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Colossians 3:16 – Singing Transports Us To A Place Of Unity
We are one with God for the word of Christ richly dwell(s) within us…singing with thankfulness in our hearts to God (Colossians 3:16).
We are one with each other for when we sing we are “with all wisdom teaching and admonishing one another” (Colossians 3:16).
When we all sing, we are unified in what we teach and in our worship: unity in practice with each other and God.
Congregational singing is the most “obvious” action that we all collectively do, and it is the most “active” action we collectively do. I say “obvious” because we pray together—and yet one voice is heard. Also, we listen VERY ATTENTIVELY (right?) to the preacher—and yet one voice is heard. We partake of the Lord’s Supper together—and yet no voice is heard.
In singing, there is also “one voice” that is heard—but it is not one as in number, but one as in unity.
I love songs that are technically challenging. Probably my favorite is, “You Are My All In All.” And yet I must recognize the danger if a song is so complicated that it looses the power of the unity that is found in singing as “one voice.” I don’t think “You Are My All In All” is one of those songs. But have you ever sung a song that was?
This is the last article on singing as one of our Four Purposes. As we saw, singing Reaches UP to God as we worship Him. Singing can also Reach OUT to unbelievers as we are teaching them through words, but also teaching them through the effect singing can have. Reaching IN to one another is also greatly enhanced by singing. Maybe we should try sometimes standing and facing inwardly towards one another. I’ve seen and participated in that that before. It was a great remember that we are singing to one another because we saw each other’s faces—instead of singing to the backs of their heads!
God never required us to have a great voice in order to worship Him in song. But I do hope that we might understand better what our singing can do, therefore emphasizing it more, and desiring to improve it to be the best we can be. And remember this one last thought: singing as one voice is enhanced when we are singing with one heart. Are our hearts one with one another? Are our hearts one with God?
Here are some closing miscellaneous thoughts:
Different people have observed that the most powerful people in a nation are not the lawmakers, but the songwriters.
Remember to thank God for the talented song writers. What would our singing be like without their contributions?
“Someone has said that a successful Christian life involves attention to three books: God’s Book, the bible; the pocketbook; and the hymnbook.” (Ibid., Wiersbe, p.119.)
I am thankful that as a congregation we pay attention to our song books. It is encouraging to me personally.
“I remember, when I was a kid, giggling through the first stanza of `At the Cross,’ where I found myself singing the phrase `such a worm as I.’ I scanned the sanctuary to see who joined me in this amazing confession: my Sunday school teacher, old Mr. Binkley, a banker; my best friend’s parents; even the (preacher) himself – all admitting their wormhood! My boyish mind reeled with images of these wiggly congregants, seen in their true likenesses, in a tin-can church hearing a sermon entitled, `Come, I Will Make You Fishers of Men.’ And I had the perfect rejoiner when my father told me to stop squirming in church: `But Dad – we’re worms!’
“Perhaps the unseen hands who compile hymnals heard of my confusion. Some years later they changed the wording to `sinners such as I.’ It’s less profoundly descriptive, but it’s easier to explain to kids over Sunday dinner (and more conducive to the appetite.). I can’t help suspecting that it also goes down easier with the former worms themselves. However, it can’t be long before another edition of the hymnal polishes our reputation yet shinier – providing, of course, the musical editors can make `ethically challenged persons’ fit the rhyme and meter. (Eutychus, “Singing with the Worms,” Christianity Today, Sep. 14, 1992, p.6.)
The author saw one change—from worm to sinners—and foresaw another—from worm to “one.” Modern renditions of that song have removed the word “worm” replacing it with “one.” Less offensive…and far less convicting! Sometimes we need to re-read the words because they are too easily sung without meaning and thinking.
So let us sing UP to God—remember that He is the audience. Let us sing IN to another—teaching and admonishing with songs, hymns, and spiritual songs. Let us sing OUT to unbelievers so that may be see our love for God, for one another, and for them. Unity from heaven to earth, from God’s heart to ours, to one another.
I love to sing so I love this writing.