Mark Peterson expresses some helpful thoughts about why singing with the church is different to group singing which takes place in other contexts, such as footy matches or concerts.
Such observations are helpful, lest we stray into the area of making church gatherings more like concerts or footy matches in the hope people will sing, and neglect the reasons why church singing is qualitatively different to that which takes place in other venues.
From the post:
Our dwelling in each other and in God means that our times together will look very different from a football match:
- We don’t go to church: we are the church. It’s what it is to be Christian. The church meets physically because of this spiritual dwelling in each other and in God. Considering yourself part of the church if you don’t meet with other Christians is theoretically possible, but hard to demonstrate in reality.
- The things we do when we’re together will outwork the realities that we know from the promise. That is, we’ll be on the one team, yes. But more than this: we’ll actually BE ONE with each other. This shows the tragedy of division amongst Christians, of not carrying each other through life: it’s like a deadly virus in a physical organism, threatening to do serious damage or take away life itself.
- When there are group activities like praising or thanking God through singing, the very thing we should expect is oneness. This is not to say that the body isn’t made up of many parts, each of which has its own distinct characteristics and role. But it is to say that we all act together, according to the prompting and leading of the Spirit through the word of God.
Some of this sounds quite theoretical. But I’m basically saying that when we’re at church, we need to be super careful not to look around at others with an individualistic, critical spirit, waiting until I feel personally comfortable before I participate in any way.
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