27 June 2009

Saturday Psalm & Praise

This Saturday I am highlighted Psalm 98A, O Sing A New Song to the Lord. I was first introduced to this psalm about two years ago, at an annual spring conference my family was attending for the first time. As far as I can remember, this was one of my first experiences of congregational singing in parts. I thoroughly enjoyed listening to everyone sing, though I admit I was quite confounded as to how you knew which part to sing at which point! Since then I have really fallen in love with this type of singing and this piece has become my favorite sacred piece of music.


To give you a taste of the beauty of this psalm, take a peek at this video. It is only the first verse, but it gives you a glimpse of beauty of this psalm:



The words to all seven verses (shamelessly stolen from Sarah's blog!) :

O sing a new song to the Lord
For wonders He has done,
For wonders He has done;
His right hand and His holy arm
The victory have won,
The victory have won,
The victory have won.

The great salvation wrought by Him
Jehovah has made known.
Jehovah has made known.
His justice in the nations' sight
He openly has shown,
He openly has shown,
He openly has shown.

He mindful of His truth and grace
To Isr'el's house has been.
To Isr'el's house has been.
The great salvation of our God
All ends of earth have seen,
All ends of earth have seen,
All ends of earth have seen.

O all the earth, sing to the Lord
And make a joyful sound.
And make a joyful sound.
Lift up your voice aloud to Him;
Sing psalms! Let joy resound!
Sing psalms! Let joy resound!
Sing psalms! Let joy resound!

With harp make music to the Lord
With harp a psalm O sing!
With hard a psalm O sing!
With horn and trumpet raise a shout
Before the LORD, the King,
Before the LORD, the King,
Before the LORD, the King.

Let seas in all their vastness roar,
The world, it's living hoard.
The world it's living hoard.
Let rivers clap, let mountains sing
Their joy before the Lord!
Their joy before the Lord!
Their joy before the Lord!

Because He comes, He surely comes,
The judge of earth to be!
The judge of earth to be!
With justice He will judge the world,
All men with equity,
All men with equity,
All men with equity.

When you get together a room full of saints raising their voices to God with this Psalm, it really is like a small taste of heaven on earth!

Through Him,

3 comments:

  1. It's one of my favorites as well. If we can sing this well on this broken earth…think of how we'll be able to sing with restored bodies on this restored earth!

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  2. Jessica, I'm getting to this post a little late BUT... I LOVE Psalm 98A. I could sing it 100 times a day and it would never get old...never! I'm so glad you stole the words from my blog :) Go ahead...whatever you want! I can't wait until we are in glory singing with the King! I really think we'll be singing 98A :) Oh, we have a glimpse of heaven before the time. This is how much I love this psalm: one day, Lord willing, I want to sing this at my wedding...all seven verses and I don't care if it makes the service 20 minutes longer it'll be worth it all!!

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  3. Isaiah - Yes, that I such a glorious thought!

    Sarah - I am with you! I sing it at least every other day, if not every day. :-) Have you heard of the Worship in Harmony CDs? I listen to them all the time, and they do Psalm 98A beautifully.

    You make me laugh - Lord willing, I will have this Psalm sung congregationally at my wedding. Forget any solos. :-P I'm pretty certain it was my idea first, though... ;-)

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