[AI translation] In our lives, there are certain things that are so common, natural and self-evident that we no longer think about them, but simply accept them as facts. Such an empty formality, such a habitual gift, often becomes one of the most important elements of our worship: singing. Most of the time, it is seen as a necessary, substitute element that begins and ends the worship service. Somehow we need to begin and end our time together here in church or in a Bible study, and the best way to do that is through congregational singing. This lack of appreciation for singing is also reflected in the fact that many people do not even consider it important to participate in singing, they do not sing unless a familiar psalm number happens to be posted on the board. They do not consider it an omission if they arrive late for the service, when the congregation has already finished singing, they just make sure that they do not miss anything from the sermon. They talk and greet each other during the singing, as if the whole thing is just to cover the noise of the slow silence of the many people with the sounds of the music. And yet singing is not an accompaniment to our worship, it is part of it, an element, just like prayer or preaching. Indeed, I can imagine a worship service - at least occasionally - where the only element is the singing of the congregation, as the Apostle Paul writes in the Word we read, "Conversing among yourselves in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and praising the Lord in your hearts." (Eph 5:19) So let's focus this time on the singing congregation and see what role does congregational singing play in worship?Music in general can be a very appropriate way and means of glorifying God. God created not only man but the whole universe for his glory. It is not only man's privileged task to glorify God, but that of the whole world. And this world is not a dead creation, not a dumb creation condemned to silence, but one that speaks and makes its voice heard with joy. "The heavens speak the glory of God, and the firmament proclaims the work of his hands. The sun speaks words to the sun; the night gives meaning to the night. There is no word, nor any speech, whose voice is not heard: their voice is their utterance throughout all the earth, and to the ends of the world. He hath made in them a tabernacle for the sun." (Psalm 19:2-5) And he who has ears to hear this voice and speech of the world, he hears a mysterious sound of praise to God, proceeding out of the created universe. Often it is in the cascade of a small mountain stream, the mysterious rustle of a poplar tree, the poignant melancholy of an autumn landscape that the human soul, connected to God, hears the innermost harmony of creation, echoing the eternal glory of God.
An old Greek thinker once said: in the universe, every star is a voice, and these voices merge into a melody and harmony of ineffable beauty, a celestial music that only purified souls can enjoy. This sublime music of the created world has sometimes been heard by the greatest artists, to express and make audible a melody of it for the everyday man in their eternal works.
Beyond the visible world of the created universe there is the invisible world, the host of angels, the happy realm of glorified souls. The Bible always speaks of these heavenly beings as singing, playing hosannas, harps and trumpets around the throne of God in praise of the heavenly King. Without the eternal hymnody of the heavenly hosts praising God, without the majestic music of the heavenly hosts, the man who knows the Bible cannot imagine heaven. Nor, of course, can we imagine what that heavenly music might be like, but heaven is by no means an eternity of deathly silence.
It is into this vast, God-glorifying flood of sound of the created earthly and heavenly world that the voice of the believer, the song of the congregation, is merged. From the beginning, therefore, until now and, as we have seen, until eternity, singing, music, has been an integral part of the worship of God, a way of glorifying Him that pleases God. The churches of the Old Testament sang the same psalms as we do. Jesus himself sang with his disciples even on the night before the Passion, when they went out singing to the Mount of Olives after the Last Supper. The churches of the New Testament also sang, and the apostles mention various musical instruments - flute, zither, trumpet - in their epistles, precisely in connection with worship. No wonder, then, that from the beginning, singing and music have had a prominent place in Christian worship. Through true singing, then, we enrich our worship with precisely that element which pleases God Himself, which pleases Him in a special way. We should and could make much better use of the precious potential of singing to praise Him, because "it is fitting that He should be praised...".
Twice in our basic hymn we find the word praise, the expression of praise to God. Praise is more than giving thanks. The basic meaning of both is the same: to lift our gaze from the gift we have received to the God who gave it. To be moved by the power and goodness of the Almighty God and to honour Him for it. But while thanksgiving is characterised by a very personal aspect, by the personal experience of divine help, praise is characterised by a transcendence of the self and the individual experience. The gaze of the praise-speaker admires the grandeur and depth of divine action. In worshipful wonder, he admires the wisdom of the One who directs the course of history. I can be thankful for the daily bread that comes to my table, but I praise the One who makes bread from the grain of wheat and the sand. I give thanks for the sunshine that pours into my room, but I praise the Creator of the stars, the Maker of the universe. I am thankful for the forgiveness of sins, but I praise God, who thought out the great plan of redemption and carried it out in the atoning sacrifice of Jesus. "Just giving thanks makes me free and happy, but it is in the midst of the praise that its power is truly felt. Praise widens our otherwise narrow horizons. Paul and Silas' spiritual horizons were not limited by the prison walls because they praised God in song. Praising God is majesty, exultation and victory.
The apostle Paul says: "singing and praising the Lord". Singing, music helps the soul to praise God. Have we not already experienced what an infinitely poor tool the human word is in the hands of the soul for expressing praise to God? Someone once said that the musical voice and the ordinary human word are two brothers, but one has wings, and when it returns from its long journey it tells the other what it has seen among the stars. Music is God's precious gift, and in it and through it God expands the range of expression of the human soul to the inexpressible. Through it, we go beyond the possibilities of mere utterance, of speech. Music is not only a mood-setter, but also a way of expressing the devotion of a man who seeks and loves God. It is often the case that we find it difficult to put our thoughts, our feelings, our repentance or our joy into words, but when we sing a song, our whole heart is in it. Try really pouring your heart into a song of praise to God, and you will find that pain is quieted, repentance is dissolved in the grace of forgiveness, fear and worry are lifted, joy and gratitude overflow. The soul is filled with the air of heaven. According to John Calvin, song is a testimony that God Himself puts into the mouth of man. It is an exhortation to praise Him, a warning against sin, a remedy for temptation and trouble, a remedy against sin and unbelief, a helpful and preventive means of sanctification.
The man in love puts everything at the service of his love. The lover of God also wants to put the great and varied world of sounds at the service of his holy love. Not as an artistic production - for that would serve his own glory - but as a particular expression of his spiritual devotion. Here, therefore, a congregation of believers singing, or a congregation of believers listening to any kind of church music, for example, is not delighting in the beauty of song and music, but in the beauty of the living God and the beauty and majesty of the grace found in God! It is not the beauty of the song that prompts praise. There is delight in our worship too, but only in the fact that the mighty God is our guardian Shepherd, our strong fortress, our light, our refuge. Our sin-removing Lord, our Father embracing us with his redeeming love! In our worship, the only source of all our joy and delight is God revealing Himself in Jesus Christ, and our singing is the expression and result of our joy in Him.
Our singing is based on our faith in God. It is not to stir our emotions or our imagination, but is because we are moved by God's great love that bends us down, and this emotion sings in us the glory of God. Let no one be left out of it because he feels he cannot sing, has no good voice or hearing, because in worship we sing not for the pleasure of ourselves or others, but for the glory and praise of God alone. God has different tastes from us in this respect. If one wants to sing for the pleasure of others, the big question is, does it please God? A closed mouth in the congregation is just as detrimental to corporate worship as a person who is determined to hear or have his own voice heard!
Finally, let me draw attention to another important role of singing. Paul says: "conversing with one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs". So among ourselves, we serve one another with it. Our singing can also become a powerful spiritual tool, like a plough for the earth, preparing it to receive the blessed seeds. But the fervent singing of a congregation, or the Spirit-filled ministry of a choir, can be a means not only of preparing the Word, but also of communicating the Word itself. For example, Mihály Sztárai sang the gospel almost literally into the soul of the Hungarian people.
Singing is a very particular form of preaching the word in community, the service of the congregation itself in teaching and admonishing one another, so that we may be mutually edified by one another. In the psalms and hymns we sing, we are actually singing the indwelling word of Christ, our songs are not just our feelings, but the Word itself, so that we may teach, admonish and edify one another. If we could really pray for it, the Holy Spirit of God could use our singing here to proclaim the good news of Christ just as much as he uses his preaching! It is up to you, too, to use our singing, along with the other components of worship, to build up the whole congregation!
Take to heart, then, God's exhortation through the words of the Apostle Paul: "Speak to one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs. Sing and praise the Lord in your hearts."
Amen
Date: 17 October 1954.
Lesson
Zsolt 150