daily java

Daily Java: Speak to one another with psalms, hymns and spiritual songs. Sing and make music in your heart to the Lord, always giving thanks to God the Father for everything, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. (Ephesians 5:19-20).

Singing is an amazing  phenomenon. It is shared by just about everybody in the world, no matter their culture or background. It is a desire to join with others in a shared experience. It unites groups. It speaks from our hearts. It teaches and comforts and is just plain fun.

When we sing, we speak to each other and share our common ideas. The entire cultural revolution that we experienced as baby boomers was brought about by music. Our songs were, in many ways, revolutionary. We heard them, they touched us in some way, we began singing with the radio and with our friends. Before long, the songs worked their way down into our shared consciousness and we began to believe them.

Much of what our generation believed in we heard in songs. Much of it turned out to be garbage, but nonetheless we shared it with our friends by singing together. We sang everywhere. And we still do oldies radio is big and the listeners will many times get up and start dancing to the music, even in the grocery store or the mall.

Singing speaks and teaches and comforts and unites and is just plain fun. you come across them occasionally, but it is rare to find someone who at least doesn’t sing along in the car with his or her radio.

That is why we sing in church. It isn’t just to hear ourselves and show off, it is to encourage and praise. We encourage each other and we praise our God.  We sing in psalms, hymns and spiritual songs.

Psalms are the sacred poetry we find in the Bible. There is not only the Book of Psalms, but also psalms written in other places throughout the Bible. A psalm is nothing more than a piece of poetry, short or long, that is written as a response to God in some way. it can be sad, or happy, or angry or just a piece of praise. It can also be any piece of scripture put to music. In general, it is the Bible put to words.

Hymns are the anthems we sing in large groups that seem to unite us. They are usually a story song, like Amazing Grace. They tell a story from start to finish. Or maybe they just take a thought or lesson and carry it from beginning to end. Some hymns are quite long, and they are what some people associate with church.

I believe that the day of hymns is gone for the present. They may enjoy a resurgence in the future, but for the most part, they are too long for most people to sing. For better or worse, our attention span is shorter today.

And hymns can be boring. At least they can be to me. Especially if you get one of the long ones like One Day When Heaven Was Filled With His Glory. 6 or 7 verses, sung slowly and majestically. In my acappella background, I hated them because they were guided by the song leader, who usually sang them slow.

Spiritual songs are the peppy ones like the Gaithers sang. No Tears in Heaven. Power in the Blood. Just a Little Talk with Jesus. This Old House. There were songs that were mostly just fun and encouraging. The lesson they taught was short and fun to sing. They were the ones that we enjoyed singing when we got together after church.

We did that a lot when I was growing up and well into my middle years. Coming from an acappella background, we enjoyed singing together and would do it for hours. The parts would all be represented and we would sing in glorious harmony.

It is the one thing I miss from the Church of Christ more than any: the shared joy of singing. Sure, people like to sing in church and all, but there was a joy in singing that has been in no other denomination I have seen.

I have always loved to sing and am glad that God gave us that avenue. Praise be to his name.