“Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, since as members of one body you were called to peace. And be thankful. Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly as you teach and admonish one another with all wisdom, and as you sing psalms, hymns and spiritual songs with gratitude in your hearts to God.”

Colossians 3:15, 16

Why do we sing in church? Why are we as congregants expected to sing hymns and responses during the service? And why do we have to stand when we do it? What if I don’t know the tune? Why don’t we just let the choir do all the singing and leave us in the pews alone?

Perhaps you may have noticed in our worship service that those in the pews are more or less passive recipients of the act of worship. We listen to the organ prelude, offertory and postlude; we listen to the scriptures and prayers spoken to us without our direct participation. We listen to the choir sing an introit, an anthem and a benediction response. We listen, perhaps attentively, to the sermon. Oh, we may stand up and greet our neighbors, and reach for our offering envelope to drop it in the plate as it passes by, and we may even come forward to receive communion.  But most of the time we sit and take it all in.

Singing is perhaps the one chance we get as worshipers to participate actively as a collective body. It may provide the greatest opportunity to explicitly offer our words of praise, thanksgiving, humility and gratitude. It may be a measure of what we bring to the worship experience that reflects our own personal feelings—about the Lord, about the application of scripture to our own lives, about how we really feel about those around us. It can be a means of joining our voice with those of others in a corporate, collective community of worship, adoration and thankfulness to the Lord. It is our opportunity to declare openly our inner thoughts and testimony about how our lives have been affected by the flow of the Lord’s love and truth.

Some of us may feel inhibited, shy, or just unwilling to open our mouths and let the sounds come rushing out, for fear that we may be off key or that our voice may not be what it once was. Or we actually may be unfamiliar with the tune and reluctant to take a chance with singing it. Psalm 100 [KJV] says, “Make a joyful noise to the LORD.” (Emphasis mine) The NIV reads, “Shout for joy to the LORD, all the earth. Worship the Lord with gladness; come before him with joyful songs.” And the verses above from Colossians suggest that singing psalms, hymns and spiritual songs are a means of “teaching and admonishing one another.” They also suggest that we sing “with gratitude in our hearts to God.”

So, what are you grateful for? What sense of awe, humility, love, or thankfulness are you just bursting to express in the company of others, not just privately in the quietness of your own home or as you bow your head reverently in the pews? Do you really want the choir to sing your praises for you? Isn’t the singing of “psalms, hymns and spiritual songs” just what you need, what your whole body is vibrating to do? Stand up and sing it out! Let the rafters ring with your jubilant praises! Sing off key! Let the sounds of your spirit flow fully and uninhibited from your throat! When the organ opens the introduction to the next hymn or response, let the praises roll, let the shouts of thanksgiving soar to the heavens.

And then let God’s peace flow down on you, wash over you, and comfort you in knowing that you took your part and did your best, not just in worship but in every moment of your life.

D. E. Dillard