Of all the different times of the year Christmas time is the one that we most associate with music and singing. The month of December appears on the calendar and many homes begin to echo with the sound of well-known carols. In the worship services, attention is directed at the coming birth of the Saviour and fitting songs are selected. Choirs across the land dust off their sheet music and prepare for yet another annual performance of G.F. Handel’s The Messiah. Why, even when you turn on the radio or visit the local mall, you can not escape the sounds of the season.

From all of this one might gain the impression that music and singing are doing well. But such is not really the case. Whereas once churches were filled with the sound of human voices, such sounds are growing ever fainter. In some case the members are hardly being asked to sing. In other instances it appears as if the members have lost the ability to sing. Their lips hardly move. Their mouths barely open. Their voices are not heard. Congregational singing is on the way out.

Does it Matter?⤒🔗

Should all of this concern us? It is obvious that many churches are treating this as a natural development. This is all part of a new age, the age of the spectator worshipper. People go to the worship services to meet with God but also to be inspired by the preacher, entertained by the band and emotionally moved by the music. There is very little in the way of interaction and participation. It is more a case of sitting down and having it all come at you. You are there to receive it and to take it in.

Or are you there to do more? Is lesser musical involvement on the part of the people of God just a trend to be accepted? Or is it so that God demands and expects our congregational praise? Is this what worship should be like? Is the Lord pleased with muted lips, still lips or singing lips?

God Loves Music←⤒🔗

When we turn to the Holy Scriptures, there are both underlying principles to grasp and obvious practices to observe. For one there is the obvious but often overlooked fact that God our Creator gave us the gift of music and formed us with voices that are made to sing. Also, there is the fact that heaven is filled with the sound of music. Open the book of Revelation and you will come across one heavenly chorale after another. The place reverberates with song.

In addition, what is not often realized is that God Himself is a composer who wants His people to sing His compositions. Never heard of that? Turn to Deuteronomy 31:19, 22 and you can hear God say to Moses, “Now write down for yourselves this song and teach it to the Israelites... so Moses wrote this song that day and taught it to the Israelites.”

And this is not all. What about all of those songs that God gave to Israel through David, Solomon, Ethan, Heman, and the sons of Korah? Of course, they are meant to be read, taught and applied, both personally and corporately, but they are also meant to be sung.

Indeed, many of them beg to be sung. “Come, let us sing for joy to the LORD, let us shout aloud to the Rock of our salvation” (Psalm 95:1). “Sing to the LORD a new song; sing to the LORD, all the earth” (Psalm 96:1). “Zion hears and rejoices and the villages of Judah are glad” (Psalm 97:8).

In addition, there are many passages that speak about what our lips are really made for. “His praise will always be on my lips” (Psalm 34:1). “I proclaim righteousness in the great assembly; I do not seal my lips, as you know, O LORD” (Psalm 40:9). “My lips will glorify you” (Psalm 63:3).

Or what about those New Testament passages like Ephesians 5:19:

Speak to one another with psalms, hymns and spiritual songs. Sing and make music in your heart to the Lord…

or Colossians 3:16: sing psalms, hymns and spiritual songs with gratitude in your hearts to God?

From these passages and more, it is obvious that God loves music and wants his people to make music to Him. He made us to speak and sing. He calls on his children to worship Him in music and song. A people who are silent in worship are a strange people indeed.

God Loves Choirs Too←⤒🔗

But does this mean that the congregation besides being a singing body should be the only singing body? This is a statement that can also be heard; however, one can question whether it is an accurate one.

A closer look at Psalms 134 and 136 conveys the impression that here we have to do with songs that were sung antiphonally. For example in Psalm 134 it is the people who sing to the priests in the words, “Praise the LORD, all you servants of the LORD who minister by night in the house of the LORD. Lift up your hands in the sanctuary and praise the LORD.” Next, it is the priests who sing to the people, “May the LORD, the Maker of heaven and earth, bless you from Zion.” The same applies to Psalm 136 where the first part of each verse was most likely sung by the priestly choir and the congregation would respond each time with the identical antiphony “His love endures forever.”

Much more can be said about priestly praise. It is a most interesting and instructive part of Old Testament worship. For the moment, however, we want to point to it to show that while congregational praise was common, it was not uniform. God did allow for different forms of musical expression.

In any case, the fundamental point is that in the worship of God’s people there should be music and song. Why, even the New Testament church understood this for one of its characteristics was “praising God” (Acts 2:47).

The Historic Christian Church has Always Loved Music←⤒🔗

Little wonder that with this kind of background the early church was also noted for its musical ministry. Some of the ancient church fathers were at the same time noted composers. The Reformers by and large also had a great love for music and congregational singing.

I said “by and large” for there are exceptions among them, and it may be that the strangest one is Ulrich Zwingli. He went out of his way to suppress congregational singing and he did so based on the strangest of exegesis. He extended his interpretation of Matthew 6:6, 7 about praying by yourself in your room in such a way that it ended up as teaching a ban on all congregational singing.

Having thus missed the boat on Matthew 6, he missed it on Colossians 3:16 as well. Listen to him explain: “Here Paul does not teach us mumbling and murmuring in the churches, but shows us the true song that is pleasing to God, that we sing the praise and glory of God not with our voices, like the Jewish singers, but with our hearts.” (Interpretation and Substantiation, 350, 2) Zwingli believed and taught that the Christian church should engage in inner singing.

Thankfully, however, he stands out as the exception. Martin Luther, John Calvin, Martin Bucer and others all disagreed and insisted that music and song in worship needs to be reclaimed by the congregation. Unfortunately, the Middle Ages had caused the priestly choir to become dominant, but they reformed the church in such a way that the people were taught and encouraged to sing again.

The Modern Church is in a Music Crisis←⤒🔗

And sing they did. One may well question the quality and orthodoxy of what the people later sung in worship. The influence of pietism which resulted in hymns filled with deep introspection and the impact of revivalism with its stress on the emotions are both to be deplored, however, there can be no doubt that the people were at the least still singing.

Today the same can not be said. As mentioned earlier, modern day North American Christendom prefers to watch what is happening up front. Generations accustomed to sitting spellbound in front of the television and the movie screen now expect to sit just as spellbound in church buildings. It is religion as entertainment that is winning the day. The pulpit has been replaced by the stage and the stage is there because the show must go on.

Is God pleased and honoured by all this? If our understanding of how music and song functioned in biblical times and revelation is correct, then He can not be. God wants to hear his people sing.

Are you Singing?←⤒🔗

And this means you too! In the Canadian Reformed Churches the stress on congregational singing remains, but there are also indicators that we could and should do better. Some churches all but ignore those who accompany the congregation and simply expect them to do their job. Some members hardly open their mouths when called upon to sing. Others are so at odds with what is being sung, namely the Psalms, the Hymns and the tunes, that they hardly make an effort. They have made the music of the church one of their issues.

Yet that is not how it should be. If music and song in worship are there to praise God, then let it be done to the best of our ability. Let the most skilled accompanists be found, trained and supported. Let the mouths and hearts of the people of God be opened wide. Let musical likes and dislikes not become a stumbling block to congregational praise.

For remember, our God is worthy of all the praise on earth and in heaven! He wants to hear us sing like the angels.

Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace to men on whom his favour rests.Luke 2:14