Category: Psalms

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Church Congregational Songs Demos Psalms

Psalm 15: Lord, May I Dwell with You?

From my Psalm 15 study notes:

I’ve got to admit: it’s almost depressing reading Psalm 15. Not only is it works righteousness, but it sets the bar impossibly high. Who may dwell in God’s sanctuary? No one…

I believe that if we’re going to take God’s Word seriously, we have to begin with what the text actually says. Too often, we’re quick to explain away something as allegory because we don’t like its primary message. (Song of Solomon, anyone?). Having said that, we also need to dig beneath the surface if we’re going to let the Spirit speak to us through scripture.

Psalm 15 initially struck me as a spiritual checklist for those who want to be close to God: be blameless, speak honestly, don’t take bribes, and hate the wicked. I thought to myself, “How in the world am I going to write a song based on this Psalm?” Perhaps recast it as a confession? (“Forgive us for not living up to these godly traits.”) Or answer the question “who may dwell?” with the answer “Jesus–the only truly perfect One.” “How can we dwell? Only through Jesus.”

In the end, I decided to turn the Psalm into a prayer of devotion. The chorus is a prayer of aspiration, “Lord, may I dwell with you?” and the verses pray for the strength and guidance to live the godly life outlined in the Psalm. The music is in a simple, Taizé-like style, with verses chanted over the chorus. This also allows the chorus to be used independently as a scripture song, focusing on the deeper message of the Psalm: a desire to dwell in God’s presence, knowing God as a refuge and our true home.

Lord, may I dwell with you?
Lord, may I dwell with you?
Lord, may I know your refuge, my home.
Lord, may I dwell with you?

1. Who may remain in your presence?
Who may live in your holy place?
The blameless, the righteous, and those who speak truth.
Lord, may I dwell with you?

2. Lord, may my tongue speak no ill;
let me do my neighbor no wrong,
pay no heed to the proud, but honor the just.
Lord, may I dwell with you?

3. Lord, help me keep my word.
Let me be generous and honest.
Keep me secure in your perfect will.
Lord, may I dwell with you?

Categories
Church Congregational Songs Demos Psalms

Psalm 14: We Wait for You, Our Savior

Update: This song is now available at gregscheer.com.

I’m posting this Psalm two days after the Superbowl, which has given people 48 hours to register their disgust at Rihanna’s halftime show. Clutching their pearls and a bag of chips, they have declared it indecent. Perverse. I really don’t have an opinion about that. (Except maybe you shouldn’t be watching the Superbowl if you’re that easily offended.)

I just realized I’m posting Psalm 14 on February 14. Happy Valentines Day!

At first blush, Psalm 14 seems almost as catty as the Rihanna haters. The Psalmist comes out swinging, calling the godless “fools,” “abominable,” “perverse,” and “evil.” Ouch. However, this vitriol is not aimed at random unbelievers (or entertainers who sing suggestive songs), it is reserved for those “who eat my people as they eat bread” and who would “confound the plans of the poor.”

This is a good lesson for those who would engage in culture wars. God gets angry, but not with people who simply don’t believe. No, God gets angry with those who harm the ones he loves–especially the poor. And beautifully, we don’t have to get angry or fight these people; we just have to run to God for refugee.

RiRi, I’ve got your back. I just hope one day you’ll stand under God’s umbrella (ella, ella, eh, eh, eh)*

In times of disbelief and doubt,
corruption and alarm,
the Lord looks down from heaven
to judge the human heart.

The strong devour the innocent
like gluttons gorge on bread.
O God, have mercy on the weak–
give refuge, once again.

We wait for you, our Savior,
to rescue us, once more.
Restore us to your favor;
renew us in your joy.
Renew us in your joy.

*Sorry. I couldn’t resist.

Categories
Church Congregational Songs Demos Psalms

Psalm 108: O God, My Heart Is Ready (w/ Kate Bluett)

Update: This song is now available at gregscheer.com.

Whenever I get the chance to work with Kate Bluett, I jump at the opportunity. She has a knack for writing hymns that are fresh and insightful, yet draw a worshiper’s attention to the subject rather than the words.

In this case, I told her I would welcome any new Psalm songs she’d like to send my way. Within three days, there was a new rendering of Psalm 108 in my inbox. As I told her in my reply, anyone who rhymes “thrum” and “done” is okay in my book. (Please, let’s call a moratorium on God/sod, sin/within, and died/crucified!)

Since this is a Psalm of morning praise, I wanted the music to be bright and airy. The melody leaps and dives like a brisk ride through a hilly landscape at sunrise. The harmonies float under the melody until finally coming to rest in the interlude. It is a short, simple song, but beautifully satisfying. (If I don’t say so myself.)

1. O God, my heart is ready
to rise and sing your praise.
My soul in you is steadfast;
my song will wake the day.
My pulse reverberating
your name in every thrum,
so I will tell the nations
the wonders you have done.

2. For I have seen your mercy
that towers to the skies,
and I will know your justice
at last when you arise.
But is my hope now fading?
Shall I not see your love?
O God, my heart is waiting:
When will you shine above?

3. The earth is but your footstool,
and heaven is your throne:
Then save your earth from misrule,
whose hope is you alone!
When human strength is helpless,
our hearts turn back to you.
O God, come and defend us
who triumph in your truth!

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Church Congregational Songs Demos Jazz Psalms

Psalm 11: Our God Is Still on the Throne

Update: This song is now available at gregscheer.com.

There are many, many ways to set the Psalms to music. Some of the most popular choices include metrical, responsorial, and verbatim Psalm settings. Each approach has its merits and I try to use a variety of approaches from Psalm to Psalm and sometimes even mix and match within a Psalm. What I really want is an approach that honors the original Psalm text–including its form–while making the song understandable to the common churchgoer.

When I began working on Psalm 11, I quickly ruled out a word-for-word lyrical setting. Some of the Psalm’s meanings are obscure (scholars can’t agree who is suggesting that the Psalmist flee like a bird, for example), some of it is archaic (arrows are not high on my list of fears), and some is vitriol that probably shouldn’t be included in group singing (“the wicked…he hates with a passion; fiery coals, burning sulfur, and scorching wind will be their lot”).

The Psalm’s primary message seems to be that there are a lot of scary things out there; even some of what you thought was a firm foundation is no longer reliable, but God is still in control. I decided to use verse 4 “The Lord is in his holy temple” as the primary chorus image: “Our God is still on the throne.” From there I fleshed out the verses using as many of the images in the original Psalm as I could. I’ve included a side-by-side comparison below so you can see how the original Psalm was transformed into a song.

VERSE 1
When my heart tries to sing
in the shadow of your wings,
but my fear’s all I hear:
fly away, fly away.

And when doubt fills my soul,
feel I’m losing control,
and even friends want to know
why I stay.

CHORUS
Our God is still on the throne.
We are not alone,
for God sees us, God hears us;
we are not alone.

From the heavens, our God reigns,
and his children see his face.
While the ones who’d do them violence
fade away, fade away.

Oh, our God is bringing justice, holiness, and love.
Our God is still on the throne.

VERSE 2
When the night closes in
and the shadows grow thick,
and I don’t know what dangers
await.

When the foundations I had
start to crumble where I stand.
And everything feels like sinking sand.

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Church Commissions Congregational Songs Demos Global Psalms

Tuhan Adalah Gembalaku/You, Lord, You Are My Shepherd of Love

One final song for 2022.

An Indonesian friend introduced me to this setting of Psalm 23, which he’ll use in his ordination service. It’s simple, lovely, and has some interesting melodic twists and turns. Since I was learning it anyway, I decided to translate it into English so that those of us outside Indonesia could enjoy it. This wasn’t as easy as it sounds, because Indonesian uses many more syllables than English to say the same thing!

While there are many Psalm 23 songs to choose from, this one has a gentle spirit that cuts right to the heart of the Psalm. The song really helps us feel the complete trust the sheep feels for the shepherd. It makes the metaphor personal, so we can offer the words of Psalm 23 as our own prayer.

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2022 Psalm Collaborations Church Congregational Songs Demos Psalms

Psalm 54: Save Me, O God (with Doug Gay)

Update: Sheet music for this song is now available at gregscheer.com.

February 2022 proved to be too short to achieve my goal of 14 Psalm collaborations. (You can hear a concert of the 12 songs I completed here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dBiORFbDulE) However, I’m trying to make things right by completing two more songs that I left as drafts earlier.

This one is a hymn Doug Gay wrote on Psalm 54, a prayer for salvation from enemies. It is the kind of Psalm I once dismissed as petty and paranoid. But now that I am older (or more petty and paranoid?) I see that, indeed, life is full of people who get a thrill out of bringing others down a few notches: “Arrogant foes are attacking me; ruthless people are trying to kill me–people without regard for God.” (Turn the page to Psalm 55 and you’ll see that sometimes the worst foes are former friends!) Doug has done a great job of capturing the spirit of the Psalm honestly while focusing more on God’s salvation than the malice of the attackers.

Musically, I heard it as an urgent, yet confident prayer. It needed music that is vulnerable, but strong. My original version (which is retained in the SATB version of the music) sounds like an early music consort, with modal harmonies and a hand drum. But as I developed the song, I wanted to make it accessible to those who don’t have Estampie at their church, so I wrote a simple piano accompaniment. As I recorded it, it morphed from Estampie into Malicorne or Steeleye Span. One could do worse…

1. Save me, O God, save me by your great name.
Uphold my life, by your almighty power.
Those who despise me, pitiless and cruel,
seek to destroy me, mock me to my face.
Hear me, O God, draw near to hear my prayer.
Draw near to hear my prayer.

2. Still I confess my faith, that God is near.
God is my helper, God is my defense.
And I believe my enemies will find
God will not let their callous evil stand.
Come, faithful God, and bring it to an end!
Come, faithful God, be near.

3. In love and freedom, I will bring my praise.
I will give thanks, O Lord, for you are good.
You have delivered me and saved the day.
Now I can see my enemies dismayed.
Danger is past, my hope has been renewed.
I will give thanks, O Lord.

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2022 Psalm Collaborations Church Congregational Songs Demos FAWM 2022 Psalms

Psalm 102: My Heart Is Sick (Linda Bonney Olin)

Update: This song is now available at gregscheer.com.

I first collaborated with Linda Bonney Olin in February of this year. Our setting of Psalm 8, “How Often in the Deep of Night” was part of my 2022 Psalm Collaboration project. I’m now coming back to some other texts she sent in February. Among them was “My Heart Is Sick.”

The song title certainly catches one’s attention. Though the title doesn’t sound as inspiring as, say, “Like a River Glorious,” there are plenty of times when our hearts are sick and we don’t feel glorious at all. The Psalmist is certainly experiencing one of those times in Psalm 102. The Psalm vacillates between utter despair (“I eat ashes as my food and mingle my drink with tears”) to hope in God’s unchanging love and ability to save.

As I began working with the text, I could hear waves of dissonance that mirrored the heart-sickness and longing of the Psalm. Indeed, many notes of this melody are dissonant against their accompanying chords. What keeps all this dissonance from descending into chaos is an undulating stepwise motive that is woven throughout the song. It’s surprisingly singable.

Of course, there’s no lily I’m unwilling to gild! As I wrote the piano part, I began to imagine what the song might sound like with an accompaniment of low strings instead. I finally gave in and wrote one. The score calls for a cello quartet, but I’m sure I could be convinced to re-score it for string orchestra if you asked nicely. On this demo, though, it is played by a quartet of basses played by yours truly. For those of you who are having a hard time imagining a quartet of low strings accompanying this Psalm, a demo of the piano accompaniment is below.

The tune is named DESERT OWL after the lonely nocturnal bird in verse 2.

1. My heart is sick, my body weak.
I’m starved to skin and bones.
My mouth, too full of dust to speak,
can utter only groans.
O God, my God, see my distress
and heed my wretched prayer,
for I am poor and powerless
without your gracious care.

2. As lonesome as a desert owl,
I lie awake, in tears.
Around me adversaries prowl,
with curses, taunts, and jeers.
And you, the God I have adored,
in anger shun me too.
Restore me to your presence, Lord,
to walk once more with you!

3. Our days on earth so swiftly pass,
like waves on restless seas.
We fade away like withered grass,
like smoke upon the breeze.
But you, O God, will always be,
eternally the same.
All generations, hear and see!
All people, praise God’s name!

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2022 Psalm Collaborations Church Congregational Songs Demos FAWM 2022 Psalms

Psalm 9/10: Rise Up, O Lord!

Update: Sheet music for this song is now available at gregscheer.com.

Collaborator Naaman Wood was in the middle of grading midterms and wasn’t able to get me a final version of Psalm 9/10 until February 27–the day before my FAWM deadline. While taking a walk that evening I began singing some ideas for a melody into my phone. Seven phone recordings later, I had the song mostly fleshed out. I sat down at the piano the next morning and finalized the song, wrote a piano accompaniment, and finished the recording 24 hours after seeing the text. Oh, the nail-biting life of a composer!

Though the verse melody is fairly straightforward, there are lots of harmonic twists and turns in the harmonies underneath it. This feels to me a lot like life: we may put on a good front, but there may be knots in our stomach and a prayer of anguish in our heads.

And thus ends my FAWM 2022 song project: 12 Psalm songs, based on 13 Psalms, with 16 total songs for the month. I’m tired. I will sleep during March.

1. The Lord is near to those who carry sorrow–
a shelter during troubled times.
He will remember all their cries and longings,
and will not give their hope away.

Rise up, rise up, rise up, O Lord!
Rise up, rise up, rise up, O Lord!

2. Where is our hope? How can we bear this sorrow?
Why do you hide in troubled times?
Have you forgotten to hear our cries and longings?
O, do not turn your face away! (Chorus)

3. On me, O Lord, O Son of God have mercy.
See how I suffer from wicked schemes.
They drag me down and devour me like lions.
I lay upon the gates of death. (Chorus)

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2022 Psalm Collaborations Church Congregational Songs Demos FAWM 2022 Psalms

Psalm 62: Only God Can Save Us Now

Update: Sheet music for this song is now available at gregscheer.com.

Psalm 62 famously begins with the words, “My soul finds rest in God alone; my salvation comes from him.” The Psalmist goes on to describe the many difficulties experienced in life–those who are attacking or extorting money–always coming back to the refrain, “My soul finds rest in God alone.” Scottish lyricist, Doug Gay, has given these words an introspective feel in his setting of the Psalm. They could almost be sung by a victim of abuse, crying to God for help. That’s the thing about the Psalms: they give words to things we may have not experienced, which may make us feel like we don’t need them–until we do.

I kept the introspective, plaintive mood with music that is simple and child-like. I especially like how the chorus and verses slide into each other–there is no traditional cadence, but common tones in the melody make it feel completely natural.

Only God can save us now.
We wait in silence here.
For only God can keep us safe
on days we shake with fear.

1. I’m battered, broken, beaten down
and ready to give way.
So tired of all their shameless lies;
No trust in what they say. (Chorus)

2. We trust in God to set us free
from all our guilt and shame.
To God our refuge and our rock
we bring our hurt and pain. (Chorus)

3. The God who is both power and love
is judge of all the earth.
Don’t trust in what will pass away;
don’t sell your soul for wealth. (Chorus)

Only God can save us now.
We wait in silence here.

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2022 Psalm Collaborations Church Congregational Songs FAWM 2022 Psalms

Psalm 18: I Love You, God My Lord (with Adam Carlill)

Update: Sheet music for this song is now available at gregscheer.com.

I’ve co-written with Adam Carlill three times previously. What I love about his Psalms for the Common Era is that the texts scan so well. “Scanning” is how well a text follows its own patterns of meter and syllabic stress. Hymn text writers often write with a slow tune in mind, which tends to flatten stress patterns somewhat. When these texts are put to a faster or more rhythmic tune, they start to unravel. Adam’s texts hold up well with the pressure of rhythm and speed. It makes them really easy to work with as a tune writer.

Less easy is Psalm 18. The first difficulty is that it is very long. As committed as I am to singing the Psalms, I can’t imagine a congregation trying to sing the whole of Psalm 18, even though Adam has packed it into a mere 20 verses. This is approaching the epic proportions of “The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald”!

The second difficulty is the Psalm’s content. It starts with praise for God’s strength and a plea for help. Then it moves into the “God’s taking names and is coming down to bust some heads” portion of the Psalm. After a brief sidestep into an overly flattering assessment of the Psalmist’s own piety, the Psalm turns back to God’s strength–this time in the form of the strength God gives the Psalmist, who can now leap like a deer without twisting his ankle and is now ready to take names and bust some heads himself. It ends with more praise for the victory God will give.

For the recording, I chose six verses that I felt represented the overall Psalm well. Those who want to delve into the more difficult areas of the Psalm can sing all 20 verses or study the Psalm with a good Bible commentary in hand. I should also note that I added a short refrain to Adam’s text. It felt like the song needed something to break up all those verses. I could imagine a leader singing a few verses at a time and then handing it over to the congregation to sing the refrain.

1. I love you, God my Lord,
my stronghold and my rock,
my refuge, my eternal ward
and sturdy lock.
my ancient keep and wall,
my fortress and retreat;
I praise and call you, Lord of all,
my victory seat.

O Lord, my God,
my refuge strong,
protect me from all those
who’d do me wrong.

(For the rest of the lyrics, see Adam Carlill’s Psalms for the Common Era.)