Whether you’ve grown up in the church or you’re newer to the Christian faith, you might have never thought about why we sing together. After all, next to the Sermon, singing as a congregation is what takes up the most of our Sunday service time (roughly 40%). This shows that as a church, we value worship through music, but we may not be able to articulate why. Here are 4 reasons that hopefully offer some food for thought:

1. God tells us to in His Word (the book of Psalms). Jesus sang when He came to this earth (Matt. 26:30 - after the Lord’s supper). There’s a lot of singing going on in our future home - heaven (the book of Revelation). The people of God have always been big on singing (the Old Testament).
2. Singing our theology helps us to remember and digest foundational Biblical truths. For example, this Sunday at Crossway Brea, we’re singing a song that contains the lines “Bearing all my sin and shame, in love You came, and gave amazing grace.” What better way is there to pack such a profound story in a few short lines?
3. Worship through music is a unique way to access our hearts. We were designed to be thinking and feeling beings. When our thoughts and feelings collide, we gain momentum towards action, resulting in a life that reflects our faith. The greatest commandment is to love God with everything we’ve got - not just our rational minds. (Now can you have a moving experience while reading? Absolutely! But singing is another means of expression that involves mind, body, heart, and spirit.)  
4. It builds community. I suppose you can sit at home in your room and experience a nearness to God via YouTube video (I’m speaking from personal experience here), but there’s nothing quite like singing the same words that fellow brothers and sisters are also singing week after week - especially when you know what’s going on in their lives. It’s a beautiful thing to witness young and old, those who are mourning and those who are celebrating, seasoned believers and new Christians, singing the same melody to our Lord, and the fact that we are able to do so is a testament to the constancy of His truths.

There’s a lot more to be said about each of these points, and many more reason why we sing at church, but my hope is that the next time you gather with other believers and sing to God, whether that be in your home, community group, or on Sunday, you’ll sing with some of these thoughts in mind.