The Trinity Psalter Hymnal (2018) - First Impressions
“The Trinity Psalter Hymnal (2018) contains versions of all 150 Psalms in metrical form, but fewer hymns than either the old ‘Blue’ Trinity Hymnal (1961) or the new ‘Red’ Trinity Hymnal (1990). Having used two editions (1927 and 1973) of the Scottish Psalter and Church Hymnary during my time in Edinburgh (1987-1991), I was thrilled to see a Psalter Hymnal produced for North American churches, especially considering that both hymns and metrical psalms have generally fallen upon hard times in our circles.” - Ref21
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I have loved my Red Trinity Hymnal. A treasure.
One favorite…
(This one was also in the Blue)
Jesus lives, and so shall I.
Death! thy sting is gone forever!
He who deigned for me to die,
Lives, the bands of death to sever.
He shall raise me from the dust:
Jesus is my Hope and Trust.
Jesus lives, and reigns supreme,
And, his kingdom still remaining,
I shall also be with him,
Ever living, ever reigning.
God has promised: be it must:
Jesus is my Hope and Trust.
Jesus lives, and by his grace,
Vict’ry o’er my passions giving,
I will cleanse my heart and ways,
Ever to his glory living.
Me he raises from the dust.
Jesus is my Hope and Trust.
Jesus lives, I know full well
Nought from him my heart can sever,
Life nor death nor powers of hell,
Joy nor grief, hence forth forever.
None of all his saints is lost;
Jesus is my Hope and Trust.
Jesus lives, and death is now
But my entrance into glory.
Courage, then, my soul, for thou
Hast a crown of life before thee;
Thou shalt find thy hopes were just;
Jesus is the Christian’s Trust.
You can hear it with music here (though we sang it at a good 60% faster tempo) https://www.opc.org/hymn.html?hymn_id=367
Views expressed are always my own and not my employer's, my church's, my family's, my neighbors', or my pets'. The house plants have authorized me to speak for them, however, and they always agree with me.
“Jesus lives and so shall I” is in the new one too. (We’ll call it the “maroon” one.) I have it sitting on the desk right next to me, as I bought a copy for my family when it first came available.
My first impressions: it’s good. :) About 100-150 of the hymns or so are very familiar to me. The rest look fantastic; very rich lyrically. A few much-loved modern songs have been added (“In Christ Alone,” “Before the Throne of God Above,” etc.). Almost all my favorites are here. The Psalter at the beginning is something I would love to see more churches doing—even though I don’t know many of the tunes myself. The numbering matches the Psalms (so #50 is Psalm 50, etc., up to 150), which is very helpful.
On the whole, I think it’s very well-balanced. Baptist congregations could certainly do much worse than choosing this for a hymnal, Presbyterian though it be. Maybe they could make a Baptist version as they did of the blue: swap out the Westminster standards for the London & New Hampshire Confessions, or something.
We’ve been singing the Psalms regularly for the past 2.5 years as I’ve been preaching through them. We usually sing the psalm immediately following the message, that way our singing can be informed by the exposition of the text. This Sunday, even though we have a guest speaker, we’ll sing a version of Psalm 86 that was written by John Milton.
We don’t have a psalter hymnal, though. There are plenty of online resources to find metrical versions and we just match them up to familiar and appropriate tunes. I’m sure some folks would love it if we sang “In the Garden” or “Battle Hymn of the Republic” instead, but I’ve enjoyed singing them tremendously.
We’ve been singing the Psalms regularly for the past 2.5 years as I’ve been preaching through them. We usually sing the psalm immediately following the message, that way our singing can be informed by the exposition of the text. This Sunday, even though we have a guest speaker, we’ll sing a version of Psalm 86 that was written by John Milton.
We don’t have a psalter hymnal, though. There are plenty of online resources to find metrical versions and we just match them up to familiar and appropriate tunes. I’m sure some folks would love it if we sang “In the Garden” or “Battle Hymn of the Republic” instead, but I’ve enjoyed singing them tremendously.
[pvawter]Yes, the pastor is doing the same at my church, from the Blue Trinity Hymnal. Some of those lyrics about God’s wrath, for example, are striking (pun unintended). I wonder what the church has missed out on, having practically zero songs in its repertoire that refer to God’s judgment (the aforementioned “Battle Hymn of the Republic” doesn’t count, for obvious reasons)?We’ve been singing the Psalms regularly for the past 2.5 years as I’ve been preaching through them. We usually sing the psalm immediately following the message, that way our singing can be informed by the exposition of the text. This Sunday, even though we have a guest speaker, we’ll sing a version of Psalm 86 that was written by John Milton.
We don’t have a psalter hymnal, though. There are plenty of online resources to find metrical versions and we just match them up to familiar and appropriate tunes. I’m sure some folks would love it if we sang “In the Garden” or “Battle Hymn of the Republic” instead, but I’ve enjoyed singing them tremendously.
Discussion