Immersed in Worship

Daddy Owen, Allan Aaron & group celebrating their win; Grooves 2010

“Speak to one another with psalms, hymns and spiritual songs. Sing and make music in your heart to the Lord.” Ephesians 5:19

One of the best ways to show reverence and adoration for God is through singing. When we sing, especially in public worship, we share our feelings and emotions about God with others. Like the Book of Psalms, songs express a full range of human emotions:awe, joy and thanksgiving, triumph and victory, confession and repentance, doubt and fear, loneliness and despair, and so on. Psalms and other Books of the Bible are very useful sources for Christian song lyrics that impart God's truths. Some lyrics are deeply flawed, and in variance with the right Christian Doctrine. Our songs should express our convictions. As John Wesley said, "Above all sing spiritually. Have an eye to God in every word you sing. Aim at pleasing him more than yourself, or any other creature. In order to do this attend strictly to the sense of what you sing, and see that your heart is not carried away with the sound, but offered to God continually; so shall your singing be such as the Lord will approve here, and reward you when he cometh in the clouds of heaven."

Many of the hymns we sing represent the testimony of God's faithfulness by earlier Christians. They continue to be added as some of the contemporary spiritual songs become classics.

When we sing to the Lord, our hearts are touched at a deep level. We can pray and preach with songs but unlike sermons, songs are easy to memorize and internalize so that we have the teachings at our fingertips: to be called upon when needed. Singing causes us to be so immersed in worship that we are able to forget our personal situations as we lift up our hearts to the Lord. A certain mood or feeling can also bring up a song that reveals a deep spiritual meaning into our situation; strengthening us by helping to remind us of God’s love, His promises, and our commitment to Him. The singing also draws us near in comradeship with other worshipers.

So, let us with all our strength, hearts, and souls worship our Lord with psalms, hymns and spiritual songs, and draw nearer to him and our fellow worshipers.

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"Sweetest the strain when in the song the singer has been lost". Elizabeth Stuart Phelps Ward

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