Book Review: Sing the Catechism!
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Sing the Catechism!
Book Author: George van Popta
Review Author: Charlene
Bunbury Free Reformed Church
Pro Ecclesia Bookshop
Sing the Catechism!
by George van Popta
2019
I didn’t really know what to expect when I was asked to review this book. Upon receiving the book I quickly flicked through it, sat behind the piano and played the first song. A familiar tune came out, Psalm 42. Then I looked at the words and started singing along as I played, familiar words based on Lord’s Days 9 and 10. George van Popta, the retired pastor of Jubilee Canadian Reformed Church in Ottawa has penned the precious words of our Heidelberg Catechism to familiar tunes in the hope of reaching out to catechism students who have difficulty memorizing.
In the preface to this book, van Popta writes that during his time as pastor one of the things that really bothered him was how many of his students had difficulty memorizing the catechism. He states that memorization is so very important in making the truths of faith one’s own. His heart went out to these students who could not memorize the words, sentences and paragraphs. And so, albeit a bit late for his own students, van Popta wrote this book, Sing the Catechism, to help those who struggle with memorization.
Sing the Catechism covers the four large pieces of material in the Heidelberg Catechism. Namely, questions and answers relating to the Apostle’s Creed, the Word and Sacraments, the Ten Commandments, and the Lord’s Prayer. Van Popta cleverly uses familiar tunes and rephrases the questions and answers of the Lord’s Days setting them to rhyme.
The tunes are set to the musical score in SATB (soprano, alto, tenor and bass) so that they can easily be played on the organ or piano and to make learning/recalling of the tune easy. The first stanza is set out in SATB form and then on the facing page, the first stanza is repeated, together with the remaining stanzas. This format enhances memorization of the song. Each song also is a reference to which Lord’s Day it is based on and tunes are also referenced.
Some musical ability is necessary to make use of this book, and I would recommend playing through the songs several times to learn the melody before singing along.
I thoroughly enjoyed playing, singing and reading my way through this small but valuable book. It is a fantastic resource for pastors, parents and students. It can even be used as a ‘pre-learning’ tool for young children who are not yet doing catechism classes, there is never any harm in learning more Biblical songs!