Why sing in church? I can think of several reasons to not sing.
There are people with less than lovely voices. There are those who don’t sing at all. The time could be used for more in depth teaching. We could equip people to witness to their lost friends.
Is it just a tradition we can’t shake or never really examined? It just seems a given; any church will have music in their assembly. Can anybody give me a good argument for congregational singing in our Sunday morning assemblies?
Well, this is more of a thought than an argument…
I do believe that for many people/churches, singing is just a tradition. However, there is something about music that awakens our emotions. Many of the Psalms–bursting with emotion with mere words alone–were written to be accompanied by music.
For example, check out Psalm 92. The Psalmist writes, “It is good to praise the Lord and ,make music to [His] name…to proclaim [His] love in the morning and [His] faithfulness at night, to the music of the ten-stringed lyre and the melody of the harp…”
So what is the value of that emotional connection and where does it come from?
(Again, this is just a thought, not an argument. I’m hardly an expert when it comes to music–I leave that to my brother. 🙂
Paul does “command” it in Col. 3 and Eph. 3(?)
Two points.
C.S. Lewis wrote in The Screwtape Letters that hell is the “kingdom of noise” and he contrasts that with the rhythm and order of music…
This is just me – I could be in for a theological rap on the knuckles – I think emotional connections derive from our being created in the image of God. In this case, I think music resonates with something in us of the imago dei: he made things orderly, not chaotic; poetic, not profane. It’s more like God than unlike God.
Which brings me to my second point. When Kevin wrote (with his tongue firmly planted in his cheek, no doubt) that we could eschew music in favor of more teaching, it is essentially denying our hearts the chance to worship along with our minds.
Just as we dishonor God if we fail to apply our intellect to our worship of him, we also lie to God if we say we have no hearts that need to be stirred.
Well, leave it to KR to bring the Bible into the argument. 😉
In regard to Col. 3 and Eph 5 (BTW, one of my most favorite chapters in the New Testament), the context of the references to songs do not equate commands. Paul in Col. 3 is encouraging believers to let the word of Christ dwell in their hearts through teaching and singing, but no mandate to corporate worship through music. In Eph 5 Paul says instead of getting drunk, “Sing and make music in your heart to the Lord”. Acts 2 describes the church without mentioning the aspect of music in their meetings.
Hugh – I need to borrow your C S Lewis collection.
I was not being tongue in cheek again. I have learned my lesson on emoticons 🙂 I was actually thinking through this. I know that would be strange for the “music guy” to ponder. To your point, knowing Christ through grace should so saturate a person that faith would bring about an emotional response spurred by the spiritual. You and Nina did touch on something that I believe is the spiritual benefit of singing. It takes all of a person to sing: breath, emotion, thought, muscles, etc… It’s a likening to loving God with all your heart, soul, mind and strength in some measure.
But is there a Biblical mandate to sing as a congregation on Sunday mornings? I think its just a form we’ve grown used to doing. Not that the form in itself is wrong.
Straightforward answer: no, I don’t think there’s a mandate to sing congregationally.
But then, can true worship really be mandated in any particular form?
Just because a person sings doesn’t mean he’s worshiping, and a person who doesn’t sing isn’t necessarily withholding worship either.
I guess a good follow-up question is this: why do we make the sermon the center of our Sunday service? Is that mandated?
Singing does not equal worship. Agreed. I think I have the answer to your follow-up question: Acts 2:42 – “They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer.” I’d say our gatherings revolve around these things.
Can true worship really be mandated in any particular form? That begs another question. What is true worship? Paul has an answer in Romans 12:1 -“Therefore, I urge you, brothers, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God–this is your spiritual act of worship.” From this, I think all forms are up for grabs.
Wow great reply on the “imago dei” thing Hugh – not sure what else I can add. While all forms are indeed up for grabs, the problem is us. We are creatures of sentiment. We tend to avoid change at all cost. There’s no need to mention the endless scandals created within the church by change. Okay just one, at a former church there was an uproar because the piano was moved from the left side of the room to the right.
Imagine if we had an Easter Sunday service of just paintings of the crucifix and resurrection combined with poetry. While something like that would really speak to me, someone more set in their ideas of what “church” should be would probably be offended.
And so things remain the same – out of courtesy, habit or fear?
Just a few of my thoughts on this subject. I haven’t really worked out all the details on this though so here goes …
There is not a command in the Bible to worship with the entire congregation singing together. However there are multiple commands (especially in the Psalms) for people to sing to the Lord (Ps 5:11, Ps 9:11, Ps 21:1, Ps 30:4, etc.). We also have small snippets of what creatures will do (and are doing) in heaven and that includes singing to the Lord (Rev 14:13, Rev 15:3).
All of this is to point out that singing is a common and even expected response to God’s workings of grace in an individual’s life, regardless of how they sound. Personally, I tend to sing rather quietly in a church setting, but when I am by myself I belt it out much louder … I figure if God had cared how poorly my singing voice is then he would have given me a better one.
There is also a basis for singing being a part of worship even in the Old Testament times. Singers were appointed out of the Levites where they would sing to the Lord along with the sacrifices (2 Chron 23:18, 1 Chron 15:16, 2 Chron 5:13, etc.).
So, personally though I cannot find a mandate that singing should be a part of a church service, I would have to say that God wired us to connect with him in and through music and singing (like Nina said there is some emotional connection with music).
As to your comments on other reasons not to sing, I think that church services need to be structured a little bit like classrooms. In a classroom different students learn in different ways, a good teacher will use several different methods to teach the same subject to reach the different types of learners. I think in our church services we see much of the same thing, some connect to truths better through worship, some through teaching, and some through praying together. In addition worship before teaching helps prepare the heart and not just the mind to hear what God’s word has to say.
I think that is enough rambling for now. I didn’t mean to write anything, but I just found out that Grace had a website up and wanted to check it out.
Matt, thanks for taking a break in your studies and chiming in. I agree with the tenor of all these comments. You make a good point about learning styles. I am sure there are more forms to be explored in quest to give God the glory He is due.
To close, in the Psalms, we are told to make a joyful noise, not a perfectly in tune chorus. Also, instruments are to be played skillfully, not perfectly either. I am thankful for a God that knows our limits and makes up for them Himself in all aspects of our lives! See Psalm 98 and Psalm 33.