The blessing of congregational singing
Introduction
Singing is a universal reality. People sing at football matches - to spur on their team or to mock the opposition. People sing in the shower – where no one can hear them! People sing at funerals - to join together in lament and hope. All over the world, and all through history, people have been singing.
And the same is true for God’s people. In Exodus 15, after God had redeemed his people from Egypt and brought them safely across the Red Sea, they sing! Miriam picks up a tambourine and leads the people of God in a song of triumph: “Sing to the LORD, for he is highly exalted. Both horse and driver he has hurled into the sea.” (Exodus 15:21).
When Jesus met with his disciples on the night before his crucifixion, they sang a hymn before departing to the Mount of Olives. (Matthew 26:30). At the end of the Bible, we read of God’s people gathered around God’s throne, singing: “Hallelujah! Salvation and glory and power belong to our God.” (Revelation 19:1). God even gave Israel their own hymnbook to use in their corporate worship! (the Psalms)
Why do Christians sing?
But why? Why has God created us with the ability to sing? Why can we vibrate our vocal cords to produce these strange sounds? And why is singing so vital for God’s people?
There are lots of answers we could give, but a brilliant summary is found in Colossians 3 verse 16. Listen to Paul’s instruction to the Christian believers in Colossae…
Let the message of Christ dwell among you richly as you teach and admonish one another with all wisdom through psalms, hymns, and songs from the Spirit, singing to God with gratitude in your hearts. Colossians 3:16, NIV
Here is a boiled-down summary of the reasons Christians sing. And we see three of them.
1. We sing to let the message of Christ simmer in our hearts
If you want to cook a nice, rich sauce, you need to let it simmer (so the chefs tell me). Only then can you enjoy the delicious flavours to the full – the onion, the carrots, the tomatoes. And singing God’s truth is like that. Singing allows the message of Christ to simmer in our hearts, in a way that simply saying the words can never do.
In the words of one musician: “Words make you think a thought. Music makes you feel a feeling. A song makes you feel a thought.”[1] As we sing, we can feel a thought together. But not just any thought - we can feel God’s truth in our hearts.
This is what Augustine experienced, a fourth century African bishop. He entered a church in Milan, before his conversion, and heard Christians singing. He writes: “Those voices ran into my ears, and the truth dripped down into my heart.”[2] As we sing, God takes his truth and allows it to simmer in our hearts.
2. We sing to give thanks to our God
At the end of the verse Paul says we are to sing to God “with gratitude in our hearts.” Singing is a way that we can give thanks to God - for his character, his majesty, and most of all for his Son, our Lord Jesus. Praising God is what we will be doing for all eternity! We will be singing in thanks to God as we dwell with him face to face.
Singing now “is the rehearsal for our eternal song.”[3]
3. We sing to teach and admonish one another
But there’s a third reason we sing in Colossians 3:16, and this might be the most overlooked. We sing in order to build one another up in the truth. Singing is not just a ‘me and God’ reality but a ‘me and you’ reality. As I open my mouth to sing, I can play a small but important part in encouraging my brothers and sisters with the truth.
I wonder if you’ve experienced this in church life? For example, we might walk into church feeling down and discouraged - maybe because of our struggles with sin, or the suffering we’re facing. But then the first song begins and we look over at our sister in Christ, and we hear her singing of the all-sufficient love that God has for her. And we know that this beloved sister is going through a really hard time herself. And it encourages us to keep going.
Congregational singing in church has tremendous power, by God’s grace, to build us up in maturity, as we sing to one another through psalms, hymns and songs from the Spirit.
What does this mean for our singing in church?
1. We need to sing. This ministry is not just for the music leaders or the keen singers. This is for all of us. And so, whether you love singing or find it hard, whether you have a voice of an angel or struggle to keep the right key - sing! Sing to let the truth simmer in your heart. Sing to give thanks to the God who has saved you. Sing to build up your brothers and sisters in Christ.
2. We need to sing the truth. If singing has such power to change our hearts and help the truth to dwell in us, we need to make sure that what we’re singing is the truth. This is one reason why we sing some older hymns - they have stood the test of time due to the faithfulness of their words and the beauty of their expression.
3. We need to learn how to sing. This kind of heartfelt singing might not come naturally to us; we need to work at it. One thing we could do is listen to the songs before we gather and look again at the lyrics afterwards. We can also help the children in church by helping them to learn some of the parts of the songs, even if they can’t read the words yet. And we can model what we hope that their singing will be like one day. They will be following our lead!
Congregational singing is not an insignificant thing - “Jesus died to redeem a universal choir.”[4]
Recommended Books
Then Sings My Soul, Philip Percival
What if I don’t like my church’s music? Matt Boswell
References
[1] Attributed to E.Y. Harburg
[2] Augustine, Confessions, p253 [Translation by Sarah Ruden]
[3] Charles Spurgeon
[4] Bob Kauflin
Scripture quotations taken from The Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV®. Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc. Used with permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved worldwide. www.zondervan.com
