It has always been a characteristic of God’s people that they are a singing people. Yet God’s people have also recognized that we must always… Read More »By the Waters of Babylon, Episode 11 now available: “Why We Sing”
The great shift in worship over the last century has been the result of evangelical clergy in America seeking to make the worship of the… Read More »Worship and the “Mixt Congregation”
In both Ephesians 5:19 and Colossians 3:16, Paul commands gathered believers to sing psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs, thereby “singing and making melody to the… Read More »Singing and Making Melody
In Psalm 96, David emphasized, through various poetic devices, the necessity of singing confidently about the Lord’s reign, even though it is not yet a… Read More »The New Song
Last week we looked at several aspects of how various poetic devices were used in Psalm 96 to shape the content and form the singer… Read More »Parallelism in Psalm 96
A critic recently approached me about our hymnal and rebuked us for (among other things) including hymns written by Catholics in our hymnal. It is… Read More »May a Baptist (or any other Protestant) sing Catholic hymns?
Singing both helps us express right affections to God in response to God’s character and works, and it also helps to form those affections when… Read More »How Poetry Forms Us
We have seen thus far that good hymns help us to express the affections of our hearts in response to God’s character and works, which… Read More »How Singing Forms Us
We are studying Psalm 96 in an attempt to answer the question, Why sing? Last week we saw that the unique power of singing is… Read More »Singing: Response to Who God Is and What He Has Done
Last time in our study of Psalm 96, I made the point that structurally this psalm oscillates between calls to praise God through song followed… Read More »Why Does God Call Us to Sing?
In our study of Psalm 137 over the past several weeks, we have looked at the historical context of the psalm, the analogical relationships between… Read More »Looking through Psalm 137, Stanza 1: Worship in a Pagan Culture
Here’s one of the most important concepts about music in worship I think needs to be communicated to pastors and parishioners alike: Music in the context… Read More »The most significant misconception about music in worship
9Marks published that “some elder should exercise oversight over picking the music and all the other details of the worship service.” I agree with Lawrence for… Read More »This is why pastors should be educated in music and worship
This is a series to further explain the articles of “A Conservative Christian Declaration.” . We affirm that the worship of God is regulated through his… Read More »Article 7: On Scripture Regulated Worship
In the second book of The Marrow of Theology, William Ames’s (1576-1633) classic Post-Reformation work, Ames deals with a number of matters related to practical theology. The ninth… Read More »William Ames on the connection between prayer, singing, and outward expressions
| | | We have looking at different reasons why the regular meeting for worship with one’s church is better than private meetings of worship, including times… Read More »Is corporate worship better than private worship? (Part 5)
I’m writing a brief series recommending different recordings of excellent sacred music in English. Last time I introduced several thoughts and recommended more than a… Read More »Recordings: Choral Psalms
An interesting online discussion has emerged in the past few weeks about the issue of not singing a particular song in a service when that… Read More »To sing or not to sing, that is the question
There is a narrow way of worship that walks between two great gulfs of peril. One one side you have terror, on the other you… Read More »Serve the LORD with fear, and rejoice with trembling
The hymnody of the early church was naturally an extension of Hebrew hymnody.1 Therefore, we can expect the hymnody of the early church to have the… Read More »Early Church Hymns