March Psalm Sing, and a Question

We had another psalm sing last Saturday.  I thought the singing sounded especially nice, though listening to the recordings, I'm not sure whether the singing was better than usual, or I just like the tunes more!

We practiced three tunes: Sheffield, Colchester, and Sawley.  You might recall that we've done Sheffield at a psalm sing before, but Jesh thought we could use some review.  I do think we sounded more confident with the tune this time around.  We also practiced Colchester--one of my favorites.  I like the way the first line marches downhill.  You wouldn't think a downhill tune could sound so triumphant, but it does!  It's a perfect fit for the second half of Psalm 46.  And we worked on Sawley, a more thoughtful tune, and one of my sister's favorites--a beautiful tune.

Here are the three recordings:

Psalm 22:22-26 to Sheffield


Psalm 46:7-11 to Colchester


Psalm 62:1-6 to Sawley


I hope you enjoy these recordings!

Now I have a question for you.  I know that a few of you are experts on Scottish psalm tunes.  I'm curious about the tune Gairloch.  I've heard about the tune's origins, but failed to write down the info at the time, so now of course I have forgotten the details.  I am wondering: who wrote the tune?  When was it composed?  Is it now in print or has it been in print?  Here in Texas we sing the tune with the parts that my mother wrote for it.  Do others use different harmonies, or do they generally just sing the melody line?  Thanks for any info that you can share!

On Being An Aunt

My dear sister-in-law Leah looked so cute when she was pregnant.  I really wanted to get a photo of her, but the one time I remembered my camera, the battery died.  So you'll just have to take my word for it. :)

But it's too late for pregnancy pictures now.  As I'm sure you all have heard, Caleb and Leah have been blessed with a beautiful baby boy.  :) He is tiny and soft and perfect.  Leah looks great too.  

While Leah was in the hospital, I got to help take care of her two daughters.  I enjoyed the bonding time!  It's hard sometimes to be a mother of two when I always dreamed of being a mother of many, but it is a great comfort to be an aunt to such beautiful nieces and nephews.  I hope to be blessed with many more nieces and nephews in the future.  May God bless all these little ones and bring them to Himself at an early age.

You may also have heard that Caleb was ill while in Scotland.  He got the flu (maybe the same nasty bug that I got back in December!  I can attest that it was awful!) followed by pneumonia and some drug-related complications.  He even ended up in the hospital at one point.  Thankfully, his roommates (fellow students), and others, helped to look after him, since his preferred caregiver (his wife, of course) was not available.

Once Caleb had recovered enough to fly, he returned to Texas, where the warmer climate will likely help him recover full strength in due time.  He is continuing his studies via correspondence.

I know that a post about a new baby really ought to include photos, but I don't have any yet. :)  I'll try to post some photos soon...err, at some point.

February Psalm Sing

I've got a lot of things to post but no time to post them!  I suppose I can at least post these psalm recordings, though.  I've got Noah on my lap trying to read what I type, which will slow me down a bit, but that's all right. :)

On Saturday we had another psalm sing.  We learned one less familiar tune, Rockingham, and sang two more familiar tunes, Arnold and Ballerma.  I was surprised to see quite a bit of resistance to the tune Ballerma.  It's a perfectly good tune, but apparently many of us are burnt out on it, due to its being over-used by various precentors in the past.  I guess it's important for precentors to learn and use a good range of tunes, huh?

Without further ado:

Psalm 13 to Ballerma


Psalm 45:1-6 to Arnold


Psalm 145:1-7 (2nd version) to Rockingham

Reminded by Communion

During the December communion season, as I listened to the preaching of our interim moderator from London, Rev. John MacLeod, I was reminded of what a blessing it is to belong to a church that is consistent.  We can welcome any given FP minister to our pulpit and be confident that we will hear the same sound doctrine that we hear from week to week.  We can travel to other FP congregations and experience the same sober, Biblical worship that we would experience in our home congregation.  This is a great comfort, and something I try to not take for granted.

During communion we had a houseguest, a woman from Africa who is currently a student in another part of Texas.  She is a member of one of our FP congregations in Zimbabwe.  We enjoyed getting to know her, and look forward to seeing her again from time to time over the next few years.  It was interesting to find how much we have in common despite being raised in very different parts of the world.  Much of what we have in common is due to our shared FP heritage.  I am reminded that true religion both transcends and molds culture.  "For ye are all one in Christ Jesus."

New Year, Again

A friend sent me this quote via Facebook, very appropriate for the new year, and I thought I would share with you all:

J. C. Ryle, in his book "Old Paths", in the chapter entitled "Forgiveness":

"We ought not to be satisfied with the same kind of hearing, and reading, and praying, which satisfied us in years gone by.  We ought to labour every year to throw more heart and reality into everything we do in our religion.  To love Christ more intensely, to abhor evil more thoroughly, to cleave to what is good more closely, to watch even our least ways more narrowly, to declare very plainly that we seek a country, to put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and be clothed with him in every place, and company, to see more, to feel more, to know more, to do more, these ought to be our aims and desires every year we begin."

Happy New Year! Some 2012 Goals

Happy new year!

I like new beginnings: the beginning of a new year, a new month, even a new week. I like the feeling of anticipation, and the idea of a "fresh start."

I've always enjoyed setting goals at the beginnings of new time periods.  This year is no different.  I've got a few things in mind that I'd like to accomplish in this new year, Lord willing.  Some of my goals are personal, or financial, or not easily quantifiable, and I won't share them here.  But two of my goals can be easily measured and reported on, so I'll share them with you in hopes that doing so will motivate me (it would be embarrassing to have to report failure!)

My first goal for 2012 is to finish memorizing the Shorter Catechism.  I think it's safe to say that I'm very familiar with the content of the Shorter Catechism, having been taught the doctrines contained in it from my youth, but I still don't know all the questions and answers by heart.  This year I'd like to finish memorizing the Catechism, perhaps with Elijah's help (he finished the catechism last summer, but could use some review).

My second goal for 2012 is to walk a mile a day.  I'd really rather be running, but the sad reality is that it's hard to find opportunities to run, given that my kids can't keep up with me (yet), and I have no one to watch them.  They can, however, walk with me.  They can handle up to a mile and a half at a moderate pace, and perhaps with practice they'll be able to go farther and faster.  So the goal is to walk 366 miles this year, or an average of a mile a day.  I'll record the miles I've walked in the sidebar of my blog.

I tried to walk a mile a day in December, actually, but failed miserably, only walking 8 miles the entire month!  I was quite sick with the flu, etc. for two weeks, but still, I could have walked more than I did.  To be honest, I kept forgetting.  Lame excuse, I know.

Are you making any New Year's Resolutions, or setting any goals?  Feel free to share!

communion

Sorry that I haven't been writing much lately.  I've been even busier than usual the last few weeks.  The increased activity has forced me to do some unpleasant thinking about time management, and priorities, and just how much I can realistically expect to accomplish in a given day or week.  I have concluded that some of my favorite activities (such as blogging) will have to go, or at least will have to be cut back by quite a bit.  Perhaps I'll post more about that later.

This week is our congregation's communion season.  While I look forward to the services and the fellowship with friends and visitors, I am of course extra busy at the moment with preparations.  I've been listening to psalm recordings as I work in the kitchen, and it occurred to me that I should post two of my favorite recordings for you to hear, since they have something to do with the upcoming communion season.

These two psalms are traditionally sung at FP communion services.  Psalm 116 is sung as communicant members gather around the Lord's Table.  Psalm 103 is sung as the communicants leave the table with thanksgiving in their hearts.

These are recordings of congregational singing, recorded a couple of years ago.  Both psalms were precented by my brother Jeshurun.

Psalm 116:1-8 to Coleshill


Psalm 103:1-7 to London New

The RPCNA Psalter: A Review

When I was in my early teens, my family discovered the Free Presbyterian Church of Scotland (via the magazine).  After a few visits to the congregation in Chesley, Ontario, we began singing from the 1650 Scottish Psalter in family worship.

When I went off to college, and for a few years after graduating, I attended a large nominally-Reformed church with a contemporary worship style.  At first I liked it, but it got old fast.  Many of the praise choruses they sang were loosely derived from the psalms, but singing (or listening to the praise band sing) the line "Better is one day in your courts than thousands elsewhere" a dozen times in a row (or more) is hardly the same thing as singing Psalm 84 (one of my favorites!) in its entirety!

When I found myself single again, and free to choose a new church, I began attending a congregation of the Reformed Presbyterian Church of North America (RPCNA), where they sang the psalms from The Book of Psalms for Singing--and sang them a cappella, and with enthusiasm.  After years of contemporary worship music, I found it immensely refreshing!

However, once I moved to Texas and started singing from the 1650 Scottish Psalter again, I really fell in love with it, and felt as though I'd come full circle back to the best Psalter.  I appreciate the much-closer correlation between the psalms we sing, and the prose psalms.  Also, I really prefer singing from a split-leaf, where you can choose the tune to use with a given psalm, as opposed to being "stuck" with a tune that might happen to be one that you don't know, don't like, or can't sing.

I am very thankful for the RPCNA church and glad that they sing and appreciate the psalms.  And I would far rather sing from the RPCNA psalter than go back to praise choruses!  But I'm also glad that the church I belong to now uses the Scottish Metrical Psalter rather than The Book of Psalms for Singing, or the newer version, The Book of Psalms for Worship.

Some time ago, I came across a good review of the RPCNA's newest psalter, The Book of Psalms for Worship.  Now I'm guessing that few of my readers are connected to the RPCNA in any way, so this review may not be specifically relevant to most of you.  However, you may find it interesting anyway, because it does address a few objections commonly made to the Scottish Psalter, like the use of "outdated" language including the thee's and thou's. 

Book review: The Book of Psalms for Worship

This review was written by Mr. Andrew Meyers, an elder in an independent Reformed church in Virginia.

Wedding Bells

Wow, I had a big surge of blog hits on Saturday and Monday!  I know why you're here--you want to hear about the wedding, don't you?

Dave and Sarah were married on Friday.  The wedding was lovely (happy, but a little sad at the same time), and the reception quite enjoyable.  I took lots of pictures and I'll post a few in a minute, but first I have to give you an update.

When I wrote about Sarah's wedding shower, I said it was too bad that Sarah's sisters Leah and Rachel wouldn't be here for the wedding.  Well, as it turns out, they were here after all!  You see, Leah had to come back to the US a little earlier than expected.  And it would have been very difficult to fly back alone, while pregnant, with two small children, so her sister Rachel came along (with two of her own children) too.  While it will no doubt be hard for Leah and Caleb to be separated till March, the silver lining to the cloud is that Leah and Rachel were both able to attend their sister's wedding!  How nice to have all seven siblings together for the momentous occasion. :)

I'm sure you are all eager to see pictures, so here goes:

The groomsmen were all Canadian cousins of Dave's: Jonathan, Ben, and Randy.  The bridesmaids were Sarah's sisters Anna and Leah, and her cousin Shelby.  Ushers were Sarah's brother Josh, and Dave's brother Casey.  Here is the receiving line, after the wedding.  Left to right: Sarah; Dave, giving his mother a hug; Jonathan; Anna; Margaret greeting Ben Kuiper; Leah; Randy; Mr. Kuiper walking past Shelby; Josh; and Casey.

The wedding was performed by Rev. John MacLeod of London.  Here is Rev. MacLeod outside of church, talking to Donald from--you guessed it--Scotland.  As you can see, it was a beautiful day, warm and sunny.

The head table at the reception.  Left to right: Randy, Ben, Jonathan, Sarah, Dave, Anna, and Leah.  I managed to cut Shelby out of the picture somehow.  Oops!

But I did get a nice picture of Shelby later on (she's on the right), with Anna, and a Canadian fellow who decided to jump into the picture. :)

Mr. and Mrs. Kuiper were very happy to have gained a daughter-in-law.  Look at their smiles!

Here is Sarah with her stepmum Anna.  Anna had the most beautiful purple hat.  Sadly, I did not get a photo of the hat.  

Leah is supposed to be staying off her feet and taking it easy, but she was a trooper and managed to stand through most of the wedding, only sitting down for a few minutes at the end.  I tried to help her take it easy by taking Brooklyn off her hands at every opportunity.  Of course, I was competing for Brooklyn with Leah's siblings, who are also happy to hold Brooklyn every chance they get!
Here are Leah and Shona looking pretty.

Shona was happy to reunite with her cousin Olivia.  These two get along beautifully.  They have long conversations that the rest of us can't really understand.  Shona is concentrating on her candy here, but of course just after I took the photo, she gave me a beautiful smile. :)

Our accessor elder from Scotland, Mr. MacPherson. 

My sister Mercy and her mother-in-law, also the bride's aunt, Terry.

Jenny and Martha from Canada.  

A good-looking Dutch couple. In the background are Dave and Sarah with Rachel Winkels.  

Another good-looking Dutch couple--well, half Dutch--Mr. and Mrs. Weprin. :)

Dave and Sarah with John, who is looking forward to a wedding of his own in about two months.

Stephanie and Carl.

My boys.  Easily the most handsome young men at the reception!

James and Hayley with their two boys.  Hayley made the wedding cakes--cheesecakes that is.  The chocolate caramel pecan cheesecake was fantastic!

Last but not least, Nat and Gerrit, photographer and assistant photographer, respectively.

(Is that enough photos for you?!  Sorry I don't have a better shot of the bride and groom!  Though if you're on Facebook, you've probably seen photos there, and I'm sure there will be more forthcoming on Facebook and on a blog or two.)

Now, sadly, we must say farewell to Dave and Sarah, who are off to Canada to start a new home together.  We wish them the best in their married life.

More Psalms on Soundcloud

A few days ago, I was happy to discover a new set of psalm recordings on Soundcloud. These have been posted by a young man in Glasgow who has recorded himself singing soprano, tenor, and bass. (This same young man also posted another set of recordings made at a Bible study in Glasgow; I wrote about those back in February.)  Niall has a fine voice and these are a pleasure to listen to, though I do miss hearing the alto part!

My favorite of these recordings, so far, is a recording of Psalm 50 to a short-meter tune previously unfamiliar to me, Golden Hill.  Golden Hill is an old American tune, and can be found in the Sing Psalms split-leaf published by the Free Church.  Sing Psalms also contains another of my favorite tunes, Land of Rest.  I'm not impressed with Sing Psalms as a psalter, but I may have to get a copy some day just for the tunes.

I would love to post a player of the recording of Golden Hill, but sadly Soundcloud will not allow me to do so.  You will have to visit Soundcloud to listen to it there (and download it if you wish).  Also listen to Niall's other recordings.  He is posting new recordings every few days, so check back often!

Psalm 50 v 1-6 to Golden Hill

More Psalm Recordings by Niall

I will add these to this index of online psalm recordings shortly.  I've gotten behind on adding new recordings to the list, but will try to catch up soon. :)