When Singing Is Teaching
Solo, and book in hand, I entered this office visit with high hopes – here was a brief opportunity for some personal, quiet reading time. But with hardly more than a quick, mindless glance on social media, my very efficient chiropractor’s office called my name from the waiting area. One particular phone message, however, had just caught my full attention. My dear friend had shared a clip of her teenage son sweetly singing beside his bedridden grandfather, who lay tired and ill in a hospital room. The preciousness of that moment was worth seeing and remembering – a more than fair trade for my lost time reading. But what was it they were singing together? And what, I wondered, would I have to share in a similar moment?
I love that Christians are uniquely known as a singing people. I recently read that the bible contains over 400 references to singing, with over 50 direct commands to sing, and the longest book in the Bible, Psalms, is actually a book of songs. As a Christian educator using the Charlotte Mason method of teaching, hymns have been part of our family’s monthly rhythms for many years. But sometimes I’ve had younger educators question me regarding the value of this often unfamiliar or forgotten and discarded genre of songs.
Colossians 3:16 says, “Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, with thankfulness in your hearts to God.” In this verse, Paul is telling us to let the word of God dwell in us richly…as well as a few important ways to do that. If you look closely, you will see he mentions two. First, he mentions the more obvious teaching (and admonishing), but we see secondly in this passage, that we are commanded also to sing songs…and right along with psalms and spiritual songs, HYMNS are specifically mentioned. Paul is saying here that two ways we can “let the word dwell in us richly” are through teaching and singing. But I would also add that I think one of the great secrets of hymns, is that they actually are teaching. The best hymns are deep, biblical or theological truths, put into a brief and beautiful, often easily memorizable form of worshipful music. A church’s music reflects its theology, or as Christian historian and author, Mark Noll rightly stated, “We are what we sing.” Do you want your family or your church family to have deep, theological truths running through their minds and hearts, equipping them for a life of faith? Try singing hymns. I find it wonderful that God designed our minds to more easily remember and memorize words set to music. The truths of memorized songs, like memorized scripture, can go with us and help us whenever and wherever we are – any time of the day or night. Often the words and messages of songs stick more easily in our minds – another great reason to fill our homes with the music of god-ward songs, and include, in particular, hymns.
What equips you for life’s deepest struggles? Matthew 26 tells us what Jesus did. Did you know that on the night before the crucifixion, Jesus sang hymns together with his disciples? Wouldn’t it be a wonderful thing to be able to rewind to that moment and hear what those men sang together that night? Whatever it was, it seems certain they sang soul-equipping, faith-building hymns. But beside singing hymns on that dreadful night, Jesus also prayed for his disciples, and one of the significant themes in Jesus’ prayer mentioned in John 17, was that his disciples would be unified. I mention this because again, I find singing hymns to be not only equipping, but also a unifying experience. Singing hymns connects me with my parents and grandparents, my children and grandchildren. Unlike most genres of music, hymns are meant to span the generations. I love things which unite the generations under the gospel, since we eagerly desire to pass the gospel message from one generation to the next. Many aspects of our culture divide generations, so when we can find common ground in music and worship, we have found a good thing. When well done, people of all generations in our lifetime can appreciate and sing the same hymns, but also, we can make a connection with believers from times and generations of long, long ago… reminding ourselves that this walk of faith in Christ is enduring. The fact that hymns have been around for generations…sometimes for hundreds of years, reminds people of faith that we are not alone in this time and place. When I remember that songs like “A Mighty Fortress Is Our God” was written and sung by fellow Christ-followers literally hundreds of years ago, my faith is buoyed. Discovering I have a connection with the hymn writer of Great Is Thy Faithfulness, written a hundred years ago by a saint who testifies to finding fresh, daily blessings from God a reality (even in the midst of great trials), encourages me to trust Him today. Sunday mornings I see around me a treasury of saints who we often refer to as “seasoned believers” joining in worship at my local church. They are godly saints who have lived through all the seasons of life, trusting God and leaning on his word… and those hymns. The songs which have supported those persevering saints are still of value to me and to those of us who wish to follow their lead and join them in worship. Sunday mornings I regularly sit behind a row of godly widows at our church. I see how they worship and join in our newer songs with patience, but I also see how their hearts are blessed by those familiar hymns, and it blesses me to see their preferences considered and tastefully honored. Often hymns are played in a more acoustic fashion with less emphasis on instruments, lights and sound systems. Many of us, both young and old, love to hear the pure voices of our brothers and sisters lifting their hearts to God in worship together, reminding us that our purpose in gathering is not to watch a performance, or sing alone to God, but to collectively worship the One most worthy.
Seated at the bedside of his ill grandfather, my friend’s son, Abraham, spent some of his time singing the soothing and beautiful hymn, “It Is Well With My Soul.” Seeing his grandfather awaken and join in was truly touching. This was possible because Abraham’s family and church had developed the simple habit of regularly incorporating those hymns in worship, both at home and in church worship services… month by month, year by year, as he grew. How wonderful for him to have a hymn at the ready for this significant, unforeseen moment in time. Like my friend, our family has developed the simple practice of learning one hymn a month. Long ago we bought some reasonably priced used hymnals, collected a list of hymns we’d like to learn, and away we went. We sing other songs together, but frequently we simply sing a hymn at the close of a family bible reading/discussion, meal, or day. There are plenty of resources online for picking up this practice. One recent favorite of mine is happyhymnody.wordpress.com.
Along with singing psalms and spiritual songs, singing hymns is a biblically precedented way to worship God, equip us with solid truth, minister to the older saints in our congregations, and unite the generations as a body. If any of you are also wondering, “Why hymns?” I hope you see afresh some of the value of this unifying genre for the generations, and join in.
Warmly, Anne
Blog Archive - Original Post October 2019