But if all prophesy, and an unbeliever or outsider enters, he is convicted by all, he is called to account by all, the secrets of his heart are disclosed, and so, falling on his face, he will worship God and declare that God is really among you. (1 Corinthians 14:24–25 ESV)
Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, with thankfulness in your hearts to God. (Colossians 3:16 ESV)
And do not get drunk with wine, for that is debauchery, but be filled with the Spirit, addressing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody to the Lord with your heart, giving thanks always and for everything to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, submitting to one another out of reverence for Christ. (Ephesians 5:18–21 ESV)
Is anyone among you suffering? Let him pray. Is anyone cheerful? Let him sing praise. (James 5:13 ESV)
O Lord, open my lips, and my mouth will declare your praise. (Psalm 51:15 ESV)
One comment I heard coming out of the last two funerals was gratitude for the singing. The multitude of voices was encouraging. Some specifically noted how important the male voices were for them to hear. After all, nothing encourages us to sing quite like hearing another person singing. Likewise, hearing others confess the faith encourages us to continue walking the path with the Lord. It is one reason God created the church—to have community and support in walking in faith.
This is what Paul encouraged in gathering together, “What then, brothers? When you come together, each one has a hymn, a lesson, a revelation, a tongue, or an interpretation. Let all things be done for building up” (1 Corinthians 14:26 ESV). Notice the goal: building up one another. Hymns and Christian songs do this because they are confessions of faith, even mini-sermons. Sometimes they are confessions of someone’s personal faith; the ones that last generation to generation are confessions of THE faith. Such hymns work to encourage us in our Christian walk and life—sometimes in ways that the spoken word alone does not. They help communicate emotion along with the words and so help us relate to them; songs also help us to remember those words and to take them to heart. The sung Word has a way of being there and encouraging us even in the midst of trials and troubles.
You might recall that I previously wrote about Neil Selchow and his experience with hymns and the importance of them to him, even decades after his mom had sung them to him. There have been a few people whom I have visited in the hospital where hymns were sung as they were dying or when trial or trouble was confronting them. This singing brought joy or comfort or encouragement, and even helped a child of God to remember and recall God’s care and love and promises.
This is the power of song and it has not been fully harnessed in our own lives, even though it is very present through the internet, radio, TV, CDs, and so forth. We haven’t always made these hymns our own—they haven’t become a part of our lives. Recently, I heard someone complaining about the singing of some modern communists—basically how off-key they were. And yet, they sang. There was something about this communal singing even if they sang it poorly, even if it was musically untenable. It was because they sang with the conviction that it was their own song. They claimed it as theirs and even if poorly executed. They were convinced that what they sang was true.
Authenticity has a way of coming out when people are singing. If people own a song then they sing it with conviction even if it is out of tune because the point isn’t musical ability—that is the purpose of concerts. The point is sharing what you know to be true; the point is being in community and sharing a common confession and agreement.
Think about when we confess the Creeds. It doesn’t matter about how well you can say or speak it. What matters is believing it and speaking the Word together to encourage and evangelize those around us. We speak it together because we believe it together. We are encouraged by hearing those around us affirming the same truth that we believe and are confessing. Hymns likewise serve this function in church and elsewhere.
Now, I have been blessed to be at Mt. Calvary Lutheran Church because this congregation is a singing congregation. Admittedly, I have stretched the congregation’s singing ability and repertoire because we have sung unfamiliar songs. Some have enjoyed these new songs and others have found it challenging. There is, of course, great value in the songs; that’s why they have been added to our hymnal! But sometimes it has left others out or disconnected.
Not only that, but we have not practiced as a church using our hymns to help the Word of God dwell in us more richly throughout the week. I recently meet with our primary musicians to talk about this and what changes we might make to help us as congregation grow even more in our singing God’s Word.
It is clear from Scripture that the primary instrument in worship is not the organ, piano, guitar, or trumpet. Instead, it is the human voice. Keeping this in mind, we are looking at how we encourage everyone in singing God’s Word, in taking the hymns to heart, and in furthering the indwelling of God’s Word in our lives through music. Take for example, how encouraging it is to hear others sing—how their singing helps you to also sing. For musicians, there is a balancing act of providing enough music to help the congregation carry the tune and sing the song without overwhelming the voices. If the music is too loud, we cannot hear one another; if it is too soft, people often quiet down to hear the music. We are accustomed to having the musician “lead us.” And this suggests that we have not taken the music to make it our own. The musician isn’t there to lead but to support. In other words, could and would we keep singing the hymn if the music stopped?
If we were singing, “Abide with Me” or “I know that My Redeemer Lives” and the organist or pianist stopped playing, I am confident the congregation would continue singing. But how many hymns do we have of that nature? How many have we made our own? How many do we love singing?
In order to help us grow in this, we are going to be trying a few things. One has to do with some aspects of musical accompaniment that our musicians will be considering. Another is that we will be coming up with a core list of hymns. Some of the hymns will be ones we are already know while others may be new.
This list of core hymns will guide the hymns chosen for worship but such hymns will not be the limit of what we use or sing. The core list hymns will be ones we particularly cultivate for singing and worship, and for use outside of worship—for taking home and to visits. It will influence some of the music the preschoolers use in chapel and may even be used to close out or open a church meeting. (Our Lifelight studies already often begin with hymns!)
Beyond this, we will be identifying hymns that we do not know so well so that we spend some time learning and teaching them beforehand, and we will limit their use such that we do not use unfamiliar hymns too often. We will also be looking at how easy a song is to sing. Some songs require greater musical skill (think of many pop-music songs and classical sacred music) while others are musically more accessible to more people. These more accessible songs have limited range, simple rhythms, clear accompaniments, strong melodies and a connection to the singing and musical traditions of the people (such music is often called folk music). This division is not a “genre” or “style” of music, nor does it neatly fit into other categorical boxes sometimes promoted by various churches. It speaks more to enduring nature of music which can be sung by the widest possible number of people in the congregation. This was one of the big changes Luther affected when he brought hymnody back from the monastic choirs to the mouths of the laity / congregation.
It also supports the big focus we want to have musically, namely making sure that the Word dominates rather than the music. That is to say, the words drive the music, not the other way around. Emotions present in music are valuable and even useful but they are not to predominate. Much of the artistic range of music has a strong focus on how the music makes you feel. We are looking for music that helps us unite our voices in what is being said and confessed.
Not only that but the artistic music often centers on a lead voice—a performer, whose voice will predominate. This central voice lends itself to the performer’s proclamation rather than our joint confession. To be fair, this can also happen with the pastor speaking the Creed or the Lord’s Prayer or saying the “Amen” that belongs to the congregation. This is one reason I leave the Amen for you at the communion rail. It is also the reason I will begin cutting my voice or mic after I begin the Lord’s Prayer or the Creed (except in cases where we are using a responsive Lord’s Prayer or Creed). It is also why we have responsive liturgies or prayers that involve your echo. These actions connect you to speaking and confessing the faith as your faith. Some songs and psalms even employ this echo in helping the people confess the faith together. With this in mind, we will be looking to limit our use of songs that are more performative (think of how a choir in our congregation tends to sing or play only one piece of music) and focus on those that invite the whole congregation to join in confessing the faith together.
Musically, we will be aiming for that which helps us meditate on the lyrics—that gets us thinking about what we are saying—that carries and emphasizes the words. So many times, catchy tunes out in the world get people to sing things they do not even think about—the music has predominated such that they do not even fully think about what they are saying. They sing because they like the music; they sing because of how the music makes them feel. We, however, want to turn that paradigm upside down and sing because it is what we truly believe. In other words, we will dig into the words of what we are singing—that we would understand our sung confessions so that we might sing with boldness and conviction. Our purpose in singing moves from how it feels or because I like it musically to proclaiming the truth, to a confident, “I believe thus.”
Toward that end, as we seek to feature a hymn each month, we will seek to unpack it in the newsletter or in a sermon. We will invite you to take the hymn home and ponder on it, even sing it, perhaps using a verse a week as part of your morning (or evening) prayer routine. The point is to think on the words and discover the depth of meaning in them such that they find a place in your life and in your confession which will strengthen, enhance, and enliven our joint confession in song.
And to further our joint confession and enhance our being encouraged by hearing our fellow church members singing, I’m going to make a suggestion and encouragement that goes against what the culture suggested to us during the COVID fears. I’m suggesting that probably feels ackward. I’m suggesting that we move to sit closer together, perhaps in the middle pews—to move into spaces where we can hear one another and in this way we can encourage one another even more with our words. I know the impetus is to spread out and I get it because that is what I would do either in church or if I entered a lecture space. I don’t usually pick seats really close together unless I’m sitting near someone I know and even then, I don’t get TOO close. I’m encouraging you to look at how spread out we are and seek to pull one another closer. If not into the same pew at least in pews back-to-back so that you can hear the voices of those around you and they can hear yours, even if you don’t think your voice is all that good for even the smallest voice singing adds to and is important for the body.
You might ask, “Pastor, why this emphasis? What are you hoping to accomplish?” I think it is instructive for us to consider the role hymns played in an event in Paul’s life and confession which was recorded in Acts 16:19-34:
But when her owners saw that their hope of gain was gone, they seized Paul and Silas and dragged them into the marketplace before the rulers. And when they had brought them to the magistrates, they said, “These men are Jews, and they are disturbing our city. They advocate customs that are not lawful for us as Romans to accept or practice.” The crowd joined in attacking them, and the magistrates tore the garments off them and gave orders to beat them with rods. And when they had inflicted many blows upon them, they threw them into prison, ordering the jailer to keep them safely. Having received this order, he put them into the inner prison and fastened their feet in the stocks.
About midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the prisoners were listening to them, and suddenly there was a great earthquake, so that the foundations of the prison were shaken. And immediately all the doors were opened, and everyone’s bonds were unfastened. When the jailer woke and saw that the prison doors were open, he drew his sword and was about to kill himself, supposing that the prisoners had escaped. But Paul cried with a loud voice, “Do not harm yourself, for we are all here.” And the jailer called for lights and rushed in, and trembling with fear he fell down before Paul and Silas. Then he brought them out and said, “Sirs, what must I do to be saved?” And they said, “Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved, you and your household.” And they spoke the word of the Lord to him and to all who were in his house. And he took them the same hour of the night and washed their wounds; and he was baptized at once, he and all his family. Then he brought them up into his house and set food before them. And he rejoiced along with his entire household that he had believed in God. (ESV)
Did you notice how the hymns both served Paul and Silas in prison and the impact of these hymns on the jailer and even other prisoners? While imprisoned, with their feet fastened in the stocks, they prayed to God and sang hymns either praising God directly or praising Him before those hearing. Their fellow prisoners listened to them. They took in what they said.
In fact, not only were the prisoners listening, the jailer must have been listening also, before he fell asleep. It would seem that from what he heard, he knew to ask Paul and Silas about being saved himself. Plus, none of the prisoners ran or tried to run following the earthquake. They all remained. Now, all this certainly wasn’t because of Paul’s great singing voice or because the music was catchy. It was the words that were sang. It was the meaning of what was said. Those words impacted the jailer, especially after he heard Paul say that no one had left the jail. God used the singing of Paul and Silas along with the earthquake events to open the door of the jailer’s heart. Salvation came to him and to his family and the confession of faith sung in those hymns played a part.
This means that these hymns had some meaningful content. They confessed and taught about the Lord God. They were intelligible and understood. The music carried a clear message and the Lord woke him up to hear.
But not only did the hymns serve an evangelistic purpose, they served a purpose of calming Paul, Silas, and the other prisoners. There was comfort in those hymns. The truth brought Paul and Silas comfort in their chains, and even impacted the prisoners around them. While in prison, they were able to recall these hymns and rejoice in God’s work and actions on their behalf. They were able to thank the Lord for His good care. They were able to see past the trials and troubles of the day to the truth: the Lord Jesus reigns supreme and will take care of them having secured their future and their salvation.
And this is the peace we have here and now. It is not worldly peace, which would mean no conflict in this world. It is the peace of knowing that the Lord is no longer holding their sins and guilt against you but rather He has secured you a place and home with Him, which is yours even now, even while you await for your deliverance out of the war in this world where the devil, the world, and our sinful flesh attack us. Remember how He said, “‘I have said these things to you, that in me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation. But take heart; I have overcome the world’” (John 16:33 ESV).
So, take heart! He has overcome! And as we sing such hymns, we remember and recall His victory; we are comforted and assured of His work for us even as we comfort and assure one another.
Heavenly Father, You have gifted us with voice and mouths to speak and share Your Word. Help us to hear and listen to Your Word set to music, to meditate on it, and take it to heart that we might be encouraged in the day of trouble, calling on You and remembering Your great mercies and grace in the midst of trial and trouble. Encourage us with those hymns and let our voices also encourage our fellow brothers and sisters in Christ. And comfort us with Your promises recalled therein, which point us to Your Son Jesus and His salvation for us, for He lives and reigns with You and the Holy Spirit. Amen.