Last week, I wrote about my first experience gathering in person to worship since the COVID crisis began early spring. One of the things that caught my attention was how much I had unknowingly missed singing with other believers. Some churches still aren’t meeting in person, and others have moved back to online services only—so this singing issue remains. Even among churches meeting in person, the question of whether we should sing at all right now is a live one. That’s why this week’s Time magazine article entitled, “No Joy without Singing” caught my attention.[1]
The writer had loved singing—in fact, he took vocal lessons a few years ago—and he joined the New York Choir Project group. His thoughts relate to his experience with that choir, but his words hit home for me as I thought about congregational singing:
Choir became a high point in my life. I’d close out normally dreary Mondays with that evening’s rehearsal and leave on an absolute high. Small wonder, for as science and experience have shown, singing together is ridiculously good for us. There’s a raft of evidence for how it improves our sense of well-being, releases a flood of beneficial hormones, lowers blood pressure and boosts immune response.
When COVID shut down his choir, the author turned to apps and the Internet to sing with others around the world (“singing buddies around the globe,” he calls them). Still, he missed singing in person with others:
I miss my real-world choir. I miss feeling the actual energy coming off of other people. I miss having an audience beyond my wife and daughter. Like any number of quarantined choirs–and choral singing is America’s most popular performing art by participation–my choir has moved online, to the familiar Zoom grid. It’s reassuring to see this sea of earbud-clad friendly faces, but as the technology isn’t quite there, we can’t all sing together live. I’m dreaming of the day our voices–and breath–reunite.
I am not debating in this post whether we should be singing at all (or wearing a mask while singing) when COVID is still a threat. That’s simply not my point. What I am arguing is this: if singing secular songs together in a secular choir can bring such delight, surely we who love Christ ought to long to sing together again. We ought to find great joy in singing His praises. Perhaps COVID is helping us–or at least me–learn this truth.
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[1] Tom Vanderbilt, “No Joy without Singing” (July 20/27, 2020): 29.
Later today I am posting an article on my blog with the title, “Worship Is Not About Singing Only.” This is an excerpt from the article: “While ‘hymns, psalms, and spiritual songs’ play an important role in our services of public worship, they are not the only ways that we give expression to our praise and adoration of God, encourage each other, instruct each other, exhort each other, and build up each other’s faith. Here are some other ways that we do these things.” I then look at eighteen different ways that we do that. I conclude the article with this observation. “The moratorium on choral singing, congregational singing, and corporate recitation forces us to be more creative in the ways that we worship God, I do not see that as a bad thing. While we may not be able to sing aloud at church for a season, we can sing aloud at home. The shift from singing in church to singing at home I believe is a good thing. Churches can post lyrics on their websites and mp3s and videos of the music to which the lyrics may be sung and encourage member households to sing at home. This shift could eventually lead to a revival of congregation singing.” I’ll post a link to the article when I post the article. I think that you’d like to read it.
Readers, here’s the link to Robin’s post: https://anglicansablaze.blogspot.com/2020/07/worship-is-not-about-singing-only.html. I encourage you to read his unique perspective on this topic.
Thanks! I look forward to reading it.