Why Do We Start Each Service With a Psalm?

For the last number of years, we have started our services with a Psalm. That’s not unusual as many churches do that. But it is more common to pick through the Psalms and find one we like. We have been going right through the Psalms from 1 to 150.

There are a couple of reasons why we do this.

One is that it is an opportunity for us to include more Scripture in our services. As Baptists (not that this is limited to us), we value the role of Scripture in our spiritual development.

Another reason is that the Psalms are designed for worship. The Psalms were the the hymnbook for ancient Israel. These are what Jesus would have sung when he went to the Temple.

However, we must admit that there are some Psalms that are more pleasant than others. I know I have had the experience while reading the Psalms in church of thinking, “Well that’s rather depressing or disturbing.”

I have been tempted to skip over certain Psalms but have decided against it. The truth is that we all come to worship from different places in our life. Some of us come from a place of joy but others come from a place of fear or even of anger.

The Psalms recognize all those emotions and offer them all to God. The Psalms remind us of how messy life can be and yet they still call us to worship.

And that is why we read a Psalm every Sunday at church.