“Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom, teaching and admonishing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord” (Colossians 3:16). Paul here calls upon the Church to make the language of the Psalms our own in our interactions with one another both in private prayer and in corporate worship. The use of the Psalms in worship arose from the Jewish synagogue and temple and has been retained by the Christian Church throughout all of Church history. In the Early Church, Psalms were sung before the Mass as the people gathered to await the priest’s arrival, and they found their home within the Mass in places like the Introit and Gradual. The Psalms were utilized to an even greater extent in the Daily Offices, the short prayer services such as Matins and Vespers sung each day during the week. Certain Psalms were appointed for each day and time, and several Psalms were sung in each service. This frequent repetition fostered learning by heart.
In his 1545 Preface to the Psalter, Luther lifts up the Psalms as a summary of the whole Bible. The center of all the Psalms is Christ (Luke 24:44). The Psalms are not only about Christ but are also the very prayers which He Himself prayed to the Father. When we pray the Psalms, we join our prayers to Christ’s. Luther also commends the Psalms as a mirror of the true human condition before God. The Psalms give voice to every imaginable circumstance. “Where does one find finer words of joy than in the psalms of praise and thanksgiving?... Where do you find deeper, more sorrowful, more pitiful words of sadness than in the psalms of lamentation?” (Luther’s Works, vol. 35, p. 255). The Psalms are a window into the souls of the saints and a model for prayer as we pray God’s Word back to Him. The Church takes up the Psalms as the language of faith to meditate on the Scriptures and to pray for ourselves and those around us.
Within corporate church services, the singing of Psalms can take many forms. With responsorial Psalmody, the congregation sings a simple refrain or antiphon while a cantor or choir chants the rest of the Psalm. These refrains are short and meant to be memorized. Direct Psalmody involves the congregation singing the whole Psalm together, whether chanting or singing a hymn paraphrase such as “The King of Love My Shepherd Is” (LSB 709; Psalm 23). Lastly, antiphonal Psalmody involves two groups singing in alternation, usually verse by verse. This method emphasizes the parallelism found in the Psalms. However they are sung, the Psalms join our voices together with Christ’s as we approach the Father in prayer, praise, and thanksgiving.