Psalms for All Seasons: a review

Last year I reviewed the 2013 hymnal, Lift Up Your Hearts, which my congregation now uses as its principal worship book. One year earlier, Faith Alive Publications, the Calvin Institute of Christian Worship, and Brazos Press co-published Psalms for All Seasons: A Complete Psalter for Worship. These two volumes are evidently companion collections with some overlap of contents and even similar cover designs. I have now seen a copy of the earlier collection and will review it here.

In my previous review, I noted that the number of complete Psalms in LUYH had been diminished and that the publisher was recommending the current volume for congregations desiring a complete psalter. The arrangement of the metrical psalms in this collection is similar to that of the blue Psalter Hymnal of 1957 and the influential 1912 Psalter of the former United Presbyterian Church of North America. Each Psalm is represented by several alternate renditions among which worship leaders might choose. Each of the 150 Psalms begins with a prose version from the New Revised Standard Version of the Bible. This is then followed by different ways of singing it, including responsorial settings and chant. The vast majority of the selections are metrical versions, many of which will be familiar to members of the Christian Reformed Church and other churches inheriting the tradition of the 1912 Psalter. Some of these Psalms are are in other languages, including French, Dutch, German, Hungarian, Indonesian, Chinese, Japanese, and Korean. Some are accompanied by extra-biblical prayers and litanies.