6 Lessons from Luther on Congregational Singing

Doctrine and doxology belong together. Our theology finds expression in our corporate worship. Likewise, our corporate worship shapes our theology.

Martin Luther understood this reality. He knew the churches in Wittenberg and throughout Germany wouldn’t undergo reformation just by recovering doctrinal fidelity. The biblical truths he and other reformers championed required doxological expression. Through praise and worship, these vital teachings would burrow deep into the hearts of the German people.

Moreover, Luther perceived that the medieval Latin Mass itself needed radical change. Under his leadership, the worship service would adopt a whole new focus: The glorious truth of justification through faith alone in Christ alone would ring out in the common tongue of the people. Read More

Also See:
Benefits of Singing Psalms
Singing the Psalms: A Guide for Modern Worship
Are We Worshiping Worship Songs?

Chant is not the only way of singing the Psalms. Singing metrical versions of Psalms was a common practice in the Church of England during the reigns of Elizabeth I and James I. While Elizabeth disparaged the tunes of the metrical Psalms sung during her reign as "Geneva jigs," a reference to the popular tunes to which they were sung, she nonetheless authorized the singing of metrical Psalms before and after services and before and after sermons, recognizing their popularity among her subjects. On one occasion when John Jewel preached a sermon at St. Paul's Cross shortly after Elizabeth's ascension as many as 6,000 people stayed after the sermon to sing metrical Psalms. During his turbulent reign Charles I suppressed metrical Psalm singing in churches but the practice was restored during the Interregnum and continued well into the nineteenth century. It was a mainstay of the West Gallery quires, groups of local musicians and singers who led the congregational singing in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries and the early part of the nineteenth century. The adherents of the Tractarian Movement went to great lengths to discourage the practice, forcing the West Gallery quires to disband. They were Medievalists and idealized Medieval Church music. Metrical Psalm singing would enjoy a revival in the second half of the twentieth century along with other forms of West Gallery Music.