As you may know, one of the by-products of the dissolution of the monasteries and the ongoing Reformation in the reigns of Henry VIII and Elizabeth I was the use of the English language in worship.  Because of this, there were a series of people who looked to the Psalter and wanted to make it easy for regular people to sing the Psalms.  What they came up with, was what is called a Metrical Psalter.  Sternhold and Hopkins were two early proponents of this.  This rhymed setting of the entire book of Psalms was an early opportunity for regular English-speaking congregants to participate in the singing of the Psalter during Sunday services.  Over the centuries there have been any number of successful, and not-so-successful rhymed Metrical settings of the Psalms.  A recent one was Christopher Webber's 1986 A New Metrical Psalter which provided Psalms in rhyme for the Common Lectionary.  However, as we now worship and pray from the Revised Common Lectionary, not all the Psalms are presented in this format.  Because of this, we will sing the Psalms this summer (beginning on May 29th) to well-known hymn tunes from various traditions: Sternhold and Hopkins, the Scottish Psalter and A New Metrical Psalter, and sample a variety of poetic settings of the Psalms of David.

Kindly contact Dennis Northway with questions or if you want more information!

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