Proclaim the Song of the Lord (Worship, Part 10) - Episode 057

Carey Griffel: [00:00:00] Welcome to Genesis Marks the Spot, where we raid the ivory tower of biblical theology without ransacking our faith. My name is Carey Griffel, and today we are back with our worship series. We're going to be exploring the topic of music. First, we will be doing a survey of music as it shows up in the Bible, and we'll talk a little bit about things past the Bible because we need to talk about how it shows up in the Christian church from the beginning. And then we'll talk about music in general before we actually get into the meat of praise music and worship music today. How it tends to be used, especially in evangelical circles. And we'll talk a little bit about the good and the bad about that.

I'm excited about this topic because I've been thinking a lot about it. [00:01:00] I've been doing a lot of research and reading. And I came across a book that I think is going to be very helpful to us when we're trying to make sure that our evangelical worship practices are very rooted in the Bible. Especially if we're looking at it from the perspective of discipleship and trying to improve what we're doing because no matter who we are, no matter what our church is, our churches as a whole need to be discipled. We need to be improving on what we're doing. And that requires particular practice, and that's got to be intentional.

The book I'm talking about is a Lexham ministry guide that was published last year, in 2023. It's called Church Music: For the Care of Souls. It is written by Philip A. Magnus. Towards the end of the episode, I will be pulling some quotes and information from his book. But if you are a worship leader, or a pastor, or somebody involved in ministry of [00:02:00] some kind that touches on that, or even if you are just somebody who is in the congregation participating in the worship music, I feel like this book is very helpful.

Now, in this episode, I'm not really going to go into too many specifics about instruments and things like the superscriptions of the Psalms, the little information that the Psalms have about who wrote it and why they wrote it and how the psalms actually have musical markers in them. Because even though we know that that's what's going on, and some of the stuff we really do have a solid grasp of what those terms mean, a lot of it we don't. And the same could be said for the types of instruments they had. We have archaeological information. We have pictures, at least from other cultures. But there is a lot of speculation, and sometimes it's a bit wishy washy about exactly what we're talking about. Plus, this is an audio podcast, and so trying to describe instruments over an audio podcast, [00:03:00] I feel like that would be a bit frustrating.

So we won't be getting into any of that kind of detail, but I will say that stringed instruments seem to be favored by the Jewish people. There is an ancient perspective that a stringed instrument was more masculine and maybe noble. Think of David playing the lyre, for instance.

I will be touching on a couple of the questions that I got for this series. Dina asked about praise and worship songs, and specifically referring to their theology. And Richard asked about contemporary Christian music for worship, where people have their hands in the air and things like that. Could I compare and contrast that with what Christians have done in previous centuries? And I will be talking about that quite a bit, as well as connecting some of that with the Old Testament.

Now, I've said before that I don't think that Genesis was the first book of the Bible that was written. But, nonetheless, it is the first book [00:04:00] in our Bible when we open our books, and it talks about the beginning of things, right? And so, in Genesis, we do have what we might call the first mention of music. There are two places in Genesis where music shows up, and interestingly enough, neither one of those places is about worship. We have to go into the book of Exodus in order to see music associated with worship. We see Moses' song in Exodus 15. And then we see music again show up in conjunction with the Golden Calf incident. So there's definitely the suggestion that music is involved in worship practice, and not always good worship practice.

But at any rate, the first mention of music in Genesis is in the line of Cain. Remember, we have Cain, who is a murderer. Then we have Lamech, who is also a murderer. Lamech is the first one that we see practicing polygamy as well. He has two wives. [00:05:00] His first wife, Adah, gave him two sons. Jabal, who is the father of those who dwell in tents and who have livestock. Adah's second son is Jubal, the father of those who play the lyre and pipe.

The son of Lamech's other wife is Tubal Cain, and he is the forger of all instruments of bronze and iron. So we have these three sons of Lamech. One of them raised livestock. One of them was associated with musical instruments. And the last one was a smith. Jubal's name is a derivative from the Hebrew word for ram. And a ram's horn was an early instrument. Quite often it was used for signaling important events.

It's definitely caught the eye of scholars that we have these three sons with three different occupations. And quite interesting that a musician shows up in this group of careers. We have to assume that the careers or professions of these sons [00:06:00] were professions that were very important at the time and in the culture.

We're probably talking the Bronze Age, so smithing obviously would have been a very important thing to them. Likewise, livestock would be a very big deal. But music? Would we expect music to be in this list? I think most of us wouldn't expect that, but then we don't live nomadic lifestyles. But if we stop and think about it for even just a moment, I think most of us would realize just how essential music would be to a culture like that.

We'll probably talk a little bit more about the purpose and use that people have in general of music. And a lot of those purposes would play really strongly into a nomadic culture where everybody's not literate. You don't even have books or even scrolls, for the most part. And music has much more purpose and meaning than we often think of it, because it's so [00:07:00] integrated into our lives.

At any rate, it kind of looks like Lamech's complaint to his wives is the first song we have in the Bible. This is in Genesis 4, verse 23, and it says, Adah and Zillah, hear my voice. You wives of Lamech, listen to what I say. I have killed a man for wounding me, a young man for striking me.

Man, that's a pleasant song, right? We don't expect something like this to be, quote unquote, the first song of the Bible, right? But here we are. We want the first song of the Bible to be a praise song or something like that, right? But that's not at all what we have. We don't even have it addressed to God. It's Lamech's boast, basically. Now, this actually might have more connection to the songs that we see in the Old Testament than we realize. But this basically sums up what we have of music in the first 11 chapters of Genesis, or that primeval [00:08:00] history. And remember that that primeval history often has a very strong connection to Babylon and Mesopotamia. Jubal's Mesopotamian counterpart was probably a post Diluvian sage. That means he was actually after the flood, and that's kind of an interesting kind of side note. I have no idea if I'm pronouncing this right, but his name is Ningal-piriggal and he is associated with the introduction of musical instruments.

Now, for Babylonian musicians, it's actually very interesting because they were necessarily literate. They had a system of musical notation, and their musicians were trained in temple schools. They were both musicians as well as musician scribes, where they would write cuneiform tablets. This might connect to why this shows up in the professions in Genesis 4, as something maybe of high status, because neither herdsmen nor smiths would necessarily need to be [00:09:00] literate. But at least in Mesopotamian context, they were.

And so, people who were writing and reading the Bible might be thinking of musicians in this way, as the literate class. Now, this is mostly for fun, but as I was looking into contextual information about music in the Ancient Near East, I came across a Sumerian lullaby. And this is unique, because we don't have any other examples of lullabies at the time. Which I guess really makes sense at the time, because a lullaby would not really be high on the list of somebody to record and put in a stash somewhere for people to save. I'm going to read the lullaby, but I'm also going to read a little bit of this introductory material. This is from the book Ancient Near Eastern Texts Relating to the Old Testament.

It says, quote, This composition, the only one of its kind thus far known from the Ancient Near East, probably consists entirely of a chant purported to be uttered by the wife of Shulgi, the preeminent and long [00:10:00] lived ruler of the Third Dynasty of Ur, who seemed to have been anxious and troubled by the ill health of one of her sons.

Being a mother's lullaby, one might have expected her to address her words directly to the child. This is true, however, only of the greater part of the poem. In the other preserved passages, she seems to soliloquize about her son In the third person, and in one passage, she addresses sleep personified.

Okay, so I'm going to read the summation of the content of the lullaby to kind of prep our ear when we're hearing it. It says, quote. The poem begins with a rather wistful and wishful soliloquy in which the mother seems to reassure herself that as she envisions it in the very chant she is uttering, her son will grow big and sturdy. She then seems to try to buoy up her son's spirit with the promise of care and oncoming sleep. Having mentioned sleep, she addresses it directly and urges it to close her son's wakeful eyes as well as the babbling tongue. She now turns again to her ailing [00:11:00] son and promises to provide him With the sweet little cheeses that will serve to heal him, who is none other than the son of Shulgi. He will also eat her well watered lettuce. She now sees herself, again while uttering her chant, providing him with loving wife and beloved child nursed and tended by a joyous nursemaid end quote.

Okay, I admit, this is one reason I wanted to read it, because this lullaby talks about sweet little cheeses. Like, I've never thought about adding that into a lullaby. What an interesting element. Of course, at the time, cheese and milk products would have been a big part of people's diets, so this isn't that surprising, but, alright, I'll go ahead and read it. It seems to begin with kind of a cry that says, Uwa, Aowa. In my song of joy, he will grow stout. In my song of joy, he will grow big. Like the irena tree, he will grow stout of root.[00:12:00] Like the Sakhir plant, he will grow broad of crown. Among these burgeoning apple trees by the river arrayed, who will spread his hand on you? Who lies there will lift his hand on you? My son, sleep is about to overtake you. Sleep is about to settle on you.

Come, sleep, come, sleep. Come to my son. Hurry, sleep, to my son. Put to sleep his restless eyes. Put your hand on his coal painted eyes. And as for his babbling tongue Let not the babbling hold back his sleep. He will fill your lap with emmer. I, I will make sweet for you the little cheeses, Those little cheeses that are the healer of man, The healer of man, the son of the Lord, The son of the Lord Shulgi.

My garden is lettuce well watered. It is Gakul lettuce. The Lord will eat that lettuce. In my song of joy I will give him a wife, I will give him a wife, I will give him a son. The nursemaid, joyous of heart, [00:13:00] will converse with him. The nursemaid joyous of heart will suckle him. I, I will take a wife for my son.

She will bear him a son. So sweet. The wife will lie on his burning lap. The son will lie in his outstretched arms. The wife will be happy with him. The son will be happy with him. The young wife will rejoice in his lap. The sun will grow big on his sweet knee.

You are in pain. I am troubled. I'm struck dumb. I gaze at the stars. The new moon shines down on my face. Your bones will be arrayed on the wall. The man of the wall will shed tears for you. The keeners will pluck the harps for you. The gecko will gash the cheek for you. The fly will pluck the beard for you. The lizard will bite his tongue for you.

Who makes sprout woe will make it sprout all about you. Who spreads woe will spread it all about you. May the wife be your support. May the son be your lot. May the winnowed [00:14:00] barley be your bride. May Ash'nan, the Kusu goddess, be your ally. May you have an eloquent guardian angel. May you achieve a reign of happy days.

May your feasts make bright the forehead. And you, lie you in sleep. Array the branches of your palm tree. It will fill you with joy. Stand at the sight of Orr. Stand at the sight of Erik. Seize the mouth of the dog. Pinion his arms as with the net of reeds. Make the dog cower before you. Lest he will rip your back like a sack. End quote.

This isn't the end of the lullaby, but the text is rather fragmentary. Lots of interesting imagery there. I find it interesting that a deity, a goddess, was mentioned only once. But otherwise, a lot of this is stuff that we would be singing to our children, at least in our context. You take the same kind of information into our context, we will sing about it differently, [00:15:00] but the themes remain about the same. I think music is a thing that we can look at across time and see how very similar we are as humans.

At any rate, back to the book of Genesis, there isn't much more mention of music in Genesis until we get to chapter 31, the story of Laban following Jacob after he left. In verse 26 he says, What have you done, that you have tricked me and driven away my daughters like captives of the sword? Why did you flee secretly and trick me? and did not tell me, so that I might have sent you away with mirth and songs, with tambourine and lyre. So, we're still not to any kind of praise music. Laban mentions music because he's

suggesting to Jacob that, Oh, I won't be angry if you leave. I just wanted to send you away with celebration. Now, of course, would he have done that? Probably not. At least, that's not what he wanted to do. But that was his claim.

Of course, there [00:16:00] is music about creation. We have several psalms that are about the creation story, and they're actually kind of interesting to read side by side. If you would like to do that, these psalms are Psalm 8, Psalm 19, Psalm 104, and Psalm 139. I'll repeat that so you can either write it down or maybe remember it. Haha, yeah, I know, I wouldn't remember it either. They're Psalms 8, 19, 104, and 139.

That's not to say that those are the only psalms with creation imagery in them, but if you want to get into the psalms and sing about creation, those are really good ones to do so with. And speaking of creation and singing, we shouldn't forget the sons of God who were singing in Job 38. This is in verses 4 through 7 when it talks about how the morning stars sang together and all the sons of God shouted for joy.

If you [00:17:00] want some classical music about creation, Joseph Hayden wrote some music in both English and German about the creation. Now, okay, some of this is based on Milton's Paradise Lost, but what can we say, it was the time period. But if you like classical music, I suggest you go check that out. Maybe listen to it while you're reading the book of Genesis.

Alright, so throughout the rest of the Old Testament, there is quite a lot of either reference to music, or recorded songs, or songs that people were supposed to sing. In some of our translations, poetry and song can be hard to see in the text, unless the translation specifically formats it to set it outside of the normal text. But thankfully, many of our translations do this for a lot of either poetry or song in the Bible.

It's not until Exodus 15 where we finally get some good music. And this is cool because this [00:18:00] is right after this incident at the Red Sea, or the Sea of Reeds. This is, of course, a very formative moment for the people of God. So much of the Bible is really centered on this incident. And I think a lot of our poetry in the Bible and song and music pulls directly from this. And because of this, I'm going to go ahead and read this chapter. The ESV gives it the heading of The Song of Moses.

It says quote, then Moses and the people of Israel sang the song to the Lord saying, I will sing to the Lord. For he has triumphed, gloriously the horse and his rider. He has thrown into the sea. The Lord is my strength and my song, and he has become my salvation. This is my God and I will praise him, my father's God, and I will exalt him. The Lord is a man of war. The Lord is his name. Pharaoh's chariots and his host he cast into the sea, [00:19:00] and his chosen officers were sunk in the Red Sea.

The floods covered them. They went down into the depths like a stone. Your right hand, O Lord, glorious in power, your right hand, O Lord, shatters the enemy. In the greatness of your majesty, you overthrow your adversaries. You send out your fury. It consumes them like stubble. At the blast of your nostrils, the waters piled up.

The floods stood up in a heap. The deeps congealed in the heart of the sea. The enemy said, I will pursue. I will overtake. I will divide the spoil. My desire shall have its fill of them. I will draw my sword. My hand shall destroy them. You blew with your wind. The sea covered them. They sank like lead in the mighty waters.

Who is like you, O Lord, among the gods? Who is like you, majestic in holiness? Awesome, in glorious deeds, doing wonders. You stretched out your right hand. The earth [00:20:00] swallowed them. You have led in your steadfast love the people whom you have redeemed. You have guided them by your strength to your holy abode.

The peoples have heard. They tremble. Pangs have seized the inhabitants of Philistia. Now are the chiefs of Edom dismayed. Trembling seizes the leaders of Moab. All the inhabitants of Canaan have melted away. Terror and dread fall upon them because of the greatness of your arm. They are still as a stone till your people, oh Lord, pass by till the people pass by whom you have purchased, you'll bring them in and plant them on your own mountain, the place, oh Lord, which you have made for your abode, the sanctuary, oh Lord, which your hands have established. The Lord will reign forever and ever.

Okay, that seems to be the end of the song, but in verse 20 it says. Then Miriam the prophetess, the sister of Aaron, took a tambourine in her hand, and all the women went out after [00:21:00] her with tambourines and dancing. And Miriam sang to them, Sing to the Lord, for he has triumphed gloriously. The horse and his rider he has thrown into the sea. End quote. I think in general it's really, wouldn't be a bad idea to take this song and use it as a bit of a guide stick for the types of music that we want to use in worship. I'm not saying it has to be exactly like that with the same imagery and things like that, but we can read this and we can ask ourselves what kind of information we can pull from here to inform the way that we use music.

But another interesting point that I would like to mention is that this Song of Moses, there's actually quite a bit of parallel to the Song of Lamech, but of course the Song of Moses is a much better song, but both of them are about victory in battle. We can say the same thing about other songs in the Old Testament, like in Judges 5, the song of Deborah and [00:22:00] Barak.

Exodus has another mention of music, and that is in Exodus 32, during the golden calf incident. When Moses and Joshua are coming down from the mountain, Joshua thought he was hearing a war camp. And Moses was like, no, that's not a war camp. That's singing. They come down the mountain, and they find everybody out worshiping that golden calf.

The way that this kind of worship is described here seems to be at odds with the way that general Israelite worship is portrayed elsewhere. The description of it being like a war camp should kind of tune us in into the idea that this is improper worship. This is the wrong way to do it. It doesn't mean you can't use music. It doesn't mean you can't sing and dance. It doesn't mean you can't use instruments and be loud, necessarily. Because the Psalms actually say you should be loud. But there's very clearly a different kind of tone or feel or way [00:23:00] that they're doing music in Exodus 32.

Another interesting song in the Torah is in Numbers 21, verse 17. This is the Song of the Well, and it is in commemoration of God providing water in the wilderness. Instead of Moses providing it by hitting a rock, Which he did successfully once, and then he did it again, and somehow he messed that up and got in trouble for it. This time, they were supposed to be digging the well themselves. And maybe this song they used as a kind of help for their work. You know, it's easier to work physically when you have some good music to accompany you.

The text reads, Spring up oh well, sing to it, the well that the prince has made, that the nobles of the people dug, with the scepter and with their staffs.

Now, probably the noble people really weren't doing the digging. I'm just going to hazard a guess there that they weren't the ones actually digging the well. But perhaps the imagery there includes the [00:24:00] idea that they were guiding the people to show them where to dig the well.

Here they are singing to the well itself. But the phrase, sing to the Lord, happens quite often in the Old Testament. We have it show up in the Song of Moses and quite a few other places.

When we think of music in the Bible, we're probably usually thinking about praise music, right? And it makes sense that there is quite a bit of praise music in the Bible. But that's not the only way that we see music used, as we've already seen.

Songs were a way of recording the past. We've seen the Song of Moses as a kind of testament to what God did in the Red Sea. But the recording of music could also serve as a witness to the people. We have a good bit of music in the last part of Deuteronomy.

And in Deuteronomy 31, verse 19, it says, Now therefore, write this song and teach it to the people of Israel. Put it in their mouths, that this song may be a witness for me [00:25:00] against the people of Israel. For when I have brought them into the land flowing with milk and honey, which I swore to give to their fathers, and they have eaten and are full and grown fat, they will turn to other gods and serve them. And despise me, and break my covenant. And when many evils and troubles have come upon them, this song shall confront them as a witness, for it will live unforgotten in the mouths of their offspring. For I know what they are inclined to do, even today, before I have brought them into the land that I swore to give. So Moses wrote this song the same day and taught it to the people of Israel.

So music forming a kind of remembrance for the people. That's an important element that we need to keep in mind when we're thinking about music for religious purposes.

Of course, there are other times in the Bible where we have things that are , at least music adjacent. We might not think of them as being a song, but they're using instruments of music. One example is Aaron's [00:26:00] robe. His robe had golden bells. It was intended to be heard when he went into the sacred space. Another incident is with Jericho. And the trumpets. What happened at the end there? It ends with, So the Lord was with Joshua, and his fame was in all the land. So there we have music associated with fame, or we might say glory.

There's a lot that I could say just about trumpets. I don't want to get too sidetracked into that, but if anybody has any questions about how trumpets are used in the Bible, I would love to hear them. And a hint that trumpets are not always used in the same way.

We've already talked about military victories being part of a theme that songs tended to have. We see two more incidents of this in 1st Samuel 18 verses 6 and 7 in 2nd Chronicles 20 verse 28. Of course, we often see the imagery in many of the Psalms as well.[00:27:00]

The Old Testament seems to reference two lost books of heroic songs. These are the Book of the Wars of the Lord. This is mentioned in Numbers 21 verse 14. And I'm sure that many people would love to get their hands on a copy of that. Sounds fascinating. And also there's the Book of Jasher, mentioned in Joshua 10, 13, and 2 Samuel 1, 18. Some people claim that we have the Book of Jasher, but it's fairly obvious that that is actually an imposter. So if you're reading something that's called the Book of Jasher, you're not reading anything authentic.

Of course, there were songs of celebration. Songs at coronation, such as the coronation of Solomon in 1 Kings 1, verses 39 and 40. Music was also used to ward off harmful spirits. In 1 Samuel 16, 16, the instruction is given to Seek out a man who is [00:28:00] skillful in playing the lyre, and when the harmful spirit from God is upon you, he will play it, and you will be well. End quote.

Of course, we latch on to this idea of a harmful spirit from God. But I really think that all that really is, is this contextual idea that when something good or bad happens, it's the deity that's causing that in some way. I feel like it's really easy to read a lot into that, and really, this is just the thinking of the day. It's a cultural understanding.

Music was also connected to prophecy. In First Chronicles 25. 1, it says, David and the chiefs of the service also set apart for the service the sons, who prophesied with lyres, with harps, and with cymbals, end quote. And in 1 Samuel 10, 5 it says, quote, As soon as you come to the city, you will meet a group of prophets coming down from the high place with harp, tambourine, flute, and lyre, before them [00:29:00] prophesying. And in 2 Kings 3, 15, Elisha used a musician to take on a trance.

I also want to make sure I point out in that verse from 1 Samuel, there's a lot of instruments there, right? It's not just a stringed instrument. There's percussion, there's strings, and also a wind instrument.

It's also important to note that lamentation is a major part of music in the Old Testament. In 2 Samuel, there is a song lamenting over the deaths of Saul and Jonathan, and the Psalms have a lot of lamentation. In fact, there seems to be this flow in the Book of Psalms where it goes from primarily lamentation to praise at the end, and that structure is probably intentional.

Of course, there is such a great emphasis on thanksgiving. Psalm 105 begins, for instance, with, O give thanks to the Lord, [00:30:00] call upon his name, make known his deeds among the peoples, sing to him, sing praises to him, tell of all his glorious works.

Giving thanks, calling upon His name, making His deeds known, and singing praises, all of these are things that give glory or fame to God. Psalm 105 is a great example of a praise song doing what praise songs should do, giving glory to God. It's not enough to sing empty praises devoid of context. Psalm 105 tells of the deliverance of the people of God from Egypt. And even though we feel like that might be something that is not our experience, it really is.

It absolutely is our context. Because time and time again, the work of Jesus and his life is seen as a new exodus. The Psalms are still so very relevant to us today. Even though we're not Israelites, [00:31:00] as followers of Jesus, we have faith in the one who not only delivered to the people in the original exodus, But we have faith in the one who is delivering us today in the new exodus.

Isaiah 12 is a really good example of a song that is using the exodus as its starting point and as its imagery. But it's talking in an entirely different context. Isaiah 12 says, You will say in that day, I will give thanks to you, O Lord, for though you were angry with me, your anger turned away, that you might comfort me.

Behold, God is my salvation. I will trust and will not be afraid, for the Lord God is my strength and my song, and He has become my salvation. With joy you will draw water from the wells of salvation, and you will say in that day, Give thanks to the Lord, call upon His name, make known His deeds among the peoples, proclaim that His name is exalted.

Sing praises to the Lord, for He [00:32:00] has done gloriously. Let this be made known in all the earth. Shout and sing for joy, O inhabitant of Zion, for great in your midst is the Holy One of Israel. End quote.

Robert S. Smith works at the Sidney Missionary Bible College, and he has this to say about this section of Isaiah. Quote, The simple message here is this, Where there is salvation, there is joy. And where there is joy, there is singing, end quote. Surely we can all say that the Lord is our strength, and our song, and our salvation.

Alright, before we can talk about the New Testament context of music, we need to talk about the context of music in the temple. This is a pretty big deal. This is when music really gets very deeply ingrained into the Bible. Some people think that David was the one to introduce liturgical music. Maybe even that he invented liturgical music. [00:33:00] I think we can quickly get a little bit too ahead of ourselves when we're making claims like that. But David clearly had a lot to do about the music in the temple.

When the Ark is brought to Jerusalem, scholars say this is the first liturgical music we have in the Bible. And again, I don't think we can say that liturgical music was invented by David, and that no other culture had liturgical music. I think that's quite patently false, but with the settlement in the promised land, and with the intention of keeping the tabernacle or the ark in a permanent place, it makes sense to have more formal structures of worship and liturgy.

In 2 Samuel 6, the ark is brought to Jerusalem. In verse 5, it says, And David and all the house of Israel were celebrating before the Lord with songs, and lyres, and harps, and tambourines, and castanets, and cymbals. So, here we have, again, that use of a lot of instruments and celebration. We have the [00:34:00] same story in 1 Chronicles 15. In verse 16, it says, David also commanded the chiefs of the Levites to appoint their brothers as the singers who should play loudly on musical instruments, on harps and lyres and cymbals, to raise sounds of joy.

So, David is definitely setting up some liturgical worship music here. In 2 Samuel, we might think that it was more spontaneous, right, the celebration. But in Chronicles, this is definitely a deliberate act connected to worship. And I will again point out the use of instruments here. In 1 Chronicles 23, verse 5, David designated 4, 000 of the 38, 000 Levite men to offer praises to the Lord with the instruments that I have made for praise. So David seems to be either some inventor Or, he otherwise caused instruments to be made.

I think that we could say that music becomes a little bit more [00:35:00] important, more regimented, when it's associated with either royalty or temple practices. That doesn't mean that the common people didn't also participate in the music, though. In the Psalms, we definitely see the kind of idea of the call and response, where the temple singers would sing one thing, and the people who were participating would sing another thing.

At some point, they had things set up so that it was an extremely formal process. They had particular psalms they would sing for each day of the week. The first day of the week had Psalm 24, which reflects the first day of creation. The second day of the week was a reading from Psalm 48. The third day of the week had a reading from Psalm 82.

The fourth day of the week had a reading from Psalm 94. The fifth day of the week had a reading from Psalm 81. The sixth day of the week had a reading from Psalm 93 and the seventh, or the Sabbath day, had a reading from Psalm 92.

They also had particular [00:36:00] readings after the sacrificial offerings in the temple. In the morning, they would read from Psalm 105, verses 1 through 5, and in the evening, they would read Psalm 96. And, of course, they had the Hallel Psalms, Psalms 113 through 118, and Psalms 120 to 136, and Psalms 146 to 148. They would use these during the Passover, during the offering of the lamb.

A quote from Tyndale Bible Dictionary says, quote, Singing formed an integral part of the sacrificial service and was necessary to validate the sacrificial action. End quote.

Each sacrifice had music. There were particular psalms for sacrifices of particular types. They would sing the psalm of the day as the drink offering was poured out, and they divided the psalm into three parts, each with a trumpet, and the people would prostrate themselves. So, of course, we have all of this going on in the [00:37:00] temple period, but the temple gets destroyed, and the people get scattered, and all of this history happens between what we have of the Old Testament and what we have in the New Testament, right?

During that period of time, there is a lot of cultural change. And we have traditions that are being built up in the synagogues. After the temple was destroyed, music was part of the synagogue. Here's another quote from Tyndale Bible Dictionary. It says, quote, Scholars do not agree about the amount of continuity between the music of the temple and the music of the synagogue, but there is evidence that certain musical practices did remain constant between the two places of worship. End quote.

In the synagogue, there was chanting of scripture, there was psalmody, And there were spiritual songs. They also had a cantor who would take the place of the singers in the temple. By the time of the New Testament, however, musical instruments were forbidden in the synagogue. And again, of [00:38:00] course, there is a lot of outside influence on the Jewish people.

I think that some of that influence probably made them hunker down and maybe not want to share their music outside of themselves. And so, they probably turned to things that wouldn't even be heard outside of the walls. As far as the external context, for the Greeks, music tended to be associated with metaphysical knowledge. Music had a moral substance to it. So, some types of music could lead you to good, and some types of music could lead you to evil. We don't really see a lot of that direct influence in the New Testament. As far as the Roman culture, music was mainly for entertainment. For instance, music during the Roman games, it wasn't even necessarily very well done, and musicians definitely had a lower status.

These things are important to keep in mind for our context of studying the New Testament Church, because, of course, a lot of people who came into the New Testament [00:39:00] Church were Roman. No doubt they had lots of use of music in their worship practices for the Romans, but of course there was a lot of debauchery in that kind of music and worship.

So between the fact that music instruments were no longer used by the Jews, and the Romans weren't really keen on using them for great high worship purposes, it's really no wonder why the early church didn't really use very much instruments itself. This is clearly a cultural custom. Of course, the early church made it its own. But the fact that instruments were used in the Old Testament, and they're no longer used in the New Testament, to me that highly suggests that this is a cultural practice, which means that we don't have to take what the early church did with their music practice as prescriptive for all of time.

Compared to the Old Testament, there isn't a whole lot of music recorded in the New Testament. We have Mary's Song, or [00:40:00] Mary's Magnificat, in Luke 1, 46 through 55, and we have Zechariah's Benedictus in Luke 1, 68 through 79. We have more mention of music in the Book of Revelation than any other book in the New Testament, I think.

For instance, we have the Song of the Lamb in Revelation 15, which says, Great and amazing are your deeds, O Lord God the Almighty. Just and true are your ways, O King of the nations. . Who will not fear, O Lord, and glorify your name? For you alone are holy. All nations will come and worship you, for your righteous acts have been revealed. End quote.

That sounds a lot like a lot of the Old Testament songs, right? People are worshiping, why? Because God's righteous acts have been revealed. We should be singing about that revelation, praising and proclaiming God's great works. Not just how great he is, but his works, the things he has [00:41:00] done. This is what we should be sharing and proclaiming to people. It's the same kind of music that we see in the Old Testament.

We do have mentions of music in the New Testament quite a bit. Hymns are mentioned quite a few times in the epistles. In Acts 16 25, Paul and Silas are singing hymns while in prison. In Ephesians 5 19 and Colossians 3 16, There are three types of things that are mentioned there. We have psalms, we have hymns, and we have spiritual songs. If there were only two things mentioned there, I might think that they were just parallel and that they were the same thing. But since there's three, I'm very much led to the idea that these are three different types of songs. Psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs.

So the question is, what's the difference between each of those things? I guess a psalm is fairly obvious of what that is, right? But how is a hymn or a [00:42:00] spiritual song different from that? And how are hymns and spiritual songs different? According to Tyndale Bible Dictionary, hymns are probably poetic texts modeled after the psalms, but in praise of Christ. And so a hymn would very much be like a psalm, only they're singing about Jesus. They're still singing the psalms. They haven't given those up, but they've added new psalms. They can't call them psalms anymore, so they're going to call them hymns.

As for what a spiritual song is, Tyndale Bible Dictionary says they, quote, may refer to a spontaneous, ecstatic form of musical prayer, possibly wordless, perhaps related to speaking in tongues, in a style that was popular in mystical Judaism. These outbursts of song were probably melismatic. In other words, they were sung with one tone and are perhaps the forerunners of the later Alleluia chant, [00:43:00] end quote. So, that's pretty interesting.

If you want a list of New Testament hymns, here is a suggested one. Again, I'm pulling this from Tyndale Bible Dictionary. We have the Magnificat in Luke 1, 46 55, the Benedictus of Luke 1, 68 79, The Gloria of Luke 2, 14. The Nunc Dimittis, which I probably pronounced that terribly, of Luke 2, 29 32. We can also put the prologue to John in this list, as well as several things in the epistles. And I will list those out. We have Ephesians 2, 14 16. Philippians 2, 6 11. Colossians 1, 15 20. 1 Timothy 3, 16. 1 Timothy 3, 16. Hebrews 1 through 3, and 1 Peter 3, 18 to 22.

The New Testament doesn't give [00:44:00] us any instruction or information about how or when singing was used, but it was most likely already the way that they were doing it in the Jewish and Roman contexts. Interestingly enough, during the Last Supper in Matthew and Mark, there is note about singing a hymn. I think we would all love to know what that hymn was, right? It doesn't say a psalm, it says a hymn.

While the New Testament doesn't give us a whole lot of detail as to specifics and techniques, it does suggest how we are supposed to sing. In 1 Corinthians 4 15 it says, What am I to do? I will pray with my spirit, but I will pray with my mind also. I will sing praise with my spirit, but I will sing with my mind also.

Is this trying to give us some physiological information about how humans are made of mind and spirit? No, this is telling us that we are supposed to be thinking about what we're singing. That should be [00:45:00] obvious, but guess what, I think we don't do that a lot. And we should also be singing from our heart.

I also want you to note that this is merging the idea of prayer and singing as if they are two of the same type of activity. I think this is pretty obvious just looking at the Psalms. You can sing a psalm, but you can also pray a psalm. That does make it really important to make sure what we are singing is very sound, right? If we're supposed to be praying intentionally, we should also be singing intentionally.

Alright, so that's our basic overview of what music is in the Bible. So let's talk a little bit about what music is in general, and how it's used, and how we think about it. Because music is actually really essential and core to the human experience. We can define music in a lot of different ways, and of course we do that today. We can call it an organized arrangement of sound and silence. [00:46:00] We can talk about the functional definition of music, where it's communicative of a certain mood or information even. We can talk about cultural definitions. Different cultures will define music differently. There's a different line between what makes music and what is just actual noise. But I think a lot of times we get into these definitions and we get a little bit too pedantic. Like sometimes if you're a scientist and you're studying music, okay, you need to have that pretty specifically zeroed in.

But for most of us, we know what music is. And we use music for a lot of different things. We use it to soothe children and animals and even ourselves. We use it to help us work more efficiently. We use it to celebrate a whole wide range of things. We use it as a function of status. Sometimes we use music to display something about ourselves. Like the teenager using music to annoy his older [00:47:00] generations. Music's used in the military. Music's used in mourning and lamentation and praise and worship. And as we saw, music is even used for protection. And sometimes we use things like that today, sometimes we'll say the same thing over and over and over. And that kind of repetition mirrors the effect of music. Music is also great for memorization or remembering things. Music is very connected to emotion. In fact, in James 5. 13, he says, Is anyone cheerful? Let him sing songs of praise.

As I was studying the effects of music on people, It's really chilling to realize that music is also used for nefarious purposes. It can be used as torture. There's quite a bit of information about Nazis using music and how they used it to promote disorientation. And even worse things. I'm not going to go into any of that information, , but music has [00:48:00] such a deep effect in our soul and our spirit.

And music can be used to manipulate us. I think these days we're getting a little bit more cognizant of that kind of effect on us. We see music used in advertising, and we see it used in a lot of ways to work to persuade us, because it can kind of pluck at our emotions and feelings. It can make us feel a certain way, even if we weren't originally feeling that way. Music can be used for either good purposes or bad. And what's interesting is that when we sing a song, even if we're not feeling what those words are portraying. We might start feeling those emotions that are applicable to the words that we're singing. Yip Harburg, the songwriter for The Wizard of Oz, says, quote, Words make you think a thought, music makes you feel a feeling, and a song makes you feel a thought. End quote.

Singing activates parts of the brain that are [00:49:00] different than the parts of the brain that are activated when we speak. Another quote from Rob Smith. He says, Singing Truth helps us to engage with the emotional dimensions of reality, thus helping to bridge the gap between cognitive knowledge and experiential knowledge. End quote.

In other words, when we sing, we are actually affected by the singing that we do. We are formed by it. This is one reason why it is so sad forgive me the pun that we don't have lament in church today. Or at least we don't have enough of it. Rob Smith says, quote, The importance of lament is that it helps to facilitate the transition from disorientation to reorientation or dislocation to relocation. In other words, lament is productive. The purpose is to help us process our emotional pain and so [00:50:00] bring us to a point of praise. End quote.

This is probably why the Psalter is structured from more lament to more praise. This process is supposed to happen in us. And music helps make that happen. So when we ask ourselves if worship and music is supposed to be emotional, the answer is yes! It is supposed to be emotional. It is supposed to be forming our emotions. The problem is, does this mean that Music, and our worship music in particular, can be used for manipulation for bad reasons? Yeah. Yeah, it can be. This is why a lot of false teachers have a particular type of music, because that absolutely influences people.

That doesn't mean that we have to, or should, avoid the emotional aspect of music, though. We have to have it. Emotional growth ought to be a thing that happens in the church. [00:51:00] We ought to be maturing. Removing sin, training into our new life in this way.

Now, if we know one thing about music today, it's that it is definitely culturally impacted. The way we experience music in a culture is going to affect the way we experience music outside that culture. Meaning, if there's a lot of overlap, the other culture's music is going to seem very familiar to us, very comforting, we're going to enjoy it more, things like that. But if there's differences in those types of music, if they use different chord progressions, for instance, different rhythms, then listening to foreign music, at least at first, it can be very disorienting. And it can have a very different impact emotionally on us. And we might like it differently. It might affect our spiritual experience as well.

This also plays into how we see instruments in the music. Augustine had the opinion that sacred [00:52:00] words combined with music could do really great things to us. He writes about having great experiences in this way. But he also is concerned that the music will tarnish the words of the song, so that he is less aware of the words, because he's too wrapped up in the music. And so sometimes, listening to instrumental music, he worries that it can be a sin.

John Calvin also liked music. But he qualified it. He said, quote, Music has a secret and incredible power to move our hearts. When evil words are accompanied by music, they penetrate more deeply and the poison enters as wine through a funnel into a vat, end quote.

I wonder what evil words Calvin heard in songs of his day to caution against music to some degree. He also said that songs that only please the ear, quote, are unbecoming to the majesty of the church. and cannot but displease God in the [00:53:00] highest degree. End quote.

Those are some fightin words there. Some songs displease God in the highest degree. So, we're able to enjoy something that displeases God the very most. What a sad life Calvin must have had, to be honest with you.

Martin Luther loved music. He wrote quite a bit of it himself. And he thought that all preachers should have skill or training in music. So, there's a wide view from the Reformation about how music should be seen and used.

I think it is fair to look very closely at our music and what it is doing. Jeremy Begbie, in the book Faithful Feelings, says, if the orientation is askew, or the emotion is inappropriate, then manipulation, sentimentality, and emotional self indulgence are among the ever present dangers.

Rob Smith says in response [00:54:00] to this, That, quote, These dangers can be avoided, and indeed must be avoided, so that as we sing the living and life giving word of God, music and song can fulfill their divinely appointed office of reintegrating and reorienting us, both personally and corporately, binding us together in prayer and praise to God, and drawing us out of ourselves and toward each other in genuine love and sympathy.

And really, he's right. The Spirit is changing us. It's the Spirit doing that. But music may be a means by which the Spirit accomplishes this. Just like our other worship practices are also other means by which the Spirit can change and form us.

So how do we know if we're being manipulated by false teachers or for false motives? Or if, really, just our music is bad theologically? Thankfully, we have other people we can study with as we look at the [00:55:00] lyrics and the meanings of songs and as we compare these with what we see in scripture and what the church has taught historically. This is why it's really essential that any worship leader in a church has direct connection with the pastor and that they are working together. And I would also say that it's important for the congregation to have a word in this as well.

We could also ask, is empty or boring music the same as bad music or false theology? I think that's actually kind of a hard question. It might be really bad. It also might not be that big of a deal. Again, I think communication and intentionally looking at what you're doing is absolutely essential to evaluating these things.

When we realize that our worship songs and hymns may not be biblically accurate, our tendency is to run the other way and reject or disdain our current music. While we ought to consider doing this sometimes, Is it truly fair to toss them out or [00:56:00] be overly critical if we have people in our congregation who love those songs and who actually get closer to God when they're singing or listening to them?

I mean, to be honest, sometimes we just don't personally like something. Is that really a reason to not use it in church if other people do? It depends on how bad it is, I guess. I don't know. But it really is important that we be intentional about it, because the things we do matter. The things we do affect the way we are and the people we become.

We can just sit around and think about things and try and become something because we think about them. But that's not really how people are. We don't think our way into new behavior. We behave our way into new thinking. And that in turn affects our behavior and we become better people.

So what should we be singing about?

I feel like it's pretty clear that we should take our cue from the Old Testament. And also the New Testament, which is also taking its cue from the Old [00:57:00] Testament. We have deliverance through the Red Sea to the ultimate deliverance in Jesus.

If singing is prayer, and a type of prayer that unites us together as we're all participating in it, then it is really essential that we also look at our own hearts as we approach this. Are we approaching our worship music in our church with a begrudging feeling? Like, oh, I'm not going to sing that song. I don't like it. I think that song has one line in it that I don't agree with. And well, maybe it's fair that the theology or emptiness of the songs bothers you. If that's the case, it's absolutely something you should bring up and try and talk about. But sometimes it is a heart issue in us.

So the question we need to ask ourselves is, are we singing the praises of God? Do we have to do that exactly like the Bible? Well, it's good to form a biblical imagination, so we should be using the words and imagery of the Bible, but I think we can [00:58:00] also do this in our own different cultural ways. The question remains the same, though. Are we singing the praises of God? Are we proclaiming about His works?

All right, I promised to talk about this book about church music, church music for the care of souls. Here's a good quote from it. Quote. The primary characteristic of Christian music is the sound of an assembly singing the praises of God. Even the most elaborate cantata, or finely polished modern worship song, grows out of this ethos, the eternal song revealed in scripture, echoing through our hearts and voices. End quote.

If the worship of a congregation isn't uniting them in Christ, the problem probably isn't the music that they're using. Changing up the music is probably not going to do a whole lot when there's other important issues at hand. But it is important that we use music, because music can bring things to our [00:59:00] remembrance, just like we saw music being a witness in Deuteronomy.

In John 14, 26, it says, But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, he will teach you all the things and bring to your remembrance all that I have said to you. End quote.

Surely, this doesn't mean we should just be passive and just listen to the words that are going to enter our head. Surely, much can be brought to our remembrance when we intentionally, or even accidentally, involve ourselves in music.

A lot of us do see some weakness in our praise songs today, and I think that a lot of that is because we have lost touch of much of our past. If we don't understand what God did for his people in the Old Testament, we won't understand what he did in the New Testament. Nor what he is doing today. And so music can be a kind of a litmus test of sorts for a congregation. If their music has theological issues, then probably the church has many [01:00:00] other things wrong. But it's also not just a cut and dry issue. If it's just a few songs, or lines in the songs, or if it's the case that they just aren't thinking deeply about their musical choices, Then that's a teaching issue. It's a discipleship issue. These are things that can be fixed with a little bit of work. And this work doesn't just belong to the pastor or the worship leader, because music is meant to be participated in. And if participation is part of worship, then it seems as if music is a really easy way to engage participation between people, even at a distance.

So worship music becomes a very essential and core to what's going on. And by the way, I know a lot of people are like, Oh, you can't just call that worship when all you're doing is singing. That's not worship? Well, I'd like to hear what else you would call it. Like, it doesn't make any sense to frame it in any other way.

Like, if you're singing praises to God, [01:01:00] and you are connecting with God and with your fellow congregants, how is that not worship? I think sometimes we get a little bit too salty and we see these empty praise songs and then we say, Oh, well, that's not real worship. Well, I would beg to differ. I mean, I would agree that there is a strong decline in lyricism and there's a problem with the idea that music shifts from a locally done production to something that is always professional and is more like entertainment.

And we also disconnect music and our worship service from the idea of learning skills and also teaching. Like, a lot of us are like, Oh, I, I'm not a good singer. You can lead music worship, but I couldn't do that because I'm not a good singer. Well, that's a terrible attitude for us to have today.

And if that's a lot of your congregation, then maybe you should actively work to change that. Because, [01:02:00] when we are singing praises to God, we are lifting up our voices to Him. That should be something that we should all participate in, that we should all find joy in. And if we're not supposed to be looking at this as some sort of entertainment, or a situation like that, then guess what? It doesn't matter what your voice sounds like. You should sing anyway. And if you were called to do worship leading? You could do it. It doesn't matter what your skill level is. Because discipleship is about learning and growth, right? It's not about entertaining people. It's about participating in the body of Christ. And if you're not doing that with your fellow believers, then there's something deeply missing in what you're doing, I think.

Now, we can see that there's could be a distinction between some generic religious music and the powerful, holy song of Yahweh, as Magnus says in his book about church music, he brings out the [01:03:00] point that God inhabits the praises in Psalm 22, verse 3. It says, Yet you are holy, enthroned on the praises of Israel.

It's not that God is happy that we're praising him and he says, OK, I guess I'll show up. But he's coming among us and he is giving the song for us to sing. God isn't with us because we're singing. We're singing because God is with us. And if that's our motivation, it's not about entertainment. It's not about perfection. It's about what we can offer up to God in praise. And it is an offering from us to God. Magnus says, The Lord's Song does not rely on instrumentation, architecture, or any particular melodic tradition. The Lord's Song is simply music that is initiated, governed, and driven by the Word of God. End quote. He goes on to say, Because the Spirit sanctifies us through His Word, when our song is [01:04:00] driven by the Word of God, we are sanctified as we sing.

And again, it doesn't really matter how we do this. The focus should not be on how, but rather it should be on what and why. What are we singing and why are we singing it?

Another quote from this book is, Because the Lord's song is rooted outside of us, in the very person of Christ, the incarnate word of God, it is a holy thing, and as such, alien to this world. While the notes and sounds themselves are certainly not a sacrament, they accompany that which is sacred, the faith creating and faith bestowing word from God.

So anyone who claims that worship music isn't really worship, I would really beg to differ. I really would. That kind of idea doesn't make any kind of sense in my mind. Our music isn't supposed to be passive and receptive. It is an activity. It is [01:05:00] something that we do. And we are formed by it. Much of the problem I think we see today in churches is that the congregations doesn't understand how our participation is involved and necessary to the practice of worship and worship music.

But at the same time, we can't always judge that or see it in others. So the important thing is that we need to attend to our own hearts. How are we approaching this worship? Are we being authentic? Are we worshiping rightly? Or are we putting ourselves up on this pedestal? Like we know better and we could do better and if we had worship then we'd do this and that and the other thing.

We really need to differentiate between these things and it is hard. Because, it is hard to understand sometimes if something can be beneficial to one person over there and meanwhile over here on this other pew, they get nothing out of that. And so you really do need [01:06:00] to approach these things from a mindset of growth and communication and trying to disciple yourself and other people around you.

If we've got a problem with the way our church does worship, we can address those particular problems. Or, we can wonder why our personal experience doesn't seem to line up with the way others in our congregation seem to be experiencing the same thing. And we can talk about it with them. And sometimes that means we need to change things. And sometimes it's our own hearts that need to change.

I love this quote from the book. It says, the ministry is not our own, but the Lord's.

It is God's work to transform and form us. So it's really not the how or the way we're doing anything. That is the thing that is transforming us, but it is an instrument that God is using.

And so, as such, we need to make sure that the instrument God has to use is a really [01:07:00] good one. Right? We need to have what we're doing stemming from God's revelation. And it ought to be something that can teach us. Right? So, if it's empty, it can't really teach very much. But we should also ask ourselves, is it actually empty? Or do I just see it that way? I know a lot of people complain about the vain repetitions borrowing from the phrase in Matthew 6 7. It's about prayer, but since singing is very much connected to prayer, we can still loop this idea in. But Matthew 6 7 isn't about habitual words or repetitious words. It's about praying so that other people see you.

But at the same time, we want to be seen singing. Because this is supposed to be unifying to each other, right? For some people, the repetition in a song transports them into a state of deep worship. If that doesn't happen to you, does that negate their experience? I [01:08:00] mean, repetitive chanting has been shown, absolutely, to create altered states of consciousness. And that might sound a bit scary to you, but do we not seek to be actively transformed by God? And this is achieved in an altered state of consciousness a lot of times. We seek to be altered by God, and we need to acknowledge that it is his word that does this, and words are words, right? Just because you're repeating something, it doesn't mean it's empty. It doesn't mean it's a vain repetition.

Again, I think that it's pretty clear where I stand on whether or not you should include musical instruments, or whether you can. The early church didn't use very much in musical instruments. They probably used some. I wouldn't say that they never did, I think it's pretty clear that they did, but it was limited.

But the Old Testament is rife with mention of musical instruments. The first mention of music in Genesis is about musical instruments.[01:09:00] I'm not saying we have to use musical instruments. I'm saying that it is a cultural thing. And if you want to say that your culture is the entire history of the church, and that they didn't use instruments all of this time, and so we're not going to either, well, that's fine.

No problem with that. But to suggest that instruments are wrong to have in worship, I think the Old Testament has some words for you there. In fact, in Psalm 150, it actually calls for instruments and says, use instruments to praise God. I think this is still not a prescriptive thing that it's saying, but it means that we can use instruments, that it's perfectly okay. What needs to happen within a congregation is discussion and decisions as to what's appropriate and what's not.

Okay, so what about putting your hands up in the air, and other emotional types of outbursts? Again, I think we can turn to the Old Testament. They had singing. They had [01:10:00] dancing. They had loud music sometimes. It's described that way. While it didn't end up the case that this was transferred to the temple practice at large, I think we can say that a lot of the worship in the Old Testament might have looked like some of our more charismatic congregations.

I think in the end, it's really hard to say this is the right thing and this is the wrong thing. Of course, there are obviously songs you don't want to sing, and there are obviously songs that are a little bit more theologically rich, right? But this is a matter of prayer, of discussion with people, and of really looking closely at exactly what you're doing. Because there's no one size fits all answer here.

Make sure you're focused on the right things. Are you praising God? Are you offering up yourself as you are doing so? Is your worship also uniting yourself with other believers? These are all essential aspects of what should be [01:11:00] going on. Again, it is about the what and the why, but not so much about the how. Looking at the breadth of music in the Bible strongly suggests that there is a good bit of flexibility that can be had in the how.

Just like we look carefully at the teachings of a church, there It is fair to look carefully at the music of a church, and we can ask ourselves, is this in the framework of what we see in the Bible? Are they doing the same things that the people of God did in the Bible? That's the essential question. And do we have a heart of humility where we can work together with other people and see their perspective and become united with them in what we're doing? How do we become united with each other in intent and purpose and focus? That is also a really big point of why we do what we do in worship.

All right, well, that is about it for this [01:12:00] episode. Again, if you're interested in finding some tips and practical ways that you can improve the worship in your church, or even just the way that you're experiencing the worship in your church, I do highly recommend this book about church music. I will have the link in my show notes.

As always, thank you guys for listening. Thank you to my Patreon and PayPal supporters, and thank you to all of you who have left reviews. I've gotten a few new ones this week. That is so very uplifting to me, so I really appreciate you guys.

I think I might do something a little bit different and end this episode with a song, because I'm talking about worship music, and I really want to encourage everyone that you really can sing.

Even if you think, I don't really want to sing in front of people, it's really something that is important. And so, I'm going to put my money where my mouth is, and I'm going to sing a song. [01:13:00] If you guys don't want to hear me singing, that's fine. That's why I put this at the end of the episode. You can just move on to the next episode if you want. You're not going to hurt my feelings at all. But I'm going to sing a song, and I'm going to warn you that I'm not really gonna record this a bunch of times, so it's just gonna be what it is. It's not gonna be perfect. The tune will probably be off. I'm not sure how the microphone is gonna pick it up. And you might hear my voice breaking. But I'm just gonna go for it. This is a song that I sang at my grandpa's funeral. And ever since then, I have a really hard time singing this without crying. But at any rate, here we go. Amazing grace. How sweet The sound that saved Rich like me, I was lost, but [01:14:00] now found was blind, but now I see.

It's my heart to fear, and grace my fears relieve. How precious did that grace appear, the hour I first believed. Through many dangers, toils, and snares. I have already come to his, grace has brought me saved thus far, and [01:15:00] Grace will lead me home. The Lord has promised good to me his word, my hope. Sick. Your he, he will my shield and pull.

Who shall be as long as life endure? Yay. When this flesh and heart shall fail, and Mor to life shall cease. I shall pause within the veil. A life of joy and [01:16:00] peace. The earth shall soon, all like stove the sun for bear to shine. But God who called me here below Will be forever mine When we've been there ten thousand years Bright shining as The sun, we've no less days to sing God's praise than when we'd first begun.

Carey Griffel: Thanks [01:17:00] again for listening, guys. I hope you have a blessed week, and we'll see you later.