Why Do We Sing?

This morning we are dedicating new hymnals for use in our worship. Lord willing, these hymnals will bless our congregation for many years to come. We are thankful to have them. We are thankful to the committee which compared and evaluated several hymnals before choosing this one. And we are thankful as well that as Americans we are citizens of a nation in which the worship of God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit can be openly practiced without fear of persecution. May that always be the case.

And so, on this happy occasion, it is fitting that we consider the important role that the singing of hymns plays in our worship, and what that means for our lives as followers of Jesus Christ. Perhaps we’ve come to take for granted that whenever we come together, whether on a Sunday morning or on special occasions, the order of service typically includes a time when we raise our voices in song and give praise and thanks to God.

But let’s think about that for a moment: why do we sing, as a regular part of our worship services? What is it about this practice that makes it essential for us as a congregation, and for each of us as individual believers? Why, for the last twenty centuries, regardless of the era, or the country, or the culture – whether Medieval church or modern, formal or informal, Catholic, Orthodox, or Protestant; in English, French, Hindi, Mandarin Chinese or hundreds of other languages, why, always, have Christians sung hymns whenever they have come together?

Well, first of all, we have the example of the early church, beginning with Jesus and the apostles. Did Jesus sing hymns? Yes! What was the last thing that Jesus and the disciples did in the Upper Room after observing the Lord’s Supper? The gospels of Matthew and Mark tell us that before going out to the Mount of Olives, they sang a hymn. Wouldn’t you like to know what hymn that was? Most likely it was one of the Psalms. Why? Because the Psalms were the hymnal of ancient Israel. Perhaps it was Psalm 22, a Psalm of David.

Psalm 22 would have been an appropriate choice on that occasion, because it foreshadowed the crucifixion. It begins with these words:

1 My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? Why are you so far from saving me, so far from my cries of

anguish?

The same words that Jesus cried out on the cross, although they were written a thousand years earlier. But that isn’t the final word, as the Psalmist looks to the future and proclaims,

22 I will declare your name to my people; in the assembly I will praise you.

23 You who fear the LORD, praise him! All you descendants of Jacob, honor him!

Revere him, all you descendants of Israel!

24 For he has not despised or scorned the suffering of the afflicted one; he has not hidden his face from him but

has listened to his cry for help.

And then, finally, he brings forth this prophecy:

27 All the ends of the earth will remember and turn to the Lord, and all the families of the nations will bow down

before him,

28 for dominion belongs to the Lord and he rules over the nations.

30 Posterity will serve him; future generations will be told about the Lord.

31 They will proclaim his righteousness, declaring to a people yet unborn:

He has done it!

In this Psalm, number 22 in the hymnal of ancient Israel, we have the suffering of Christ foretold, but then also his final triumph and eternal reign. What a glorious picture! And so, let’s assume, for a moment — again, we can’t know, but let’s assume —that this was the hymn that Jesus and the disciples sang before they went out to the Mount of Olives, and then on to Gethsemane, where Jesus was betrayed. Let’s assume that this was the hymn they sang before Jesus was arrested and taken to the Sanhedrin, and then to Pilate’s courtyard, and ultimately, to Golgotha, where he was crucified and died.

During the terrible events of that night and the following days, as the disciples saw their master beaten and bleeding, mocked and reviled, and ultimately yielding up his life, as it seemed that all of their hopes were being crushed, as the light they had been following was extinguished, do you think the verses of Psalm 22 resonated in their minds? As they witnessed the anguish of Christ on the cross, echoing the anguish of the Psalmist, did they also remember the shout of victory which concludes the hymn? “He has done it!” Did that help to encourage and sustain them? We can’t know this for certain, of course. But what I am confident of is that whatever they sang in the upper room, whether it was Psalm 22 or another hymn, it was not random, but chosen by the Holy Spirit for their need at that moment, to remind them that God was in control, and that despite the suffering that was soon to come, God would ultimately triumph and would reign eternally.