One of my favorite things to do at Christmas as a child was a couple days before, my little brother and I would have a large candle, and we would go from house to house with a hymnal and go caroling. We would pick a few of our favorites like Silent Night, Oh Come O Ye Faithful, and Joy to the World. There was something just wonderful about it. The winter night was usually so still and quiet with most of the noise coming from the crunching of the snow under our feet. All that combined with the flickering of the candle lighting the hymns just seemed magical. It was one of those things that really put us in the Christmas Spirit. There is just something about those songs. Nothing says Christmas like those songs.
I think it’s in our collective psyche. When we hear carols, it comes with a flood of emotions. This goes way back in history.
Singing during worship is traced to the Old Testament of Jerusalem. The entire book of Psalms was dedicated to it.
For a while though, singing by the congregation was banned in churches. They wanted to make churches like the Holy Temple with ordained Levites singing. For a thousand years, the only singing allowed in church was by a professional choir of ordained singers.2
It wasn’t until the Reformation the everyone was allowed to sing in church again. How democratizing. Everyone gets to participate.
Not only is it uplifting but it has some surprising health benefits!4
• It lowers stress hormones.
• It improves lung function and immune responses.
• Reduces snoring – I know, that was a surprising one. NPR was talking about how singing strengthens the muscles in the throat.
• Helps with memory – singing is used for dementia patients therapeutically
• Improves speech impediments such as those caused by autism or stuttering – anyone who’s seen the movie “The King’s Speech” saw how it was used for the Royal Family, or the Country singer Mel Tillis.
• Creates a sense of belonging and is beneficial for grieving
Well if it’s that good for your health, think of how good singing is four the soul. In the movie “Sister Act” a few years ago, they changed a congregation with their singing. I know this was a Hollywood movie but surprisingly it was based on a real person.
Sister act’s lead character, Deloris Van Cartier, was actually based on movie star and singer Mother Dolores Hart, who starred with Elvis in King Creole, and in the movie Where the Boys Are. Nominated for both the Golden Globe and Tony awards, she left the entertainment business to answer her calling. She founded an open-air theater at her Abby. She said: “It wasn't until we started a theater on the Abbey land that I really could see how I could help young people find their vocation in Christ through the medium of the theater.” 3
There are so many reasons we sing in church.
First of all, there are so many scriptures that tell us to sing. In one article I read, they found over 400 verses about
singing, and over 50 were commandments to sing.3
In Psalms it says: (Psalm 149)
“Praise the Lord! Sing a new song to the Lord, And His praise in the congregation of the godly ones.”
Like I said about the Reformation. Singing involves everyone in the congregation – everyone’s chance to preach. Hymns are based on the scriptures and how can we contain ourselves when singing them.
Colossians 3:16
Let the message of Christ dwell among you richly as you teach and admonish one another with all wisdom through psalms, hymns, and songs from the Spirit, singing to God with gratitude in your hearts.
The Christian minister and author John MacArthur says it this way:
“The Spirit-filled life produces music. Whether he has a good voice or cannot carry a tune, the Spirit-filled Christian is a singing Christian. Nothing is more indicative of a fulfilled life, a contented soul, and a happy heart than the expression of song.”
But it’s also singing together that brings us together. It’s a shared experience and shared emotion. This emotional tie is what interweaves our soul and creates a bond.
Let’s use the National Anthem has been an example of us interweaving emotions and strengthening a group. This was no more apparent than the time right after 9/11. In the very first professional game after the tragic attacks on innocent life, Sara Croft, a high school student stepped out onto the Football Field to sing the Star Spangled Banner for the Jaguars vs the Titans. The there was something about that moment. She had sang at a number of NFL games prior but this time was unique. As she sang, the crowd sang along. Some openly wept as they shared the experience. They said there was one thing striking about the song… an overwhelming sense of unity. Right or left. Black or white. They had put aside any differences and were united. 7
Wow, think about that for a moment. If a song about the country could unite people, what could singing about the Lord do. How uniting could that be?
I read about an example of just how uniting it really could be.
On Christmas Eve in 1914, during one of the bloodiest battles in human history, a song of Christ was able to pause a war. The war had already claimed over a million lives at this point.
Walter Kirchhoff, a tenor with the Berlin Opera and German Army Officer stepped out of the trench and began to sing the song “Silent Night”. He sang first in German, and then in English. The frigid air hanging over the battlefield carried his voice some great distance in all directions.
The history Stanley Weintraub documented in his book, "The shooting had stopped and in that silence he sang and the British knew the song and sang back."
Eventually, everyone came out of their trenches and met in the middle of No Man’s Land, the deadly strip between the opposing armies where bullets fell like rain.
Can you imagine the scene? The killing and aggression came to a halt as two armies met, singing a song celebrating the birth of our Savior. It didn’t end with the song. The two groups agreed on a temporary armistice. The peace lasted through Christmas day with the troops celebrating, exchanging trinkets, food, and playing soccer in what was the most dangerous place on earth just hours before. It is estimated that 100 thousand troops took part in the Christmas Armistice.6
A world so divided can use singing.
So, I’ve talked a lot about how powerful song can be. And I think I stumbled on the root of this. Singing a hymn is a prayer. It’s a lyrical prayer. We raise our voices to Heaven to give praise and glory. Think of just how many hymns end in the word Amen, the ancient Greek for “so be it”.
So why are hymns so powerful as prayers?
How could it be different from so many other prayers we say during the day?
Let me ask you this honestly. If you’re as A.D.D. as I am, how many things are going through your mind right now? How many distractions are there? Your listening to the sermon, but your mind could also be wandering.
But it turns out that a number of psychologists believe we don’t actually think two things at once. It’s our thoughts switching so quickly, we only think it’s multiple things at once.
That’s were music comes back in.
Singing also makes our prayer more focused. An article in Phycology Today pointed out that when singing the act occupies a number of different regions of the brain. Activating different linguistic sections and firing in different ways for memorization. All this combined making it difficult to think of anything else while singing. Also, the melody and the words strike emotions as well. So when your singing a song of praise, your mind is focused, and your emotions are stirred.5
That’s what makes a singing prayer so powerful. Our minds become focused on nothing else but the song of prayer. It’s another shared experience.
I Now bring that into a congregation where we all sing in unison. All of us focused on saying the same prayer at the same time.
In unison… That brings us to another passage of the New Testament: Matthew 18:20:
“For where two or three have gathered together in My name, there I am in their midst.”
Singing our hymns invites the Lord into our presence. That’s one of the reasons why so many of our songs are exceptional at bringing the spirit into our worship.
Bob Kauflin, director of Sovereign Grace Music, has written:
“Why does God so often tell us not simply to praise him but to sing his praises when we meet? Why not just pray and preach? Why sing? Why are God’s people throughout history always singing? Why words and music and not just words alone? Why does God want us to sing? One reason is that God himself sings.
In Zephaniah 3:17
17 The Lord your God is in your midst, a mighty one who will save; he will rejoice over you with gladness;
he will quiet you by his love; he will exult over you with loud singing.
…
I have always found Christmas music to be exceptionally powerful. I look forward all year to singing them in church. I know I’m not alone.
As early as AD 129, Christians marked their Nativity celebrations with a song called “Angel’s Hymn.” Though the lyrics and music don't survive, it’s easy to imagine these early Christians intoning the angelic words “Gloria in excelsis Deo,” a tradition we carry on today in the refrain to “Angels We Have Heard on High.”1
We can all join together and sing and rejoice. Invite the Holy Spirit into our congregation as two or more have gathered in His name.
We will sing our prayers in unison, amplifying their power.
If one song stopped a war, what would have happened and how many lives would have changed if they … if WE just keep singing.
1. http://www.keepingadvent.com/christmas-music
2. https://www.blockislandtimes.com/affiliate-post/command-sing/37023
3. https://abbeyofreginalaudis.org/community-mdh.html
4. https://www.healthline.com/health/benefits-of-singing#benefits
6. How Silent Night became the Christmas song that stopped World War I | CBC News
5. Singing is good for us. In true holiday spirit, here are 12 psychological ways.
Posted December 20, 2014Kate F. Hays, Ph.D.; https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/the-edge-peak-performance-psychology/201412/twelve-reasons-singing
7. https://www.news4jax.com/sports/2021/09/11/an-anthem-that-brought-the-crowd-together-after-911/
