The Singing Church

The Lutheran Church has, since her birth, been called 'the singing church.' Luther himself had a very high esteem for music and church hymns. “Music is an outstanding gift of God and next to theology.” [What Luther Says, Plass, CPH, p.979] Luther wrote many hymns in German, restoring the music of the church to the people (much like he did with his German translation of the Scriptures). The Lutheran church shares the esteem of Luther for good hymns and songs.

But why? Why does the church sing? What purpose does the singing of hymns and songs serve in the church? As always, we turn to the Holy Scriptures for our answer. St Paul writes to the church in Colosse:

Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom; teaching and admonishing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord.  [Colossians 3:16]

We see in this text that our singing is for the purpose of teaching and admonishing. This is much different than the popular idea of church music. Many churches use music and songs to create an atmosphere or provoke an emotional experience. Much of so-called 'contemporary worship' has the goal of a worship experience. St Paul has other purposes in mind: teaching and admonishing.

Teaching is instruction in the faith and the truth of the Scriptures. Admonishing is instruction in life and love. The church sings hymns that are full of teaching and instruction, songs that are loaded with doctrine and theology. The hymns of the church are our instructors, and we, as good students, rejoice in their teaching and admonishing us in the true faith.

How can we, as the people of God, better use our hymns? Here are three suggestions:

I. Train yourself to listen to the words and the message of the hymn.

Listening is becoming a lost art in our day. There was a time when most information and entertainment was through the ear, through stories, speaking, songs and even radio. No longer. Now most of our information and entertainment is through the eye, television, movies, even magazines are often more pictures than words. This being said, we in the church need to practice listening, for the Lord communicates with us through words, through the ear. “Faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God.” [Romans 10:17]

When it comes to hymns we especially need to practice listening. It is easy to become overwhelmed with singing and the music that we forget to pay attention to the words we are singing. The treasure of the hymns we sing is in the words, the teaching and admonishing the hymns offer. In this way we learn to think, meditate on, and relish the words and the thoughts of the hymns that we sing.

II. Look for connections in the Divine Service.

The hymns chosen for each service are chosen to match the theme of the Scriptures and the sermon. Ask yourself, 'What is the central theme of the hymn? What does this have to do with the Gospel reading? What about the sermon? Seeing these connections brings more understanding of the Scriptures, hymns and sermon.

III. Use the hymnal devotionally.

Our hymnals are devotional treasure chests. All hymns are poems. Even if you don't like to sing them, why not take a hymn and read it devotionally, reflecting on the teaching and admonition in the hymns. In The Lutheran Hymnal the Scripture verse that most closely reflects the theme of the hymn is in the upper right-hand of each page. Why not read the Scripture passage and the hymn together?

IV. Sing with gusto!

Each hymn we sing is a wonderful opportunity to confess our faith to God and our neighbors. It doesn't matter if you're tone deaf, that you 'can't carry a tune in a bucket', what matters is the words; the beauty is in the proclamation of the Gospel. If you're really a bad singer, the person in front of you will just have to sing louder.

We have inherited a great treasure: the hymns of the church. These hymns continue to do what they have done for thousands of years: teach the one true faith and admonish us toward fervent love and more good works.

May the Lord grant that we would continue to be a singing church, lifting our voices and hearts to Him in song.

For Further Study...
Exodus 15:1-5; Psalm 149; St Luke 19:37-40; Revelation 5:8-14