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Some Thoughts on Church Choirs

Christ Church Music on March 3, 2022

True. Centuries ago Calvinists resisted establishing choirs in their churches. Seems that in looking for a reason to abolish popish abuses, Calvinists, Puritans especially, adopted a strict regulativist view of worship: whatever is not commanded in Scripture is strictly forbidden.

We are regulativists too, but less strict. If Scripture speaks of it, clearing a space for it in worship, it is reasonable and appropriate to include it. For example, if choirs are mentioned at various points in the Bible—assumed in the Psalms, on the move in accounts of Jehoshaphat and Nehemiah, and present and active in Revelation—choirs are, in effect, normative in God’s worship.

The spirit of the Reformation was, among other things, a recovery of the authority of scripture in church life and practice. To some extent, the Reformation rejected those practices that effectively rehung the partition between God and His people. In medieval worship, the singing, if there was any, was done by trained choirs, not the congregation. Recovering the “priesthood of all believers” (1 Peter 2:5), resulted in giving duties formally assigned to priests (i.e. serving God in worship), to everybody, and thus, congregational singing was restored.

Now that singing and music arises from the assembly of saints, does this mean that choirs are abolished and are now unnecessary?

The short answer, “no.”

The church choir provides skillful music in worship that is impractical for the congregation to do on its own. Where scripture commands skillful praise (Psalm 33:3), the choir is able to fulfill this requirement. It is impractical or impossible to have the congregation to do so.

At Christ Church, we value musical skill highly, and particularly the ability to read music. Whereas these skills will be more prominent in the choir, there is no reason to expect that they be uncommon in the congregation. But an honest assessment leads us to conclude that, since God is to be worshipped with our best, and in fact, makes His demands plain,“Your lamb shall be without blemish” (Exodus 12:5), the congregation’s offering is not as good (putting it bluntly) as it could be. And so, a church choir can help fill the gap.

The skill and ability a choir brings to worship is extraordinary compared to the ordinary worship provided by the congregation. In his book The Supper of the Lamb, Robert Capon applies similar categories to food. Capon calls everyday food “ferial” and special food “festal.” For him, the distinction is not inferior food vs. superior. All the food he talks about is more than fit for human consumption. The division lies along the lines of “honest frugality and generous expense,” food our pocketbooks can afford and that we have time to prepare day by day as compared to special and extravagant food. How great it would be to enjoy expensive dishes all the time, except that we’d soon eat ourselves out of house and home. And besides, we tend to devalue extravagance if we have it around us every day. On the other hand, we look forward to special occasions, budgeting time and money in the planning.

So, there is a hierarchy to our priorities. In the church year, we celebrate Christ’s Resurrection each Lord’s Day. (Why else is it called the “Lord’s Day” if not for the Resurrection?) But only one Lord’s Day out of the year is called Easter. To have egg hunts, Peeps, jellybeans, and white lilies every Sunday would be too much. Once a year is a whole lot of fun and worth preparing for. Only one day in seven is a Sabbath. If every day were a Sabbath, where would the working be?

This digression is all to say that if we like the separation between the special and the ordinary when it comes to observing time and meals, why not music too? A church choir can give more time and attention to preparing music than a congregation can. A choir can provide vibrant and glorious meditations on God’s Word that the congregation simply can’t do. A choir can bless the congregation with performances of say, Messiah, that deserves to be rehearsed and celebrated regularly. The congregation ordinarily cannot do these things on its own.

Finally, just as we look forward to special occasions to mark times and seasons, we look to role models for how we ought to live. In church, the congregation looks to the choir to set a standard of glorious praise of God and how to do so joyfully.

So yes, if the church choir truly presents an obstacle to the authentic worship of God, we agree with our Calvinist forefathers that the choir’s got go. But insofar as choirs, organs, and instruments enhance praise and help us worship our glorious Lord in the beauty of holiness, we ought to continue to use them. We should encourage those in our midst that are willing and able to help our sacrifice of praise ring out more faithfully each Lord’s Day.

A Caveat

I’ve made the claim that the church choir is more skilled than the congregation and fills a niche that the congregation can’t. But understand that the choir’s skill is not inherent skill but is mostly learned skill. Singers in the choir are not necessarily better singers than ones in the congregation. The difference is quantity of time in preparation. The choir practices. The congregation is not expected to, at least not to the same degree. If any in the congregation are intimidated by the choir, thinking I could never do that, hear this encouragement: yes you can, it just takes time. The invitation to join extends to all. You just need to be willing to commit time to learning. We certainly want our best singers to use their talent in the choir. They are the most qualified. But those who are willing to learn and commit the time to it will not be turned away. With time and instruction, they will become better singers.

Mark Reagan
Lent A.D. 2022

Grace & Peace: Proverbs 27:2

Douglas Wilson on February 22, 2022

At thy right hand there are pleasures for evermore (Ps. 16: 11)

Let another man praise thee, and not thine own mouth; A stranger, and not thine own lips.
Proverbs 27:2

This particular doctrine is one that has gained widespread recognition in our culture, and even acceptance (on paper). In the ancient world, it was possible for a well-bred man, according to Aristotle, to be very open about his virtues.

But Scripture teaches us that it is perilously easy to be self-deceived, misguided, or delusional about our virtues.

“For I say, through the grace given unto me, to every man that is among you, not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think; but to think soberly, according as God hath dealt to every man the measure of faith” (Rom. 12:3).

Because of the teaching of Scripture, the expectation that we should avoid too much self-praise has been incorporated into our manners. For those who have been taught good manners, they do avoid this blunder in speech. But only the Spirit of God within us can mortify the silent wish that others would notice us more.

Now while we are the closest witness to our thoughts, efforts, intentions, and deeds, we are also the witness who has strong incentives to inflate the splendor of what was actually accomplished.

And so this proverb says that we should leave the task of praising us to others. Let someone else do it. This creates a problem for us, because it immediately occurs to us that these others might fail in their responsibility of praising us. They might not pick up the ball, and they might not run with it. It is like the two people conversing at the party, where one says, “Well, enough of me talking about me. Time for you to talk about me.” He gives the other a nudge because it turns out that others cannot be relied upon when it comes to how much praise should be lavished on us.

But this proverb would have us contented to receive whatever praise came naturally. And by contented I mean really content.

Grace & Peace: Proverbs 30:15–16

Douglas Wilson on February 15, 2022

At thy right hand there are pleasures for evermore (Ps. 16: 11)

The horseleach hath two daughters, crying, Give, give. There are three things that are never satisfied, Yea, four things say not, It is enough: The grave; and the barren womb; The earth that is not filled with water; And the fire that saith not, It is enough (KJV).
The leech has two daughters: Give and Give. Three things are never satisfied; four never say, “Enough”: Sheol, the barren womb, the land never satisfied with water, and the fire that never says, “Enough” (ESV).
Proverbs 30:15–16

A leech is a worm that has suckers on both ends. Many of them are parasitic, blood-sucking worms, while the remainder are predators. If you like, you may file the next thing under the category of things you were not expecting to learn today, and that is the remarkable fact that a leech has 32 brains. The worm is divided up into 32 sections, and each one has its very own brain. Apparently getting blood out of your ankle after your dip in the pond is a more complicated task than you thought.

The point of this proverb is that a leech has two daughters, and each one of them is named Give. In modern English, we might be tempted to nickname each of them as Gimme. They are the Gimme Gimme twins. These two daughters are never going to say anything like “that’s enough,” or “that’s satisfying,” or “enough for me, thanks.” It is not in their nature.

Agur then gives us a short list of the sorts of things he has in mind. He does this in the typical Hebraic fashion of giving us an enumerated list, and starting with the penultimate number. “Three things I have in mind—no wait, there are four actually . . .”

The four ravenous things he lists are Sheol, a barren womb, parched earth, and fire in search of more fuel. Sheol has been receiving the dead for a long time now, and will continue to do so until the day of resurrection. A childless womb does not want to forsake the hope of becoming fruitful. And when you pour a jug of water into the desert dirt, a moment later it is like you have done nothing at all. It is as dry as ever. And fire goes out, not because it is tired of burning, but rather because the combustible material is no longer available.

Grace & Peace: Proverbs 17:4

Douglas Wilson on February 8, 2022

At thy right hand there are pleasures for evermore (Ps. 16: 11)

“A wicked doer giveth heed to false lips; And a liar giveth ear to a naughty tongue.”
Proverbs 17:4

One of the things we really need to understand is that in a world so affected by the prince of liars, and given the essential deceitfulness of this world and its baubles, there must be an economy of lies. Put another way, there is a marketplace of lies. And put yet another way, when it comes to liars, lies, and lying, there is a supply and demand curve.

When talking about household goods, if no one buys something, then the factory will stop producing them. If the market for purchasing something heats up, then it is not long before the factory heats up.

In this proverb, we are told about the sin of buyers, and not just the sellers. What does a wicked man do? He gives heed to false lips. He went out into the market to buy. And what does a liar do? He gives ear to someone with something negative to say?

It is obviously lying to tell lies, and this is something that pretty much everyone should grant. But it is also a form of lying to listen to them. It is a sin to behave in such a way as to create a market for lies, because someone is going to be there to fulfill the demand.

How does this work? It happens whenever a “buyer” wants to hear something negative. When he hears a juicy bit of gossip, he wants to treasure it under his tongue. And because he is after the sweetness of a lacerating report, it does not matter to him whether or not the report is true. He gets the same kick regardless. The same thing is true of words published online. The satisfaction of circulating truth is not the satisfaction he was after.

This is also the motivation for not caring to learn what the Scriptures teach about the principles of justice. Learning those principles would be tiresome.

So the bottom line is this: being a consumer of lies is a sin, and it is what keeps the devil’s factories humming.

Singing with Your Kids

Christ Church Music on February 3, 2022

Singing with Your Kids

“Are you going Roman on me, boy?” This was my reply upon hearing my son sing “By invocation of the saints,” not “the same” as the song nicknamed St. Patrick’s Breastplate (I Bind unto Myself Today, Cantus Christi 581) actually goes.

The real verse reads

I bind unto myself today
The strong name of the Trinity,
By invocation of the same,
The Three in One, and One in Three.

We don’t call upon the saints but trust in the name of the Triune God. I corrected my son’s error and in all kindness.

It’s our habit to sing St. Patrick’s on the way to school each day. We want the Lord’s blessing upon us as we interact with His creation. When we encounter bad ideas and bad people, we want Christ’s protection from all that assaults us body and soul. St. Patrick’s helps us spiritually center our day and its rich words and jaunty tune help focus the mind for learning and the body for discipline.

Our culture is a musical one without actually doing much of the music making itself. We have songs that captivate and define us; songs that are cultural reference points in our conversation. There are songs that are part of the cultural milieu, to cite a fancy word. And with iTunes and Spotify at the ready, we are as wealthy as an ancient king who could call up singers at will if he wanted tunes. Doug Wilson has occasionally asked, which Roman emperor would not have considered it the height of luxury to have a band of musicians right there in your chariot? And yet, isn’t that exactly what we have? Favorite tunes on the go.

The problem with so great a blessing is that we tend to leave the music making to others, to those who do it better than we. We don’t practice music amongst ourselves. But our musical passivity condemns us when faced with the command to come before the Lord with singing (Psalm 100:2). In a sense we’re supposed to enter church with a song already on our lips (verse 4). How ready are we to praise the Lord on Sunday?

All this is intended as an exhortation to sing more, and especially to sing with our kids. We ought to come to church with a readiness to praise, ready to do the work ourselves, not leaving it to others. We want our kids to be mighty worshippers, but to do this takes practice.

Here are some practical ideas to help families practice for worship and singing.

Identify your family’s spiritual goals and consider how songs fit within them. We use catechisms as a simple, point upon point way of teaching doctrine. The Church’s song repertoire is like a musical catechism in which the truths of the Faith coalesce summarily in song form. Most songs are short, being only a few verses long. Start developing a “musical catechesis” with songs you already know pretty well. Sing them often enough that the least among you can know and recognize them. If they are babies, sing particular songs enough so that their eyes brighten, they coo, and bob up and down to the song.
Consider singing as way of teaching the commands of God to your kids through the back door. Deuteronomy 6:7 prescribes an ongoing, daily discussion of God’s commands both in and out of the home. Use song to form religious affections in your kids. Invoke God’s blessing on the day by singing on your way to school. Prepare the kids for sleep by singing about God’s protection in the night. Instead of saying grace in prayer form, thank God for the food with a song.
Do not fear singing songs incorrectly or off key. Singing gets better with practice. If you started Amazing Grace too high or too low, start again and adjust it. If your wife or a child has a better ear than you, have her or him start the song.
Complement your family devotions with a little singing. Think of Bible-reading time as a mini, informal worship service. Read, expound, discuss, pray together and sing a song. I you don’t have hymnal, find songs online or just sing from memory. Reuse/re-sing the songs you sang Sunday morning at church.
Practice new songs as a family. If you encounter a new song at church, practice that song at home. Our church has a hymn of the month. Practice these at home. If your community works on learning new songs, add them to your mix of family songs.

Worship is the pinnacle of our week and we ought to consider ways in which we can be all the more ready to gather together. If your kids are little, they’re not able to interact with the elements of the service very much. Look for ways to equip them to meet with God meaningfully. A habit of singing hymns at home helps them engage better in worship. Rejoicing before the Lord in song facilitates joyful and thankful kids that turn quickly to God both in adversity and in times of blessing.

Mark Reagan