Singing!

One of the things I love about Sunday worship at my church is the abundance of music: processional hymn, Gloria, psalm, gradual hymn, offertory, Sanctus, fractional anthem, at least two communion hymns, and the recessional hymn. At the 9:00 service, there are fewer hymns, but we sing the Our Father, and there's a Taize chant during Communion, and the offertory is a hymn sung by the congregation instead of a choir hymn. (At the 11:00, the choir usually does something harder for the offertory, and sometimes also does the psalm).

I love that there are so many times I get to sing in church, and I find singing to be the most important part to me spiritually, besides the Eucharist itself. I think the importance for me comes from the combination of the emotion provided by the music, the meaning provided by words, and the active participation of actually singing.

I'm strongly driven by my emotions. This doesn't mean that I think that if I feel like doing something that means I should do it, or that emotions are the only thing that matters. I know Jesus is present in the Eucharist whether I feel it or not. I know I'm called to care for my neighbor even if I'm in a grumpy mood. I find it much easier, however, if my emotions are in line with what I need to do. And I also find that changing my emotions is frequently easier than pushing them aside to change my behavior despite my emotions. But maybe most important is that my emotions provide some of the power source for my actions. If I'm propelled by what I feel, that gives me an intensity that isn't present when I'm acting on what I think or know without as much emotional investment. This is part of why music is so great. There's some evidence that music has a strong effect on the emotional centers of the brain, an effect that's not present from noise or from speech. (I read about this in Discover magazine when I was in high school.) In other words, music helps to open my heart in a way that just reciting the Nicene Creed doesn't.

Then there's the words themselves. Hymns are full of wonderful poetic language praising God. Some of them also have neat biblical allusions, like the saints “casting down their golden crowns around the glassy sea.” Some of them I've grown into as I've moved from childish to adult understanding. It took years before I understood what was meant by “Yet in thy dark streets shineth the everlasting Light. The hopes and fears of all the years are met in thee tonight,” let alone getting it through my head that “Come, Labor On” is not really about farming. Just like the language of the prayer book, the language of the hymns gives me additional ways to think about God and to wonder at God's goodness. This is also part of why I strongly prefer to sing all the verses of hymns, which my church is usually pretty good about. Any verses that are left out mean that some of that wonder isn't expressed. I have a particular fondness for the third verse of “Joy to the World,” which I only ever hear in church. One of the previous clergy used to talk about a possible sermon on third-verse theology – all the great theology that's hidden in the parts of hymns that are most likely to be skipped. So many really don't get the full effect without all the verses.

Finally, there's the active participation. This is why, even though I enjoy the choir and admire all the hard work they do, I'm happiest when I get to sing too. Hearing the songs (and the sermon, for that matter) helps me to think about God and does stir my emotions, but singing the hymns is a way of proclaiming the Gospel. Granted, it's proclaiming it to myself and to a bunch of people that are already there, but I need the practice. And I think in some sense, we all do. Saying the words out loud allows me to claim them in a way that simply hearing them doesn't, and singing them adds to the emotional impact, as well as making them easier to remember, so that snippets of hymns can follow me through the week like little post-it notes from God. I believe we're called to live our faith with our hearts and minds and actions, and singing hymns, while not sufficient on its own, is both good practice and a source of strength and comfort.