We Christians are kind of a goofy bunch of people. I was thinking about it the other day and where, other than church, do you get together with a bunch of other people and sing in unison? Maybe during the National Anthem or the 7th inning stretch? You might sing Happy Birthday in the middle of a restaurant. But to just get up and start singing is a little goofy. I mean, when I get in my car and blast out the speakers singing to Journey or one of my other guilty pleasures, I always find myself not singing as much as I approach stop lights. We’ve all looked over and saw some dude singing like crazy and thought “haha, what a goof.”.
But we Christians, we gather each week and we decide that singing is something we should do. Whether we prefer hymnals or projection screens, we come week in and week out and a good deal of the
“success” of the worship service will depend not on the preacher but on how good the music was. If the singing was energetic and meaningful we’re happy. If it was reflective and gave a sense of awe, we say that God was with us. However, if the songs are out of tune, or the words are hard to understand, or the melody feels off, then the whole worship service was just so-so.
This singing thing got me thinking. We do this for a reason. We’re not just sadists who like to hear tone deaf folks belt out songs. We encourage singing as a community because with one voice (whether in tune or not) we declare the glory and majesty of our awesome God. Our singing together builds up soul and causes something inside to actually fly – even if just for a bit. Our singing matters. When we sing together we put down any sense of self or self-conscousness for the sake of worshipping the God of all Creation.
The words we sing are so important. I hear all the time from folks who hate “7-11”
songs (the ones where you sing 7 words, 11 times) and yet, some of our reflective Taize chants are not much more than 7-11 songs. At the same time, some of our much beloved hymns have absolutely no meaning for some folks. We sing them because they come from a hymnal but we have NO clue what we just sang. In addition, some of our great choruses are so week that my 6 year old has a deeper grasp of the goodness and holiness of God.
I’m not here to jump on one style or another, in fact as followers of Jesus, I don’t believe worship style matters one bit. As followers of Jesus, we ought to be able to worship regardless of style – because after all it’s not about us! What I do feel is important, style or not, is that when we sing, when we choose to enter into what is so far beyond what is our normal routine, that we do so with all that we are.
John and Charles Wesley are two very important figures in my denomination. They both wrote songs and poems – Charles wrote hundreds of songs. In the beginning of the Methodist Hymnal, John wrote these words encouraging Methodist in their singing:
“Sing lustily and with good courage. Beware of
singing as if you were half dead, or half asleep; but lift up your voice with strength”
and
“Above all sing spiritually. Have an eye to God in every word you sing. Aim at pleasing him more than yourself, or any other creature.”
When was the last time you sang “lustily” or when you were aware that you were “half dead”? Wherever you are and wherever you choose to worship, I hope that you will pause and realize the depth of what you’re doing. I hope that you will sing with all you got and know that as you sing you are standing in the very presence of the One who is truly deserving of our melody, harmony and even our tone deaf words.
“To see You high and lifted up, shining in the light of your Glory. Pour out your Power and Love and we sing Holy, Holy, Holy”.
grace and peace!
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I have a couple of comments, Jimbo.1) I love Wesley's rules for singing. The are dated, of course, but they give you a little insight into Wesley's personality. He wants you to understand the truth and reason behind what you are doing, showing his passion for worship and desire for others to share in that passion, but it also shows a little bit of jerkiness (its English…I can make up words if I want) on his part. Its just how he rolls. 2) I agree with you in principle on worship style not mattering, but I don't agree with you in practice. It SHOULD not matter, but is totally does. I don't care what service I go to, whether it be contemporary or traditional, small, or MEGACHURCH I can still get something out of each experience, and I really try to popen myself up to the presence of God in that space. But being open and learning something new, even if it is a new understanding of something different, is not the same as worship. If you go to a rock concert that has a cross at the front and can't get centered then your worship experience is going to suffer. The same goes for those who are put off by organ music or boring hymns. Sometimes the woship style seems to be so much about "HEY, LOOK WHAT WE CAN DO!!!" and less about God, which, for me is a huge turn off. I find it difficult to commune with the divine when there is a laser light show. So, as I said, SHOULD we be able to worship anywhere? Yes, we should, but that is not always the case.
I have a couple of comments, Jimbo.1) I love Wesley's rules for singing. The are dated, of course, but they give you a little insight into Wesley's personality. He wants you to understand the truth and reason behind what you are doing, showing his passion for worship and desire for others to share in that passion, but it also shows a little bit of jerkiness (its English…I can make up words if I want) on his part. Its just how he rolls. 2) I agree with you in principle on worship style not mattering, but I don't agree with you in practice. It SHOULD not matter, but is totally does. I don't care what service I go to, whether it be contemporary or traditional, small, or MEGACHURCH I can still get something out of each experience, and I really try to popen myself up to the presence of God in that space. But being open and learning something new, even if it is a new understanding of something different, is not the same as worship. If you go to a rock concert that has a cross at the front and can't get centered then your worship experience is going to suffer. The same goes for those who are put off by organ music or boring hymns. Sometimes the woship style seems to be so much about "HEY, LOOK WHAT WE CAN DO!!!" and less about God, which, for me is a huge turn off. I find it difficult to commune with the divine when there is a laser light show. So, as I said, SHOULD we be able to worship anywhere? Yes, we should, but that is not always the case.
After talking with my wife about this a little, I feel I should say something else.I don't disagree with your point that worship style preference shouldn't matter since its not about us. I guess when done poorly (i.e. causing distraction) that is when I have a problem with it. If I didn't make it clear in my second point, I agree that worship should be about God, but when it becomes about US, that is when we have a problem.