The most polarizing aspect about the RPCNA is exclusive psalmody. As someone who still exclusive psalmist, it was the primary thing that kept me in the church. When I mention what church I now go to, the number one response tends to be, what about the psalms?
When I first visited my new church, the one thing that hit me was how free everyone seemed in worship. I spent the first couple weeks looking around more than I was looking at the words on the screen. Some lifted their hands, some were moving to the music. Some were sitting, bowed down. This was not my experience growing up. The attitude we had towards those who stood out in worship was that of selfishness - they were selfishly trying to get more out of worship than the others around them. They were selfishly putting themselves on a pedestal so that others would think they were super-Christians. Those who sang more loudly were show-offs. Not surprisingly, the rule in RP worship is dead-pan stoicism. We stop our kids from doing the motions to "Praise ye the LORD" and shouting the "shout", because that's not appropriate for worship.
I remember scoffing at the conference precentors who tried to get everyone to quiet down for "be still and know that I am God" or sing loudly in praise, or heaven-forbid trying to speed up or slow down the congregation. God was only to be praised through the beautiful four-part harmony sung as professionally as possible. (How dare they selfishly stand out!)
I'm actually thankful that I went straight from psalms to praise songs with a rock band. My experience with hymns was that they are trying to match the depth and intricacy of the psalms, but they fail miserably in both depth and in theological truth. Like this favorite:
Not a shadow can rise, not a cloud in the skies,
But His smile quickly drives it away;
Not a doubt or a fear, not a sigh or a tear,
Can abide while we trust and obey.
Let's just say this wasn't speaking to me. I trust and I obey and yet my life is full of sorrow. I see others around me who trust and obey and they see grief and fear and doubt. But what do the psalms say?
You have put me in the lowest pit,
In dark places, in the depths.
Your wrath has rested upon me,
And You have afflicted me with all Your waves.
You have removed my acquaintances far from me;
You have made me an object of loathing to them;
I am shut up and cannot go out.
My eye has wasted away because of affliction;
I have called upon You every day, O Lord;
I have spread out my hands to You.
In fact, Psalm 88 is one of the psalms that has no resolution. We don't see God swoop in and save the day. We don't see bubble-gum Christianity.
When I first visited my new church, the one thing that hit me was how free everyone seemed in worship. I spent the first couple weeks looking around more than I was looking at the words on the screen. Some lifted their hands, some were moving to the music. Some were sitting, bowed down. This was not my experience growing up. The attitude we had towards those who stood out in worship was that of selfishness - they were selfishly trying to get more out of worship than the others around them. They were selfishly putting themselves on a pedestal so that others would think they were super-Christians. Those who sang more loudly were show-offs. Not surprisingly, the rule in RP worship is dead-pan stoicism. We stop our kids from doing the motions to "Praise ye the LORD" and shouting the "shout", because that's not appropriate for worship.
I remember scoffing at the conference precentors who tried to get everyone to quiet down for "be still and know that I am God" or sing loudly in praise, or heaven-forbid trying to speed up or slow down the congregation. God was only to be praised through the beautiful four-part harmony sung as professionally as possible. (How dare they selfishly stand out!)
I'm actually thankful that I went straight from psalms to praise songs with a rock band. My experience with hymns was that they are trying to match the depth and intricacy of the psalms, but they fail miserably in both depth and in theological truth. Like this favorite:
Not a shadow can rise, not a cloud in the skies,
But His smile quickly drives it away;
Not a doubt or a fear, not a sigh or a tear,
Can abide while we trust and obey.
Let's just say this wasn't speaking to me. I trust and I obey and yet my life is full of sorrow. I see others around me who trust and obey and they see grief and fear and doubt. But what do the psalms say?
You have put me in the lowest pit,
In dark places, in the depths.
Your wrath has rested upon me,
And You have afflicted me with all Your waves.
You have removed my acquaintances far from me;
You have made me an object of loathing to them;
I am shut up and cannot go out.
My eye has wasted away because of affliction;
I have called upon You every day, O Lord;
I have spread out my hands to You.
In fact, Psalm 88 is one of the psalms that has no resolution. We don't see God swoop in and save the day. We don't see bubble-gum Christianity.
It amazes me that RP worship is so dull and lifeless when we see the heights and depths of emotions in what we sing. But... it is dull and lifeless.
So, is it wrong for me to desire to worship God in spirit, even if I can't in "truth", when the RP church chooses to worship God in truth yet not in spirit?
3 comments:
I loved singing the Psalms, and the beautiful sound of the harmony. I do miss that. But, there is no doubt that exclusive Psalmody gives them a convenient excuse for why people don't stay in their abusive churches.
I don't know broadly, but the RPCNA church I'm most familiar with seems to have made singing Psalms with fervor a matter of pride. With the pandemic, mask-wearing has been mandated in churches, yet this church refuses to wear masks and the elders refuse to enforce the mandate. People who are medically fragile have to choose whether to participate and risk infection and death, or "forsake the assembly".
And... as an update, while I lament that more of the church doesn't recognize the beauty of taking our full range of emotions before God, either through the Psalms or patterned by the Psalms, I think the core of the Regulative Principle is an assumption that our relationship with God is primarily one of fear and legalism. That has been the hardest thing to grow out of.
The crux of the Regulative Principle is that God will reject his own children for bringing him something childish and mistaken. What we miss in all the "proofs" is that more often than not, the rejection was rejection of an evil heart, not rejection of a pure heart with mistaken practice. For example, Aaron made the Golden Calf, through which much of Israel was struck with a plague, but was not killed, yet Nadab and Abihu made an apparently small mistake and were struck dead. Uzzah was struck dead, yet David forgiven. Jesus reached out to the prostitutes and sinners, yet rejected the religious elite.
That seems somewhat opposite of the Regulative Principle. Those who love God experience freedom and those who hate God can't appease him by legalistic performance.
So well-said, with such understanding!
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