The Shorey Psalter

It was the spring of 1990—about 31 years ago at this moment. I was recovering from a bout with viral meningitis that would leave me with what is now a 31-year-long headache (about which you may read in my book, 30/30 Hindsight: 30 Reflections on a 30-Year Headache). While recovering from meningitis, I was too feeble to budge very much from my big chair, but my mind wanted to worship. That was when I tried my hand at something I had done little to none of before: putting Scripture to music. Specifically, I wanted to help my church learn to sing the Psalms (since, after all, they form the original hymnbook of the church). But in order to sing the Psalms, they needed to be put to familiar music. So I began to write lyrics which followed the words of each Psalm pretty closely, setting them all to familiar tunes. My efforts led to a complete “Shorey Psalter” which our church sang through twice. No one will ever read or sing… Read More