Come, Sing Unto The Lord

Come, Sing Unto The Lord

One thing the Bible is clear about: singing is a part of how we honor, praise and celebrate God.  Listen to this, which is just a small sampling from the Psalms:

Sing praise to the LORD, you His godly ones, And give thanks to His holy name. (Psalm 30:4)

Sing praises to God, sing praises; Sing praises to our King, sing praises. (Psalm 47:6) 

Sing to God, sing praises to His name… (Psalm 68:4) 

Sing for joy to God our strength; Shout joyfully to the God of Jacob. Raise a song, strike the timbrel, The sweet sounding lyre with the harp… (Psalm 81:1-2)

O come, let us sing for joy to the LORD, Let us shout joyfully to the rock of our salvation. (Psalm 95:1)

O sing to the LORD a new song, For He has done wonderful things.  (Psalm 98:1)

Singing to God in praise and gratitude is essential to worship and it is an essential human action.  These days, in our American culture, we sometime share a tendency to restrict our sense of singing and music to something done by individuals, and by professionals.  But our psalms, and our hymnody do not permit such a stance!  The psalmist does not say, “One of you, sing praises to God in an evening gown.” It says, “Sing, ALL YOU PEOPLE!” Singing to God is a work of the collective people of God. 

But why?  Why must we sing to God? And why is it important that we sing as a people? In following Jesus, there is a tension between the experience of my individual soul and the reality of the collective Body of Christ.  Singing as a congregation is a beautiful way to embody the two in literal harmony: my own unique voice is lifted up and it is also part of the whole voice of the community.  The voice of the community is strengthened by my individual voice, and my voice is stronger with others.  As someone once said, “God gave you a voice, and God wants to hear it!”

There are so many ways our faith invites us into ways of being that can seem at odds with our dominant culture.  Singing as a community is one of those ways.  Paul says that there are many gifts in ministry, and some among us are musicians by vocation.  This is a treasure and a gift to our life—we thank God for our musicians!— but this gift does not exclude us from the work we are called to as the singing people of God. 

This year, we wish to call attention to, support and strengthen our singing as a congregation.  Please join us in the pews this Sunday at 8:45 a.m., 11 a.m., or 5:45 p.m. to be led by Richard Webster in a congregational choir rehearsal before services.  Let’s lift our voices together to give thanks and praise to the Lord!

See you Sunday, 

 

The Rev. Rita T. Powell

Associate Rector