The Singing Church

By John Page

In a recent blog post, Nadia Bolz-Weber reflects on the demise of congregational singing in many churches.  LutheranChik also observes how anemic congregational singing can be in churches these days.  Both consider the reasons for this development, especially in churches which historically encouraged enthusiastic singing from the pews.

Both critique the trend to professionalize music in our culture.  Singing seems to have become an exclusive art in peoples’ minds, for which some have the appropriate talent and some do not.  Those who suppose they “do not” mute their voices or don’t bother to move their lips at all.  So many people seem reluctant to sing out with joy and vigor, even when familiar hymns are sung.

But, singing is NOT an exclusive art.  Singing is a normal way for all people to express themselves; it is built into our human nature.  And communal singing has long been a way for whole communities to remember, tell, and celebrate their common experiences.  When Martin Luther wrote hymns set to the music of well-known tavern songs, he did so specifically to encourage EVERYONE to sing in worship of God.  One did not have to be a professional or trained musician to make the music of worship; the music of worship is meant to come from us all.

During the first of our two Christmas Eve services this year, the choir began singing a descant over the third verse of Silent Night, expecting the assembly to continue with the verse; instead the people in the pews fell silent and all that could be heard was the descant.  Ooops!  During the second service, the organist increased the volume for the third verse, in hopes that the people in the pews would be encouraged to continue singing.

So, how might we encourage confident and enthusiastic singing from the pews?  That’s a question well known to worship and music leaders.  Some churches ban instrumental accompaniment, and insist on a cappella music only.  Some church musicians have been known to stop playing instruments during some verses of hymns to emphasize the singing.  Personally, I’d like to get away from choir anthems during worship, precisely because “performance pieces” during worship seem to feed the idea that the music is for passive consumption – entertainment – and best left to the “professionals”.  Instead I’d like to see choir and instrumentalists intentionally find ways to encourage, enable, and facilitate singing by everyone in the worshiping assembly.

As Luther might have said: Sing boldly, that grace may abound!