When it comes to worship in song, the New Testament actually says very little. Its verses tell us to sing to one another, to make melody in our heart to the Lord, but not much else. The Bible does mention several kinds of songs: psalms, hymns, and spirit songs. As mentioned in previous weeks, words such as psallo, psalmos, hymneo, pneumatikos ode, and ado speak of songs of praise, singing songs speaking to God, and spontaneous singing of unwritten songs by the leading of the Holy Spirit. It is important to note that one kind is not better than the other. It is important to note that songs sung to one another are as important as songs sung to God, and songs with deep theological truths are important but so are spiritual songs expressing feelings of the heart. When a church gets hyper-focused on one kind of song, they actually miss out on so much of what God has for the church in song.
In the Old Testament there are multiple verses about the congregation reading aloud. In fact, most of the songs were actually more like Psalms and were read aloud in a rhythmic manner. When there was music it was mostly about the musicians (priests) playing songs for the congregation and people listened as an act of worship. (Something people today tend to reject in favor of congregational singing.) The point is, singing, playing, and listening were all seen as acts of worship when done unto the Lord. The last part being the most important (done unto the Lord). When we gather together to worship the Lord, we do so on three levels. One, as unto the Lord; two, as a way to connect with the Lord; and three, as a way to encourage one another in Christ. Our musical expressions in worship should do the same.
Over the last decade there has been debate about the posture of our worship (mostly referring to when we sing songs). As I mentioned before, the Hebrew and Greek words translated as worship in English do suggest physical postures as a reflection of the heart. Bowing down, raising our hands, and even dancing with all of our might like King David express with our bodies the very things we express in our words and hearts to God. While the physical expression of those feelings is by no means a command of the Lord, they are normative. In contrast, the extreme reserve of Western Christianity (heads bowed, eyes closed, hands folded, etc.) are relatively new innovations (over the last 500 hundred years vs. more than 2,000 years of church history). With so little indication in the Bible of what is required, what we might ask instead is, “What does the Lord desire from our worship?” The Lord asks for a whole heart, our whole being, our everything. For reserved persons this may look very different than it does for an expressive person, but the heart should be the same.
Next week we are talking about the eucharist.
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