The Lord Is My Shepherd

 

 

Psalm singing has been a part of the Christian church from its beginnings.

 

Psalm 23, a particularly beloved psalm, appears often as the psalm of the day in the Revised Common Lectionary, especially on the fourth Sunday of Easter. It is an integral part of services of death and resurrection. Psalm 23 is one of the few psalms that many of us have committed to memory.

 

Following the Lutheran Reformation in the early sixteenth century, the metrical psalm became one of the primary musical streams of Reformation hymnody. In an attempt to conform to the norms of New Testament worship, the followers of John Calvin (1509-1564) limited congregational singing to unison renditions of metrical paraphrases of the psalms and, later, the Lord’s Prayer, the Song of Simeon, and the Ten Commandments.[

 

Calvin enlisted poets Clément Marot (1496-1544) and Théodore de Bèze (1519-1605) to compose the texts of the 150 metrical psalms to a variety of meters. The idea was to put the psalter in a strict poetic form so that nothing was added or deleted from the original biblical meaning—a difficult task and one that often produced awkward poetic results.

 

Calvin spoke to the importance of singing in the formation of faith in the “Articles concernant l’organisation de l’église et du culte à Genève” (Articles concerning the organization of the church and of worship in Geneva) (1537):

 

This manner of proceeding seemed specially good to us, that children, who beforehand have practised some modest church song, sing in a loud distinct voice, the people listening with all attention and following heartily what is sung with the mouth, till all become accustomed to sing communally (Calvin, 1537).

“The Lord Is My Shepherd”

Text: James Montgomery, 1771–1854.

Music: Thomas Koschat, 1845–1914

                

                        

The Lord is my Shepherd; no want shall I know.

                         

I feed in green pastures; safe-folded I rest.

                         

He leadeth my soul where the still waters flow,

                         

Restores me when wand’ring, redeems when oppressed,

                         

Restores me when wand’ring, redeems when oppressed.

                     

Thru the valley and shadow of death though I stray,

                         

Since thou art my Guardian, no evil I fear.

                         

Thy rod shall defend me, thy staff be my stay.

                         

No harm can befall with my Comforter near.

                         

No harm can befall with my Comforter near.

                     

                

In the midst of affliction my table is spread.

                         

With blessings unmeasured my cup runneth o’er.

                         

With perfume and oil thou anointest my head.

                         

Oh, what shall I ask of thy providence more?

                         

Oh, what shall I ask of thy providence more?

                  



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