting of a Psalm is so small and natural that everybody is able to do it, and yet sufficient to raise and keep up the gladness of our hearts.

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For there is nothing that so clears a way for your prayers, nothing that so disperses dullness of heart, nothing that so Purifies the soul from poor and little passions, nothing that so opens heaven or carries your heart so near it as these songs of praise.

They create a sense of delight in God, they awaken holy desires, they teach you how to ask, and they prevail with God to give. They kindle a holy flame, they turn your heart into an altar, your prayers into incense, and carry them as a sweet-smelling savor to the throne of grace.” (A Serious Call to a Devout and Holy Life, “Chapter 15”, emphasis mine).

This way of thinking about the Psalms is rooted within the history of the Church, as St. Basil says, “What can be more blessed than to imitate on earth the choir of angels; to begin the day with prayer, and honor our Maker with hymns and songs; and as the day advances, to go to our work, always keeping in mind the prayer, seasoning our labors with hymns, as if with salt?” (Letter 2: Basil to Gregory) From early in the Church’s history, singing the Psalms was an important part of Christian worship. This was no different in England, and Sarum (Salisbury) psalter tones from the 11th-12th century can be found in St. Dunstan’s Psalter . Particularly, in the mid-16th to 17th centuries, psalters were published at an increased rate. That is, until the Separatists (Congregationalists and Baptists) began critiquing and ridiculing singing the psalms.  

Despite ridicule, Anglicans’ chanting of the Psalms continued, principally in cathedrals, though by the late 1700s it was primarily done by the choir. However, there were always prominent voices promoting the importance of singing the Psalms. The Anglican priest and hymnographer, John Mason Neale (1818-1866), would speak of singing the psalms as central to the Church’s worship and hymns, where we join our voices to the worship of all ages. Neale’s writings consistently emphasize that chanting the Psalms is a participation in the universal Church’s prayer. By the end of the 1800s and the beginning of the 1900s, a renewed movement had emerged to make singing the psalms common in churches. Percy Dearmer, arguing for an historic English liturgy, calls for the chanting of psalms to be restored in a way that includes the laity. In the English Hymnal (1906), psalter tunes were restored. However, Anglican chant, or plainchant, seemed out of reach for many parishes that did not have a trained choir. In the 20th century, Robert Knox Kennedy introduced Simplified Anglican Chant, which maintains the characteristics of Full Anglican Chant in a form more conducive to full congregational participation. This is what we use during Morning Prayer when we chant the Psalms.

For the next few weeks, while we are still in Eastertide, let us join in our Anglican heritage and the tradition of the ancient Church by incorporating this in our worship, so that, as The Rev. William Law said, it might “kindle a holy flame… turn your heart into an altar, your prayers into incense, and carry them as a sweet-smelling savor to the throne of grace.” And in doing so, we might sing the psalms as they were intended and encounter Christ anew. 

Happy Easter and God’s Peace,

Fr. Aaron