Hannah Felsbourg
11 April 2025
Christians will have the opportunity to connect with God through ancient biblical psalms set to music when Australian band Sons of Korah performs at St Jude’s Carlton this Palm Sunday.
The ensemble will join St Jude’s for services at 10am, 4pm and 6pm on April 13.
Each service will feature musical performances of biblical psalms, congregational singing, and reflections connecting the texts to Jesus.
Sons of Korah founder, guitarist and lead vocalist Matthew Jacoby said he hoped attendees would connect with God as they prepared to welcome Jesus as king.
“My greatest hope is that the psalms would connect with something inside them and bring that out and connect them with God ultimately,” Dr Jacoby said.
He said the Palm Sunday theme of welcoming the king was pervasive throughout the psalms.
“The psalms of longing and penitential psalms are crucial to receiving Jesus as king in our hearts,” Dr Jacoby said.
The Palm Sunday services will follow a sequence of psalms focused on enthronement and kingship themes.
“We’re moving from psalms of expectancy of the coming king, but recognising that he’s come not on a white horse in judgement, but riding on a donkey to make peace with us,” Dr Jacoby said.
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St Jude’s assistant minister the Reverend Sam Oldland said the Psalms offered a unique spiritual gift.
“One of the things that is so special about the Psalms is that it’s God’s word to us, but it’s also human words to God,” Mr Oldland said.
“To pray and sing in those words … it’s just such a gift.”
He said Sons of Korah helped Christians experience these texts as they were originally intended.
The Australian band has spent 30 years adapting biblical psalms to music, with worldwide sales exceeding 300,000 units.
Mr Oldland said the multiple service times would allow visitors to gather with their church family and still join St Jude’s for a service at a time that suited them.
He said the musical approach reintroduced an ancient practice central to Christian worship for centuries.
“We have these songs and poems in the Bible, but usually we just read them on a page or recite them,” Mr Oldland said.
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St Jude’s vicar the Reverend John Forsyth said he expected the services to renew people’s worship.
“As we sing a selection of Psalms this Palm Sunday, we’re expectant that God will renew our worship of Christ our King,” Mr Forsyth said.
Dr Jacoby hoped the impact would extend beyond the Palm Sunday services.
“We put music to the psalms so people can listen to them again and again and internalise them,” Dr Jacoby said.
“Our hope is that what we have done with the Psalms will become part of people’s lives in an ongoing way.”
Sons of Korah will perform at St Jude’s Carlton at 10am, 4pm and 6pm on Palm Sunday, April 13.
More information about the Psalm Sunday services is available on the event page. More information about Sons of Korah is available at sonsofkorah.com.
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