We can finally sing! Not just the band leading us or singing the odd song outside church, but we sing joyful praises together once more. A few months ago, I wrote a blog reflecting on not singing together and why that has been so hard. This time I’d love to encourage you in why we sing as we begin in sung worship again! I’ve got four reasons that I hope will help us in this season.
Our God is worthy of praise.
If a friend asked you what God is like, what would you say?
We sing first and foremost because the God who has saved is good, faithful, gracious, compassionate, almighty (insert other adjectives here)…. I could keep going. We don’t sing as Christians because it’s fun or because it sounds nice. It’s because He deserves our praise, even in the form of our weak and vulnerable singing.
It is good to praise the Lord
and make music to your name, O Most High,
proclaiming your love in the morning
and your faithfulness at night.
– Psalm 92:1-2
God loves to hear us sing.
I love singing. Whether that’s alone cooking in the kitchen or with you all at church, I can’t get enough of it. But as much as we might love to sing, it can’t compare to how God delights in his people as we worship Him.
This is why we are also commanded to sing by God, we see it through all of scripture and particularly in the Psalms. God cares that we sing his Word and gospel, not just calling us to pray and preach but to make music to His name.
In every part of our Triune God we see that call to sing. In Zechariah 3:17 God exalts over his people “with loud singing.” On the eve of his crucifixion, Jesus sang hymns with his disciples and Ephesians 5 tells us that one effect of being “filled with the Spirit” is “addressing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody to the Lord with your heart” (v.18–19). We worship a Triune God who wants us to be more like Him.
Declaring truth to one another.
One of the biggest things we’ve been missing out on in the last year and a half is hearing each other singing. We have so much to thank the Music and Tech Teams for, they have served us and continue to serve incredibly. But I’ve really been longing to hear you guys, The Globe Church, sing even if you think your voice isn’t that great, or if you sing at the wrong point between the verses. As the church, we sing the truth of the gospel to one another every Sunday. How good is it that we can do that again?
Let’s remember that through our corporate singing, we serve each other. When we feel low or distant from God, we listen to our brothers and sisters defiantly declaring the praises of our God over us. When we are struggling to believe in the hope we have, we are encouraged by our church family around us singing of that hope. As we sing together, we serve each other.
Let the message of Christ dwell among you richly as you teach and admonish one another with all wisdom through psalms, hymns, and songs from the Spirit, singing to God with gratitude in your hearts.
– Colossians 3:16
A glimpse of eternity
No matter how wonderful it is to sing together, something better is coming. In John’s vision of the new creation, he describes what our eternity will be like and it involves a lot of singing. As we sing together as a church, we get a glimpse of this new creation.
Being able to sing again should help us long more and more for this day.
After this I looked, and there before me was a great multitude that no one could count, from every nation, tribe, people and language, standing before the throne and before the Lamb…And they cried out in a loud voice:
‘Salvation belongs to our God,
who sits on the throne,
and to the Lamb.’
– Revelation 7:9-10
What a blessing to be able to sing together with you again. I look forward to singing God’s praises with you, now and forever!