Many PCA churches (more than half?) have a psalter and they don’t even know it. Of course, some churches have switched to the excellent, newer Trinity Psalter Hymnal or another good psalter, but if a church has the very common Trinity Hymnal they already have nearly a psalter’s worth of psalms at their disposal.
Around 140 selections in the Trinity Hymnal can be considered as psalms—some being more or less “loose” in adaptation. This document of unknown origin may be helpful for congregations or families who want to be more intentional about psalm singing:
(UPDATE: Here’s a spreadsheet version you can download.)
Listed are all the selections that may be considered as psalms, along with source, and the unknown author’s opinion about how familiar and easy to sing they are, plus “type”—metrical, version, or paraphrase. Metrical may imply most faithful to the biblical text; version may imply more liberties taken; and paraphrase would be the loosest of adaptations.
At any rate, this is a helpful resource for pastors and sessions. We are thankful for whoever put it together way back in 2004.
Strange as it may seem, some presbyterian pastors, elders, and church members are resistant to psalm singing or more psalm singing. This list may help the resistant to see that they’ve been singing more psalms than they think or may help sessions work psalms into the liturgy in an unobtrusive way.
Learn more about the history of Reformed psalm singing here.
Right, it's for the 1990 (red) Trinity Hymnal.
This guide must not be for the 1961 Trinity because the page numbers don’t match up. Still, there is a scriptural index in the back of the 1961 Trinity Hymnal.