Why is Singing So Important to Christians?
Good Morning Friends,
Working together for a common cause is difficult. There are economies of exclusion and an idolatry of money and financial systems that rule over instead of serve. And then there is inequality which spawns violence. Oh, and egos. Sometimes people pretend there is unity when there is not. Certainly without a culture of faith guiding us it would be worse. The temptation is to succumb to spiritual selfishness or to become an isolationist and pessimist. Interestingly singing together gives us an opportunity of community being in unity. When I contemplate the unfinished work of the church and the world in which we live with the technology that can connect us all, I have to believe that we have the potential of being of one body in Christ. Revelation has a picture of all the nations of the world in unity and of a choir singing a new song. Acts has a picture of people being filled with the Holy Spirit and speaking in each other’s languages. The image of that unity in scripture is of people singing a song of faith, the song of saints marching, the song of harmony restored and yet something new beyond the birth of the church…the song of the salvation of God that is more than harmony. It is the song of Jesus and it is a new song. We all love the old songs but to bring us together, with all the diversity in the whole world, we need a new song we can sing together to help us remember that we are already one whether we believe we are or not. In addition to Isaiah 42, four Psalms— Psalms 33, 96, 98, and 149 — have words about singing to the Lord a new song. New songs of praise are appropriate for a new reformation and the fresh manifestations of grace we will see and sing about in the next few years. We need to get busy writing the new songs once God has put them on our hearts….songs for Baptists and Pentecostals, Catholics and Protestants alike. Together we need to discover the answer to today’s question. Why is Singing So Important to Christians?
Scripture: The glory that you have given me I have given them, so that they may be one, as we are one, I in them and you in me, that they may become completely one, so that the world may know that you have sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me.
John 17: 22-23 (NRSV)
After this I looked, and there was a great multitude that no one could count, from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, robed in white, with palm branches in their hands. They cried out in a loud voice, saying, ‘Salvation belongs to our God who is seated on the throne, and to the Lamb!’
Revelation 7:9-10 (NRSV)
When the day of Pentecost had come, they were all together in one place. And suddenly from heaven there came a sound like the rush of a violent wind, and it filled the entire house where they were sitting. Divided tongues, as of fire, appeared among them, and a tongue rested on each of them. All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other languages, as the Spirit gave them ability. Now there were devout Jews from every nation under heaven living in Jerusalem. And at this sound the crowd gathered and was bewildered, because each one heard them speaking in the native language of each. Amazed and astonished, they asked, ‘Are not all these who are speaking Galileans? And how is it that we hear, each of us, in our own native language? But Peter, standing with the eleven, raised his voice and addressed them: ‘Men of Judea and all who live in Jerusalem, let this be known to you, and listen to what I say. Indeed, these are not drunk, as you suppose, for it is only nine o’clock in the morning. No, this is what was spoken through the prophet Joel: “In the last days it will be, God declares, that I will pour out my Spirit upon all flesh, and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, and your young men shall see visions, and your old men shall dream dreams. Even upon my slaves, both men and women, in those days I will pour out my Spirit; and they shall prophesy. And I will show portents in the heaven above and signs on the earth below, blood, and fire, and smoky mist. The sun shall be turned to darkness and the moon to blood, before the coming of the Lord’s great and glorious day. Then everyone who calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved.”
Acts 2:1-8, 14-21 (NRSV)
There is one body and one Spirit, just as you were called to one hope when you were called;
Ephesians 4:4 (NIV)
Sing to the Lord a new song, his praise from the end of the earth!
Isaiah 42:10 (NRSV)
O sing to the Lord a new song; sing to the Lord, all the earth.
Psalm 96:1 (NRSV)
Message: When Jesus spoke about unity, His intent was far beyond patriotism to the nation under the rule of Rome. It was a prayer for all time. Prompted by that prayer in John 17 and today’s scripture we must acknowledge that God deserves our songs of praise…songs that point to what Jesus has done to save us. Friends, we need to sing songs of faith and glory that give us a glimpse of heaven and the truth it guarantees. We need to be inspired by songs of goodness that are beyond human terms. Each and every day we are to practice what it means to sing a new song in a new world… a song changed, a world changed because of the unity of believers and the influence…the Spirit’s influence that invites us to become part of the choir of God. Here the Spirit takes human lives, human voice and weaves them into something connected on the firm foundation of Christ Jesus in the act of creating something new in us. But what we do not yet know is the new songs we are to sing together. It takes energy to write them and learn them. Maybe this is why scriptures remind us again and again to “sing a new song.” And if we take our prompts from the worship of heaven in the book of Revelation, we may want to get a little foretaste now of the feast of worship to come. It would be wonderful if for the 500th anniversary of the Reformation we were able to sing in hope of unity a new song together.
Pray we wait patiently for the Lord. Pray we grow in unity with God. Pray that God puts a new song in our mouths. Pray that we learn to sing in one heart and one voice in the unity of the body. Pray that we learn to sing by faith believing in advance what makes sense only in reverse. Pray that we would radically adjust our self-centered song to fit into the center of God’s music around us bringing energy and meaning and love in something that is more than harmony. Pray we realize that it is the grace of the Holy Spirit that gives us the strength to love. Pray we realize that love, this act of adoration has the power to bind us together. Pray that our adoration of God puts a new song in all our hearts.
Blessings,
John Lawson
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