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Psalm 37
How does this psalm piece interpret the psalm?
A number of months ago, my mom mentioned that Psalm 37 is one of her favorite scriptures, so I thought I’d set it to music. Little did I realize what an undertaking it would turn out to be!
You see, Psalm 37 is an acrostic with twenty-two four-line poems, each based on a letter of the Hebrew alphabet. What’s more, it is a wisdom psalm on the theme of good things happening to wicked people. This is not the stuff of Chris Tomlin hits, but because I’m committed to setting all 150 psalms to music, I decided to roll up my sleeves and get to work.
What I composed is twenty-two “songlets,” each starting with a letter of the English alphabet (through V, the twenty-second letter). Each of these songlets is eight measures long; the second four measures of each songlet can be sung together with the first four measures of the next songlet, creating a musical chain of twenty-two links.
Yes, this is perhaps the nerdiest psalm song ever written. However, I believe that the form and poetic devices of the psalms are too often overlooked in our musical interpretations. We take the content of the original psalm’s words and send them through our favorite musical sausage-grinder: metrical, responsorial, or praise chorus. By attempting to address deeper structural issues of the original text, we can get closer to the psalmists’ intent.
In this case, that means a twenty-two-section musical setting that is reasoned rather than passionate. We aren’t used to worship music being intellectually rigorous, but that is certainly at the heart of Psalm 37.
Obviously, a fifteen-minute psalm rendition would be a stretch for most congregations. I hope to eventually lead it in a cantata-style worship service. Until then, I hope a few sections could be used on their own as scripture choruses.
Text and Music: Psalm 37; Greg Scheer, © Greg Scheer
Used by permission. CCLI #400063.
Contact: CCLI License or Greg Scheer, greg@gregscheer.com
Join us after the University worship service (chapel) for a conversation with worship leader Kimberly Williams. We will explore topics related to worship leading and planning for diverse congregations, leading teams, songwriting and recording, and mentoring women in ministry.
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Join us after the University worship service (chapel) for a conversation with worship leader Kimberly Williams. We will explore topics related to worship leading and planning for diverse congregations, leading teams, songwriting and recording, and mentoring women in ministry.
In this session Terry Wildman will share the vision, process, and outcomes of the First Nations Version (FNV) New Testament. Why was this translation needed? Who was involved in the translation? What were some of the cultural challenges faced by the translation council? What does it say about the translations done in Native languages in the past? How did the translation council decide on more than 185 key words and terms? What are some of the unique qualities of the FNV versus other English versions? How has the FNV affected the worship expressions of some Native believers? What is the future of the FNV?
How does one think about diversity as a Christian or as the church? How might working with and among—or even just thinking about—migrant neighbors contribute to our ecclesial identity? The language of catholicity allows us to imagine the unity of the church not in a monocultural way, but rather as a community inclusive of people of all languages and ethnicities. Migration and migrants today especially remind the church of its own catholic identity. How does the church's identity as a migrant church foster a healthy catholicity in the church's worship? This session will include the use of salsa music to invite participation in a more catholic way of life, asking what multicultural, cross cultural, and intercultural ways of being a church on the move might look like in worship.
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