Why Should We Sing?
This article by Monica Berndt was originally written on the Higher Things - Dare to Be Lutheran website.
Since the beginning of the Reformation, the Lutheran Church around the world has consistently allotted a portion of time during the Divine Service to the singing of hymns. Why? What is the reason for singing hymns as a congregation instead of letting a choir sing all the music, or why not just take hymns out altogether? After all, people can be self-conscience about singing in public, and, it takes time out of the service where we should be listening to a pastor speak the Word of God, right? Hymns do take up a large portion of our services, and we should understand why it is good for us to sing them.
When most of you were in grade school, you had to memorize the 50 U.S states and/or the names of all the U.S Presidents. To help you, your teachers probably had you memorize a song that included these names which you could sing with a CD, and have running through your head during the day. This helped you easily remember all the information the teacher wanted you to memorize by singing that song. Combining words with music helps our brains remember important facts and information better than just reciting them, which is why schools use music to teach us the presidents, and VBS and Sunday School use tunes to help us memorize Bible passages. But learning information this way is not just a tool for children, it is also one of the reasons we sing hymns.
Hymns are not just praise songs. Like the rest of the Divine Service, hymns remind us about Jesus, the redemption He won for us on the cross, and the gifts He continues to give us. Before church, look at the words to the hymns you will sing. Almost all of them will mention something about Jesus’ death, resurrection, and the gift of the Holy Spirit to create faith. Communion hymns tend to talk about the forgiveness of sins given to us in the Lord’s Supper. Hymns sung at during a baptism not only speak of the baptism taking place that day, but also remind all of us of our own baptisms and the assurance of forgiveness we received there. Hymns sung before the sermon have words that tie into the points your pastors want to emphasize during their sermons. Hymns always tie into what is said during the Divine Service and point us to Christ.
-
Details
-
Published: 09 April 2018 09 April 2018
-
Last Updated: 09 April 2018 09 April 2018
Read more ...