Music is all around us. It’s inherent in God’s creation. Listen carefully, and you can hear it in the breeze through the trees, the waves breaking on a shoreline, the creaking and shifting of rocks in the mountains, and most certainly in the chirps and calls of birds. As the hymn says, “All nature sings, and around me rings the music of the spheres.”
Just exactly when humans joined this chorus is not completely known. Most likely, music and singing developed alongside language and speaking, but there is a deep emotional quality to singing that sets it apart from speaking.
Think about it: When do you feel like singing? Usually it’s when you’re jubilant, or when you’re sad. There’s something about joy that wells up in us and makes us want to sing. We find ourselves humming, whistling, singing. It may be a favorite hymn, a popular song on the radio or something we create in our head. Likewise, when we’re sad, we dip into the well of our memory and pull up a song that consoles us – a hymn that draws us close to faith and hope, or an oldie that reminds us of special people or places.
The Scriptures are full of singing. The most obvious place is in Psalms, a book of songs and prayers largely attributed to King David that expresses the full range of human emotions and most notably praise and thanksgiving. A few examples:
• “I will praise God’s name in song and glorify him with thanksgiving” (Psalm 69:30).
• “Sing to the Lord a new song; sing to the Lord, all the earth” (Psalm 96:1).
• “Worship the Lord with gladness; come before him with joyful songs” (Psalm 100:2).
Throughout the Scriptures there are specific instances of singing. When Moses and the Israelites witnessed Pharaoh’s armies swallowed up in the Red Sea, they broke into song: “I will sing to the Lord, for he is highly exalted. The horse and its rider he has hurled into the sea. The Lord is my strength and my song; he has become my salvation” (Exodus 15:1-2).
When Mary learned she would bear God’s Son, her joy was expressed in a song called the Magnificat: “My soul glorifies the Lord and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior” (Luke 1: 46-47).
Paul, in his letter to the church in Ephesus, said: “Speak to one another with psalms, hymns and spiritual songs. Sing and make music in your heart to the Lord, always giving thanks to God the Father for everything, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ” (Ephesians 5:19-20).
Paul practiced what he preached. When he and Silas were imprisoned in Philippi, they sang and prayed in their cell until they were freed (Acts 16:24-26).
As Paul and others demonstrate, singing is a natural response to many of the events of our lives, and most importantly, a natural expression of our relationship with God. For that reason, singing is woven into the tapestry of our worship alongside prayer and Scripture study.
So why do many of us leave the joy of singing to the choirs and ensembles? These groups hold a prominent place in our worship because of their special gifts, but aren’t we all called to “make a joyful noise unto the Lord?”
While each of us is born with the desire and instinct to sing, something happens in our childhood years. Self-consciousness creeps into our psyche, and we become aware of our own voice compared to others. Those of us lacking perfect pitch and a strong dose of extroversion tend to hide our God-given instrument. We only sing when we’re alone, and in church we shyly whisper or hum. The desire is still there, but we hold ourselves back.
There’s a wonderful scene in the movie “My Best Friend’s Wedding” where the bride-to-be is goaded into singing by her fiance’s ex-girlfriend. She stands up and sings with all her heart, and while she is painfully off-key, she is oblivious to her shortcomings and the stares of others. Her heart is overflowing with love for her beloved, and her face glows with unabashed joy.
So too it should be when we sing words of love and praise to our Lord. The truth is we don’t know if Moses, David, Mary or Paul were good singers. All we know is they loved the Lord and sang praises without hesitation.
We’d like to believe the angels who sang in the heavens above Bethlehem when Jesus was born formed a choir of pure perfection. As for the shepherds who visited the stable that night, I have a mental picture of them walking back to the pasture singing a reprise of the angels’ hymn. Filled with joy and wonder, I believe they couldn’t help but sing.
And what did they sound like, these common men? I’m guessing they might have been a bit hoarse and crusty, unpolished and imperfect. I’m guessing they sounded a lot like you and me.