Singing is Essential

Guidelines for Worship in California on July 6 told worshipers of all kinds that that singing and chanting should not be allowed inside the church.

Places of worship must, therefore, discontinue indoor singing and chanting activities and limit indoor attendance to 25% of building capacity or a maximum of 100 attendees, whichever is lower.

Of course, the example often cited is a church choir in Washington consisting of elderly members that practiced for several hours together. I am not arguing against the potential danger of the aerosols in the air that might result from singing—especially for long periods of time in crowded or close spaces. What I want to point out is the nature of the restriction to Christians.

It’s like telling a dog not to wag its tail, or a child not to giggle when playing. Singing is not one of the things we do, it is the essential expression of who we are as believers. It is part of our new nature. We sing because we CANNOT be silent.

Singing together is a deep and basic aspect of Christian living. We want to be safe, so we will try to do it safely, but we MUST sing.

Singing is a command.

There are hundreds of verses in scripture that command singing or express the essential nature of signing. The largest book of scripture—by far—is the Psalm-book.

. . .be filled with the Spirit, speaking to one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord, giving thanks always for all things to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ (Ephesian 5:19-20).

Singing is an essential aspect of Spirit-filled living.

Not only does Ephesians 5 command us to sing, but Paul also commands singing as an activity associated with Spirit-filled living. The Spirit-filled life IS the Christian life. It is how believers are supposed to live. It is not a higher form of spiritual existence. While there might be some rare exceptions based upon physical limitations, a Spirit-filled person is a singing person. When Paul and Silas were beaten nearly to death and thrown into prison, they sang into the night.

And when they had laid many stripes on them, they threw them into prison, commanding the jailer to keep them securely. Having received such a charge, he put them into the inner prison and fastened their feet in the stocks. But at midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the prisoners were listening to them (Acts 16:23-25).

We are commanded to sing to one another.

I am not sure many believers get this. When we sing in worship we are not just singing WITH one another we are singing TO one another. Spirit-filled living is not a solo thing. It is a corporate thing. We need one another to do it and part of that one another experience is singing. Even Jesus, the night before He was crucified, when the weight of eternity was on His shoulders, sang with His disciples (Matthew 26:30). Singing is not just for the happy and joyful times, it is for the times of trial and hardship too.

In this, I am glad I do not live in California.  I know many California churches are meeting and singing outside in order to be compliant.  For us, it is our desire to be safe and responsible in worship. We have created distanced seating and limited occupancy.  We have cut back on the amount of singing we do, but we cannot stop singing.

To us, it is essential.  Let’s pray that we can get back to normal soon.