“The fact that the church has largely abandoned the singing of psalms means that the church has abandoned a songbook that is thoroughly masculine in its lyrics. The writer of most of the psalms was a warrior, and he knew how to fight the Lord’s enemies in song. With regard to the music of our psalms and hymns, we must return to a world of vigorous singing, vibrant anthems, more songs where the tenor carries the melody, open fifths, and glory. Our problem is not that such songs do not exist; our problem is that we have forgotten them. And in forgetting them, we are forgetting our boys. Men need to model such singing for their sons.” (p. 100)

When I attend a contemporary evangelical church my reaction is usually boredom. The music puts me sleep. It all sounds the same. The words are often trite and vacant, with little biblical content. There is no magic bullet to revive the America church, but a good start would be to obey the Bible by singing the psalms (Colossians 3:16).

I was not raised on the psalms. They are new to me, but nothing has increased my love for worship like learning to sing psalms with enthusiasm, joy, and vigor. In family worship, we regularly sing psalms. We still sing hymns, but the psalms form the core of our praise. For too long this neglected weapon has sat on the shelf, like a relic of the past. It is time to dust off the psalms and once again sing the war songs of the Prince of Peace.