Sing!: How Worship Transforms Your Life, Family, and Church by Keith Getty & Kristyn Getty

Author:Keith Getty & Kristyn Getty [Getty, Keith]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Religion/Christian Life/Spiritual Growth
Publisher: B&H Books
Published: 2017-08-02T21:00:00+00:00

Chapter 6

Sing! . . . with the Local Church

The Giant’s Causeway is a world heritage site minutes away from our front door in Northern Ireland. It is a geological marvel, consisting of forty thousand naturally occurring and mostly hexagonally shaped rocks, joined together at varying heights and rising up beside the wild Antrim coastline. Through many different weathers (most frequently rain) people come from all over the world to climb on the rocks and look out onto the waves.

There is something church-like about the sight. Peter writes in his first letter to the early church, “As you come to him, the living Stone—rejected by humans but chosen by God and precious to him—you also, like living stones, are being built into a spiritual house to be a holy priesthood, offering spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ” (1 Pet. 2:4–5).

Like these multi-angled stones, even with our sharp points and rough edges we who are God’s people are being built together upon the solid Rock that is our Lord Jesus. The church is the only structure that will stand forever. Nothing—not even the very storms of hell—will prevail over it. Today, as you read, people from every nation, tribe, and tongue are coming to take refuge from the waves, just as we have done.

Together

The best most perfect way that we have of expressing a sweet concord of mind to each other is by music.17

When we sing together as the Church, we are showing how we are a congregation of living stones. Our singing is an audible expression of the bonds we share, testifying to the life that lies within these stones. We are cut from the same elements of faith, united in one Lord, filled by one Spirit, brought into one Church, to offer our praise to Him. We are being chiseled and refined through our singing, just as we are through every aspect of our lives. We are forged together through our singing together.

In many ways, the key word in that last sentence was not about music, nor even singing, but rather together. We live in a time when the importance of music in church has been elevated greatly (not least because it has become commercially lucrative). But at the same time, we are in danger of lowering the importance we place on singing together. Listening to each other mumbling quietly along as a band performs brilliantly on stage in a church building is not the same as singing together as a congregation. The medieval church made the error of treating the Lord’s Supper as something for the congregation to watch as the professionals at the front participated. Might we not be in danger of doing the same with our music today?

So many of the instructions given to God’s people are to be worked out in community, together. Strong, heartfelt congregational singing is a striking expression of this, of the Holy Spirit at work amongst us, and through us, as we sing of the very things we share as Christ’s people.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.