What causes you to burst out in song?
Do you have a swell of school pride and belt out your
Alma Mater?
At our favorite sporting events, do we whoop and holler along
with the rest in celebration?
What is this within us that causes us to have a rise of emotion that bubbles up and out of our mouths in a joyous melody?
Ever consider that it's a part of your very essence, part of the basic foundation of who you are as a human?
In their
book, SING!, Keith and Kristyn Getty delve into why we sing, how singing
changes our lives and where it comes from in our souls. In their second
chapter, they identify that there are more than 400 scripture verses that say
we are not only created to sing by a creative God, but also commanded to sing,
that it is an act of obedience and worship.
More so than just singing in general, they focus in on the Church and how we sing together. They share that "It is hard- impossible, in fact - to sing what you are excited about in your spirit and grateful for in your heart in a way that is tepid, tentative, and withdrawn. Deeply felt thankfulness produces a sound from our voices that is robust and enthusiastic."
In many places in our world including our churches, somehow we've completely misplaced our robust enthusiasm for singing, or singing with deep conviction with quiet apathy. Not one of us feels awkward or embarrassed when we cheer loudly for our kids or at a sporting event. As a matter of fact, we feel the air of camaraderie or belonging when we join the throng of voices. However, in many churches it's being discussed that we've lost our vigor for worshiping God Almighty.
The Getty’s have written a compelling and inspiring call to
action! This book kicks off with an impressive 10 pages of rave reviews from
many Christian leaders and singers from all walks of life. They’ve designed
the format to even be a group discussion or small group study book with a few
focus questions at the end of each chapter. At the back, they've written a section for pastors, worship leaders, song writers and creatives as well.
In the chapter “The Radical Witness When the Congregation...Sings!”, the authors talk about how “the sight and sound of a congregation singing praise
to God together is a radical witness in a culture that rejects God and embraces
individualism. Our songs are the public manifesto of what we believe.”
Contrasting that with the opposite type of witness that
a visitor noted at one church saying “that what they were singing was either
not true, or not wonderful or both.” She
questioned whether the people really took seriously what they believed or even
believed it at all.
The charge given to us first by God in the Bible and echoed
in this book is that we are a witness to the world and our singing is one way
the world detects that we are different. The conviction that ought to be in our
hearts over what Christ has done for us should be something that can’t help but
to bubble up out of us when we worship Him in song. I cannot imagine passively sitting
to sing the words “This the power of the Cross..Christ became sin for us..took
the blame, bore the wrath...we stand forgiven at the cross!” or “Holy, Holy,
Holy is the Lord God Almighty!”
It ought to be more like- He is Worthy of all my praise and
all my expression, how can I not? If it pleases the Lord that I act a fool in
my worship of Him, then I hope I can be counted among bible characters such as
David who danced in the streets!
I highly recommend this book for everyone, especially worship leaders at churches.
This book can be found on Amazon
