I come from a very musical family. When I was a child, my brother and I formed a guitar trio with our dad. My mum jokingly referred to us as The Von Sketts, but we were eventually named by one of the people in our church as Los Skettos. I know – cringe.
There's something powerful about music. It is present wherever we go, from the background music in the local supermarket to the off-key renditions of 'Don't stop me now' sung on the dance floor at wedding receptions. It would be perfectly normal to ask someone you've recently met what kind of music they're into – and probably abnormal if they were to reply, 'I'm not into music really'. Insert shocked emoji here.
PixabaySinging praise to God is an essential part of worship.
We all sing. Whether or not we do it well is a separate issue. We don't all sing in public; for some people, singing is reserved entirely for their shower time. Some people sing all the time, and others sing only occasionally. My brother is someone who will sing wherever he goes, while my dad mainly just sings jingles whenever someone uses a phrase from the advert. However or whenever we do it, singing is hard-wired within us as a way of expressing ourselves.
I used to wonder why singing was such a big part of church gatherings. I've always enjoyed singing, but it did seem odd to me. It wouldn't be normal anywhere else. But what I've discovered is that it kind of is normal. In fact, in other areas where people gather the singing is more passionate than it is in church sometimes. If you've ever been to a football match or a night club you'll know what I mean.
Sung worship is a vitally important part of Christian life. There's something powerful about voices together, praising God through songs which stir the heart with the truths of Scripture. Football fans sing about the merits of their team, or how awful their rivals are; clubbers sing mostly about sex, it seems. Christians sing about the Creator of the universe, the One who flung the stars into space and who knitted us together in our mothers' wombs, the saviour who chose to die a criminal's death so that we could come into relationship with him! Just take a moment to let that sink in and remind yourself of the glory of the God we worship. In the light of all that, how could we not sing?
Singing has been part of worship in the church since the very beginning. Jesus and his disciples sang together (Matthew 26:30); Paul and Silas sang together in prison (Acts 16:25); Paul directed believers to sing together regularly (Ephesians 5:18-19; Colossians 3:16); hymn singing was a regular part of early church worship (1 Corinthians 14:26).
