Most of the commands in Scripture to sing to God are in the context of rejoicing. But, how dull our spirits often are, aren't they? We are engulfed in the richness of our salvation and yet we are so sluggish in our acknowledgment of God's blessing! God forgive us! God help us!

I once took an informal poll by asking these two questions: 1) In congrega­tional singing I love it when_________ , and 2) I dislike it when _________. The responses to filling in the blanks were almost unani­mous. For #1: the people loved singing in worship when everyone is joyfully singing out and there is oneness and power of expression in praise. For #2: People strongly dis­liked it when the organist plays too slow and people are singing sluggishly.

We've all been there: we gather for worship some cloudy morning and our first corporate words of praise are "When morning gilds the skies, my heart awakening cries, 'May Jesus Christ be praised!"' We glance around to see who's walking in late and we mutter those words of praise to the great King and Lord of the universe with the same amount of enthusiasm we would have for a bowl of tepid oatmeal. God forgive us! The words of Isaiah sting my conscience: "This people draw near with their lips ... but they remove their hearts far from Me."

And yet, by God's grace, we've also had the blessing of offering "worthy praise." When we've just hear a pow­erful sermon opening God's Word on the resurrection of Christ and how He has guar­anteed our own eternal life, who can hold back the heart's overflow as we sing with one voice: "Soar we now where Christ has led ... Alleluia! Ours the cross, the grave, the skies, Alleluia!" Add to those words a full organ, some trumpets and descants and the power of emotion rooted in our confession almost chokes us with tears of thank­fulness. It's more than we can take! We are simply over­whelmed with God — as it should be! We are truly singing "for joy in the Lord."

These commands from Psalm 33 to "sing for joy" and "give thanks" address the heart of the issue — our hearts. What goes on in our hearts as we offer praise is of primary importance.

Now, there is an interesting process going on when we sing and if we're not aware of it, we're going to miss out. When we sing words, they go by more slowly than when we speak them. Sounds simple? But this takes some mental adjustment or else we will be distracted. If you listen to a child just learning to read out loud, the words go by so slowly that before you know it you have no idea what the child is talking about.

In singing, it takes mental effort to "stay tuned" to the text. How can we do that?

First of all, the slower rate gives us time to meditate on the words, to fill them out with meaning in our minds. Let's take the familiar Psalm 103 (#204 in the Blue Psalter). As you sing the opening text, the words are:

"o come my soul, bless thou the Lord thy maker." As you sing "the Lord thy Maker," you may be thinking about what all He has made — the universe. As you go on, your thoughts may be like this: "And all within me..." (heart, soul, mind, strength), "bless His holy name. Bless thou, the Lord, forget not all His mercies..." (He has been so good to us this week, provid­ed our food, health), "His pardoning grace and saving love proclaim" (His grace in saving me is so great!).

We go on to stanza 4: "We fade and die like flowers that grow in beauty" (How many of our loved ones have passed to glory as quickly as my lilies bloom and fade), "Like ten­der grass we soon will disap­pear" (my own weakness is so apparent to me). "But ever­more..." (here comes the good news) "the love of God is changeless" (He is my rock!) "still shown to those who look to Him in fear" (Lord, I come humbly to you).

See? If you take the time to reflect on the words, then the slower pace of sung text gives you a rich opportunity to praise God with fullness of heart. If you don't make the mental effort to really mean the words, you will quickly slip into distraction.

There are other things to help us keep focused on this spiritual and meaningful style of singing. In announcing the song, the pastor may read a portion of it, drawing atten­tion to some particular point. Sometimes by hearing the poetry spoken we can hear it "afresh." Often the minister has chosen hymns for the whole service that either are related to the theme of the sermon, or directly related to specific elements of worship and it is helpful for him to draw attention to that to help the congregation focus their hearts on a particular aspect. To be honest, even a simple reminder from the pulpit to "sing out from the heart" is helpful. We often need some prodding, don't we?

We might mention here how to encourage our children in worship. Of course, we want our children to "sit still" in worship, but if that's all we've worked on, then we've trained them to sit still but let their minds wander — which, sadly, sometimes is what we adults are doing. Not much of an accomplishment. We need to remind ourselves and our children to "put our hearts into it."

We can quietly speak to our children at different parts of the service to explain what we are doing. Most services begin with some songs of praise. We can say to our chil­dren, "All of God's people are praising God now for how great He is. You can sing too, even if you don't know the words yet — God wants to hear your voice." Or, in a song of confession after the reading of the law, we might say, "Now we are saying sorry to God for our sins and He forgives us."

All acts of worship require our full attention. To do that, we need to come prepared ­which probably includes the "night before" activities. If we stay up Saturday night, sleep in late Sunday morning, and rush around to get out the door to worship we are not scheduling ourselves as if we are meeting with the God of heaven and earth.

When we come with the right attitude, sing and pray and listen with the right atti­tude, then we will be able to "sing for joy in the Lord" and "give thanks." God will be glorified and we will be edi­fied. Now that's a Lord's Day!