27. Songs of the Saints: Enriching our singing by learning from the songs of Scripture - Mike Raiter & Rob Smith

Exodus 15-the song of Moses. Saved people sing: "when the Saviour God has captured someone's heart, forgiven their sins and worked in them the new birth, one of the spontaneous responses of the newly redeemed is to sing. They realize that God has done something incredible for them, something they could never have done for themselves. And he has done this both for his glory and as an expression of his grace. The only appropriate human response to this is wonder, praise and gratitude; a response that naturally finds its voice in singing." p.33-34
-"to praise is to express respect, adoration or gratitude by declaring the greatness, goodness or worthiness of the object of our praise." p.34
-"The songs God wants us to sing celebrate both what he has done, and his eternal purposes in winning salvation for us. Our Christian songs must turn our eyes backwards and forwards. ...And it is so important that our songs lift our eyes beyond the here and now, which so consumes our thoughts, anxieties, dreams and prayers, to the place where God is leading us." p.38

-"the songs of Scripture don't just invite us to praise the Lord, but give us a mountain of reasons why we should do so." p.53

-Chronicles: "How, then, do God's people respond appropriately to the presence of the God who is now in their midst? ...appoint...singers who should play loudly on musical instruments, on harps and lyres and cymbals, to raise sounds of joy (15:16)" p.63
-association of music and warfare..."the singers and musicians are set apart 'for the ministry of prophesying' (25:1)...because their praise and thanksgiving was understood to be the result of divine inspiration. ...the Lord himself both commanded and enabled this ministry (2 Chr 29:25). Second, because of the vital teaching role their ministry played." e.g. Asaph Psalms 50, 73-83
-"in the act of worship, the 'singing prophets' both led the people in praise and edified them by addressing profound theological questions of life and faith, all the while reminding them of the character and deeds of their faithful, sovereign God." p.65

-"73 of the 150 psalms are laments, either in part or in whole. Why, then, do so few of our contemporary songs present us with the brutal realities of life outside of Eden? ...a handful of musical resources that both express these sufferings and help us find strength and comfort by turning our hearts and minds to God? Theologian Carl Trueman suggests: "...Perhaps--and this is more likely--it has drunk so deeply at the well of modern Western materialism that it simply does not know what to do with such cries and regards them as little short of embarrasing. Yet the human condition is a poor one--and Christians who are aware of the deceitfulness of the human heart and are looking for a better country should know this." p.77
-Ps 42-43 tell the story of a believing man's profound sense of estrangement from God.' p.78
-"The importance of lament is not that it makes our troubles disappear, but that as we come before the throne of God and give voice to our present distress, hope is awakened and we are enabled to 'rejoice in our sufferings' (Rom 5:3-5). While we wait for the end of our sufferings, singing has a unique way of helping us process the emotional dimension of our pain and so bring us to a point of genuine praise." p.90

Hannah's song 1 Sam 2:1-10
-we're singing it on two levels: Hannah's personal testimony to God's saving grace in her life & Israel's anthem for what the Lord is about to do for all of his people. p.102
-"Too many churches have embraced the world's intolerence of the God of Hannah. ...we would rejoice in the fact that God both "brings down to the grave and raises up" (v. 6, NIV). WE would teach our children all the truth about God, and they would grow up deeply loving him and appropriately fearing him." p. 103
-1 Sam 2:4-9 "Hannah's song celebrates the truth that God is the God of reversals, the one who confounds the ways of the world. She catalogues the mighty warrior (whose weapons are broken), the wealthy (who are left beggars), the mother of many (who is rendered childless), and the rich (who is impoverished), while the feeble, the hungry, the barren and the poor take their places. This is what the New Testament calls the gospel." p.104
& Mary's song/the magnificat Luke 1:46-56
-God has "always responded with kindness to those who fear him (Luke 1:50), he has always been the God who delights to dwell with the humble (vv. 51-52), and he has always acted mercifully when his people have been in need (v. 54).

Eph 5:19, Col 3:16
-calls upon Christian congregations to engage in singing "psalms and hymns and spiritual songs". p.118

Zephaniah 3:17 "...he will exult over you with loud singing." p.155

Emotions and music, singing
-Robert Robert, who has written extensively on emotions in the Christian life, calls them "concern-based construals." ...emotions--like joy, fear, anger, exasperation, regret--are the natural responses we have, when we grasp 'with a kind of perceptual immediacy" the significance of the situation we are in." ...the significance of this event grips you...
in singing a good hymn, "the response is both intellectual and emotional." p.179
-Music can both express and arouse emotion. Stephen Davies, a philosopher at the University of Auckland, suggests that the connection lies in what he calls 'appearance emotionalism'. That is, there is a connection between the appearance of something and the emotion it evokes. e.g. a weeping willow... Music, acts in much the same way. e.g. a gradual downward movement/dark timbres/thick harmonic bass textures, music can recall an appearance of sadness." p.180
-"when we sing, we usually sing words with meanings, and those words not only express the cognitive content of the song, but the singing of them helps communicate the emotional content of the song as well."
Yip Harburg: "Words make you think a thought; music makes you feel a feeling; a song makes you feel a thought'.  p.183
-our emotional responses, are largely determined by our (selfish) instincts, (corrupted) values, (false)  beliefs and (foolish) thoughts. p.185 but "just as God's Spirit continually transforms our ways of thinking and patterns of behaviour, so he transforms our emotional responses as well." p.186
-"For God wants us to not only 'think his thoughts after him', but to 'feel his feelings after him' as well--to share his passions, grieve his griefs and know his joys. This is part of our growth. Indeed it is part of the renewing of our minds. ...'There is a distinction to be made,' wrote Edwards, 'between a mere notional understanding, wherein the mind only beholds things in the exercise of a speculative faculty; and the sense of the heart, wherein the mind don't [sic] only speculate and behold, but relishes and feels." p.190

The book ends with several practical ideas for how we should do congregational singing in our churches. Song leaders' roles etc.

P: Overall, this book is an easy read, very helpful for having a comprehensive discussion about how we should sing in churches, following the biblical examples of songs and what the Bible teaches about singing. It makes me want to join in in singing with my heart and being with other Christians, to praise and proclaim that "God's truth is marching on" and what a wonderful Saviour He is, kind and compassionate and just. To sing to Him and sing to one another to edify each other.

4-25 Aug 2017
Sydney: Matthias Media, 2017