When it comes to singing in church, it’s important that what we practise and how we practise is influenced by what the Bible has to say rather than copying or reacting against what other churches that we like or dislike are doing. So, here are some verses to consider.
1 Chronicles 13:8
David and all the Israelites were celebrating with all their might before God, with songs and with harps, lyres, tambourines, cymbals and trumpets.
Psalm 108:1-3
1 My heart is steadfast, O God; I will sing and make music with all my soul.
2 Awake, harp and lyre! I will awaken the dawn.
3 I will praise you, O LORD, among the nations; I will sing of you among the peoples.
Psalm 47:1
Clap your hands, all you nations; shout to God with cries of joy.
Psalm 95:6
Come, let us bow down in worship, let us kneel before the LORD our Maker;
Psalm 134:2
Lift up your hands in the sanctuary and praise the LORD.
Psalm 150
1 Praise the LORD. Praise God in his sanctuary; praise him in his mighty heavens.
2 Praise him for his acts of power; praise him for his surpassing greatness.
3 Praise him with the sounding of the trumpet, praise him with the harp and lyre,
4 praise him with tambourine and dancing, praise him with the strings and flute,
5 praise him with the clash of cymbals, praise him with resounding cymbals.
6 Let everything that has breath praise the LORD. Praise the LORD.
Firstly we must understand that the literary context of the Psalms is poetic, and the historical and cultural context is different to western culture in the 21st century. This means the Psalms are not to be read necessarily as prescriptive instruction. For a start, stringed lyres are few and far between. That said, the very least we can walk away with from these descriptions of God’s people in the Old Testament is that it’s ok to be passionate, to be emotionally engaged and actively expressive in responding to God.
In previous papers, my friend Andy Judd mentioned that a good reason for singing as God’s people is that according to Revelation 5:9-14 we’ll be singing in Heaven. Jesus often described Heaven as a wedding banquet. It’s a party. One of the most joyous moments at a wedding is when all the formalities are over, all the speeches have been made, everyone’s had something to eat and drink, the men loosen their neck ties, the girls kick off their heels and people get up to dance. There’s a real atmosphere of celebration. The guests have spent the last few hours contained and reserved, and the dancing is almost like everyone’s opportunity to physically respond to how they’re feeling about the occasion.
The singing bits of a church service are kind of like that. We hear the word read, we pray, we hear the word explained in the sermon, we hear notices and interviews. It’s all physically passive and we’re largely engaging on an intellectual/cerebral level. The singing is the appropriate emotional (and physical) response to all the things we’ve intellectually processed.
We are capable of getting excited and physically expressing our jubilation in a crowd at a major sporting grand final, rock concert or wedding. So surely the jubilation of being forgiven, freed from the slavery to sin, loved by the almighty creator of the universe and adopted into the family of God should provoke a greater response than a bored look of disengagement similar to that of commuters queuing for Monday morning train tickets?
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