“Sing to the LORD with thanksgiving; make music to our God on the harp.”1
How well I remember when I first came to the U.S.A. how moved I was by the singing in chapel where I attended college and how, when I was fresh out of college, in the little church I attended how we made the rafters ring with our singing. Back then the singing was in rich, full harmony. Also, on one occasion when speaking in a church in Perth, Western Australia, the singing was heavenly. On the fist line of the first song, I said to myself, “Surely the presence of the Lord is in this place.” And he was.
There was a Chinese professor in the congregation that day. It was only the first or second time in her life that she had ever been to church. She told us how she was brought up in China under Mao Tse Tung and was taught that there was no God. “But,” she said, “I know now that there is a God. I felt his presence here as never before.”
In today’s church, music is still one of the biggest areas of conflict. The “oldies” like the hymnology of the past while the “youngies” like the more contemporary music. I have two concerns and it has little, if anything, to do with whether the music is hymns or what has come to be known as praise music.
My first concern, with both the old hymns and the new praise songs, is that using modern technology has helped eliminate harmony from both the old and the new music. PowerPoint is wonderful for projecting announcements, the Scriptures, and sermon points, but I have problems with the music only in that it has all but eliminated harmony. The hymn/chorus words may be in full color but our singing is mostly in black and white. Frankly, being somewhat of an amateur musician myself, I find this singing without harmony rather lacking.
Could you imagine what it would sound like if every instrument in an orchestra only ever played the melody? How dreadfully uninspiring that would be.
In days gone by I used to play an electric guitar—but if I only ever played the melody, I’m pretty sure my family would have been “harping” (nagging) at me, especially Joy, my wife, for she plays both a harp and the piano. If she only ever played melody on the piano and on her harp, I’d probably be “harping” at her!
I may very well be wrong, but I cannot in my wildest dreams ever imagine that the singing in heaven will be without harmony. Harmony is a marvelous gift of God. As four-color printing is to color printing let’s bring four-part harmony back into our churches to enrich our worship and praise of God. And, if our schools are no longer teaching our kids music and harmony, let’s do it in our churches. And if our churches aren’t teaching music and harmony, let’s teach our kids at home. Like I said, harmony is a wonderful gift from God. Let’s use it to glorify him and enrich our singing and worship—regardless of whether we sing traditional hymns or contemporary praise songs.
My second concern is to emphasize the fact that the most important thing in our singing is that it is coming from the heart and not just from the head—or the emotions. Authentic music and authentic praise of God only comes from authentic people—regardless of the style of music being sung or played.
Suggested prayer: “Dear God, thank you for creating color for the world in which we live, for how monotonous it would be if the sky, clouds, trees, birds, flowers, the ocean and everything else were just black and white. And thank you for creating harmony and music so we can lift our voices in glorious harmony to sing praises and words of thanksgiving to you for all you have done for us. Thank you for hearing and answering my prayer. Gratefully, in Jesus’ name, amen.”
1. Psalm 147:7 (NIV).
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