Does your church neglect the psalms? Or has saying or singing them become a bit by rote? If that’s the case, you may need a ‘Psalm Roar’.
About 100 people attended one such event – Psalm Roar 2023 – organised by church minister Tim Vasby-Burnie and held at St George’s Church, Shrewsbury recently.
Vasby-Burnie explains that a ‘Psalm Roar’ is ‘a gathering in which we sing a variety of psalms and in a variety of styles. We aim for singing that is enthusiastic, robust, loud and encouraging! Some psalms will use familiar tunes so we can all sing without any practice.’
He adds: ‘Quite a lot of the singing will include four-part harmony. This is singing that rejoices in the variety of voices God has given, including honouring the difference between male and female voices. It sounds great!’ He says it is not necessary to read music, nor is anyone asked to sing a solo. The event includes chanting as well.
‘The singing of psalms has been an essential part of church worship for thousands of years, but has fallen out of fashion. We want to see the psalms restored to their proper place as the hymnbook of the church.’
Reporting on the recent event, Vasby-Burnie says: ‘We had families and many young adults. Some came from as far as Cornwall and Suffolk. In a time when so much of the church thinks we need to be constantly new and contemporary, here were people wanting to walk the old paths – the Spirit-given ways of worshipping God in truth.’
Music was led by Joel Hayhow (from Emmanuel Church, North London) and Colin Keates (organist at St George’s).
There was a talk by theologian Alastair Roberts (Theopolis Institute and the Davenant Institute) about the nature of the psalms and why we sing them.
A Sussex Psalm Roar is taking place in Warbleton on Saturday 14 October. Other events are planned but not yet public. Psalm Roar 2024 is likely to be back at St George’s Church in April next year.
