Five Solas
Puritan Board Freshman
Greetings. I'm trying to gauge the thoughts of those wiser than I. My understanding is that the usual practice within EP churches is to sing only portions of a lengthy Psalm within worship - ours usually hovers around the three stanza mark. My presumption is this is purely a mechanism to limit the time taken in singing during worship, and not to eat into too much of the service.
However, outside of corporate worship, I've come to see the benefit and beauty in singing a Psalm in its entirety, from verse one right through to the very end (with the exception of 119 which has natural breaks). I've implemented this practice into family worship at home, and as a family we will sing the full psalm. Sometimes it takes two minutes, other times fifteen minutes.
However, when I talk to friends about this, the common reaction is to look at me as if I'm some fascinating new species of creature. Has the practice of singing portions of psalms within worship flowed through to family and private worship as well, and I'm alone in this?
I'm experientially convinced of the benefit of singing an entire psalm, and don't understand why people see this as odd and unnecessary. Can anyone shed light on this?
However, outside of corporate worship, I've come to see the benefit and beauty in singing a Psalm in its entirety, from verse one right through to the very end (with the exception of 119 which has natural breaks). I've implemented this practice into family worship at home, and as a family we will sing the full psalm. Sometimes it takes two minutes, other times fifteen minutes.
However, when I talk to friends about this, the common reaction is to look at me as if I'm some fascinating new species of creature. Has the practice of singing portions of psalms within worship flowed through to family and private worship as well, and I'm alone in this?
I'm experientially convinced of the benefit of singing an entire psalm, and don't understand why people see this as odd and unnecessary. Can anyone shed light on this?