In every church I’ve served, there are people with strong opinions about music… I’m not just talking about style – (Blended, Contemporary, Traditional) it even is within those loose categories that there are diverging opinions, tastes, likes and dislikes.

Now, I’m not going to get into the merits of various styles and forms of worship – I’m not the person to really talk to about things like that, since it’s all worship to me, and I enjoy jamming with the praise team and playing Bach on the organ or leading a hymn to equal degrees – it’s all worship to me.

I know. I’m odd.

What I think I want to lift up is how important it is to sing our faith, regardless of the preference of our style…  (and, I know this is a poignant topic, as many of us have possibly heard recently of the possible dangers of singing and spreading contagion).

I’ve been professionally leading music for 30 years now (yes, I was very young when I started <chuckle>) and I think I’ve really figured out something.  The music that touches us becomes very deeply nestled in our hears and minds. In times of joy and sorrow, we come back to songs that are meaningful, we sing them, listen to them. Hum the tunes…

There is something profound that happens when words are set to music. A special synergy of memory seems to exist when a singable tune and words are put together… there are numerous accounts of Alzheimer and Dementia patients who don’t remember hardly anything – they might not even remember how to care for themselves anymore… But start playing or singing a song they learned long ago, and suddenly, something bypasses the disease and dysfunction, and they are able to access that knowledge again.

I think that is amazing.

So if putting words and melody together means we’ll essentially write that to a special place in our memories, at least in worship, I want to try and sing songs that say something true, something biblical…

I close with a couple excerpts, I’ve added some scripture references so you can see where the inspiration for a particular lyric may have come from – first a nod to my friend Kent Swedberg (who would love it if we sang this hymn every week)

“Children of the Heavenly Father”

Children of the heavenly Father
safely in his bosom gather;
nestling bird nor star in heaven
such a refuge ne’er was given. (Psalm 91:1-4 – ¹ You who live in the shelter of the Most High, who abide in the shadow of the Almighty,² will say to the Lord, “My refuge and my fortress; my God, in whom I trust.” ³ For he will deliver you from the snare of the fowler and from the deadly pestilence; ⁴ he will cover you with his pinions, and under his wings you will find refuge; his faithfulness is a shield and buckler.)

Neither life nor death shall ever
from the Lord his children sever;
unto them his grace he showeth,
and their sorrows all he knoweth. (Romans 8:38-39 ³⁸ For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor rulers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, ³⁹ nor height, nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.)

And a verse from one of our songs in the contemporary service:

 “Here we Are”:

You took our sin, you took our shame,
you drank our cup, you bore our pain;
thank you, Lord. (Luke 22:40-42 – ⁴⁰ When he reached the place, he said to them, “Pray that you may not come into the time of trial.” ⁴¹ Then he withdrew from them about a stone’s throw, knelt down, and prayed, ⁴² “Father, if you are willing, remove this cup from me; yet, not my will but yours be done.”)

You broke the curse,
you broke the chains,
in victory from death you rose again;
thank you, Lord. (1 Corinthians 15:55-57 – ⁵⁵ “Where, O death, is your victory?
    Where, O death, is your sting?” ⁵⁶ The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. ⁵⁷ But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.)

And not by works, but by your grace
you clothe us now
in your righteousness. (Ephesians 2:8-9 – ⁸ For by grace you have been saved through faith, and this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God— ⁹ not the result of works, so that no one may boast.)

How wonderful to have these words written into our hearts and memories – truths from Scripture rendered poetically and with music. It’s one of the reasons I love what I do – when we sing together and learn songs, we hide the Word and truth in our hearts…. And that will very likely be something we will carry with us our entire lives (and, I’d like to think we will sing together in heaven too!)

Thanks be to God.