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. :)

Singing and Sweets

Last Saturday, we had another psalm sing.  I baked a pumpkin cake with cream cheese frosting, and invited others to bring more desserts if they felt so inclined.  Several people brought things to eat, including Hayley, who just happened to have a freezer full of Starbucks pastries that she was quite happy to share!  Thanks, Hayley!

I very much enjoyed the singing (and the sweets) and look forward to singing with you all again some time soon.

We started by working on the tune Howard again.  Once we'd beat that tune to death, as one person put it, we turned to the facing page in our split-leaf psalters, and worked on the tune Huddersfield.  Lastly, we did the long meter tune Duke Street.  Here are the recordings:

Psalm 92:12-15 to Howard


Psalm 98:1-4 to Huddersfield


Psalm 102:13-22, 2nd version, to Duke Street


(As always, you can download these recordings to your own computer from this site.)

We now have just over two hours' worth of psalm recordings!

Sarah's Shower

On Saturday we went to a bridal shower for Sarah, who will be married early next month.  It was nice to spend time with friends and family, and to see Sarah's happy smile as she prepares to start a new home in a new country with the man she loves.

My brother is married to Sarah's sister, and my sister is married to her cousin, so I guess that means Sarah and I are sort of related too, or connected anyhow. :)

Isn't this a beautiful cake?

A nice photo.  From left to right, Sarah's aunt Terry, Sarah's sister Anna, Sarah, and Sarah's stepmum Anna.

The girls Elijah's age were playing house, which was too much girliness for Elijah, so he retreated to a book.

We're looking forward to Sarah's wedding.  It will be nice to see old friends from Canada, and to meet a few people from the UK and the Netherlands.  And our interim moderator, Rev. John MacLeod from London, will be here for a few weeks as well.  If only Sarah's sisters in Scotland could be here too!

I'm planning to take lots of photos in coming weeks, so stay tuned!

A Photo For My Mother

Elijah's two front teeth, the teeth that have been loose for months? They have finally come out.

I think he looks cute with his two front teeth missing.

It's very difficult to get a good picture of Elijah. As soon as he sees the camera, he starts making the strangest faces! This one is blurry, but otherwise normal, so it will do.

Elijah is almost seven and still a ball of energy. He is in second grade this year, or at least that's what we're calling it. He says he wants to be an inventor when he grows up. He spends a lot of time designing and building complicated gadgets with wires and bits of cardboard and old computer components and modeling clay. He also enjoys playing with his brother, writing stories, and of course, reading lots of books.

September Psalm Sing

On Saturday we had another psalm sing. We worked on two less-familiar tunes, Winchester and Howard, which we sang to psalms 8 and 92:12-15, respectively.  We still need to work on Howard a bit, so I won't post that recording, but here's the recording of Psalm 8 to Winchester:



I didn't care much for this tune before hand (partly because I kept confusing it with Farrant!), but after hearing it nicely sung in four-part harmony, I changed my mind. :)

After next month's psalm sing, all being well, we should have enough psalm recordings to make a set of two CDs.  Interested?  Details to come.

Project Psalms (x2)

I was recently informed via a blog comment about "Project Psalms."

Project Psalms, in a nutshell, is an endeavor to record the singing of all 150 psalms from the Scottish Metrical Psalter (1650) and to produce a comprehensive set of 15 CDs.  The project should be completed later this year, D.V.

This project is a great idea.  I love the idea of having all 150 psalms available as audio recordings.  Listening to recordings of the psalms is an excellent way for me to fill my mind with things that are true, pure, lovely etc.(Philippians 4:8)  And recordings of the psalms are very helpful to those of us who are trying to memorize the psalter.

On the Project Psalms website is a sample recording, of Psalm 23.  The psalm is sung as a solo by a professional tenor.  He has a very good voice, and the recording quality is excellent.

I do have a few minor quibbles with the project: for instance, some of the tune selections, the vibrato, the fact that it's a solo performance.  Nothing major.

However, the main obstacle preventing me from seriously considering the purchase of this CD set is the price: nearly 100 dollars!  While this is probably a very good deal considering that you are getting 15 CD's worth of professionally produced music, the price is prohibitive for those of us on really tight budgets like myself.

Thankfully, I have discovered a poor man's alternative. :)  A church in Dallas that sings the Psalms is singing straight through the Psalter at their monthly psalm sings, and posting the recordings online.  So far they have gotten through Psalm 18.  Their website cautions, "We're certainly not professionals, so don't tune in expecting anything other than a congregation of folks who love to sing the Psalms."  However, their singing is quite good really, only the recording quality is less than professional.  Perhaps someday their congregation (and ours) will be able to upgrade to better recording equipment. :)

My children and I have just started memorizing our way through the Psalter, and we have found the above recordings to be a helpful way to reinforce what we are learning.  Of course, some of the tunes are unfamiliar to us, since the church in Dallas uses the Comprehensive Psalter, which has a different tune selection; but we haven't found this to diminish the usefulness of the recordings.

Here again is the link:
Recordings of the Psalms

I'll add these recordings to this index of Scottish Psalter recordings soon.

Excuses, and More Goodbyes

I write, and I crochet.  These two activities are very different, and you would think that they would require the use of different parts of the brain.  But I've noticed that when I've been writing a lot, I have a hard time designing new crochet projects; and when I've been crocheting a lot, I can't seem to think of anything to write. So I guess I have a limited supply of creativity, and if I'm using it on one thing, I don't have any left to apply to the other.

So, I've been crocheting a lot lately. :) I've also opened a new Etsy shop selling recycled yarn.  The shop is off to a good start so far with a few sales already.  But with all the crocheting and listing and selling things, the writing part of my brain has been feeling quite dull.  I know, it's a bad excuse.

So, what's going on in Texas?  Well, life continues.  It seems that everyone is so busy these days, working and travelling and moving and preparing for weddings.

My brother-in-law Mark is off working the recent hurricane on the East Coast, leaving his wife behind to miss him.  It just so happens that Mark and Mercy will be moving soon (into Caleb and Leah's old house) so Mercy has her hands full, watching two little girls--and the youngest quite a squirmy and active little girl who needs a lot of attention!--and preparing to move, without her husband there to help.  The rest of us are doing our best to look out for her.

Caleb and Leah are, as I write, on the plane to Glasgow.  Due to visa complications, it seems that they will only be in Glasgow for six months at a time; the alternate six months, they will be back in Texas.  While we are happy that they are not leaving us for the full duration of Caleb's divinity studies, we are also sympathetic that Caleb and Leah are facing a major international move every six months for the next three years.  What a chore!  And Leah with two small children to care for, and another on the way!  (It's a BOY!)

Here's a photo from our last visit with Caleb and Leah.  Caleb showed us his new neighborhood in Glasgow via Google Street View.  He also showed us the Glasgow church building, where he will be doing his studies.  It looks like a beautiful building.  I hope I can visit it someday.

(the pink laptop is Leah's, don't worry)

In other news--I meant to start "properly" homeschooling Elijah this past Tuesday, but somehow I never got around to any lesson planning!  So perhaps the beginning of our school year will be pushed back a bit.  Lest you think I am shockingly careless about my child's education--our daily life includes quite a lot of informal education, and he is doing quite well academically despite not having formally begun school yet, so I feel as though I can get away with some laxity at the beginning. :)  Our primary focus at the beginning of the year will not be academic growth, but character growth--teaching him to focus, and apply himself, and work independently.

I'll leave you with a perfectly dreadful photo of us five siblings.  I'm sorry, it really is dreadful.  I promise that we are all really better-looking than this.  But there you have it.