Making God’s Praise Glorious!

Introduction

Have you ever been told that church choirs are a thing of the past? Well, I have. I’ve been told that a choir is no longer relevant in today’s church. And it would seem that a great number of pastors and other church leaders believe that. In fact, while attending a church leadership conference several years ago, I heard one pastor proudly announce that he was happy to say that his church no longer had a choir!

I’ve not given up on church choirs. And since you’re reading this book, I’m guessing that you have not either. I presume that you are one who continues to be convinced of the true value of a vibrant church choir. But I would also venture to say that even though you believe in the value of your church’s choir, you sometimes find the challenge of maintaining it to be somewhat daunting. You realize that a successful church choir does not just happen, not without creative planning, effective rehearsing, inspirational performing (worship leading), endless recruiting, and ceaseless praying.

So I wish to encourage you in your efforts to make your choir a vibrant source of musical and spiritual inspiration in your church. You most likely consider your ministry with your church’s choir to be a God-given call to ministry, whether you are a volunteer or a paid church staff member. Some who read this book may not be the director of a choir but are fulfilling a special calling as a choir member. Other readers may simply be people who love, value, and support their church choir. Whether you are a choir director, a choir member, or a person who simply loves, values, and supports your church’s choir, I believe God has placed you in your position for a purpose: to enable your church choir to be a group of people committed to providing a vibrant, impactful ministry of making God’s praise glorious!

What does it mean to “make God’s praise glorious”? How does a person, especially a Christian, go about making God’s praise glorious? How can our church choirs make God’s praise glorious? Before going further with your reading, I encourage you to pause for a few moments and reflect upon those questions.

The choirs I have conducted during the years of my church music career have found their homes in the choir lofts of a variety of church settings. A few have not had the luxury of a choir loft from which to sing; nevertheless, they, too, have succeeded in making God’s praise glorious. The church settings have ranged from long-established “tall steeple” downtown churches to young suburban church plants. Some of the choirs have sung from ornate choir lofts and chancel areas, and some from portable choir risers. The choirs have had different denominational labels: Baptist, Christian and Missionary Alliance, Church of the Nazarene, Lutheran, Methodist, and Presbyterian. But each choir, in its own way and in its own unique setting, succeeded in making God’s praise glorious!

The scriptural basis upon which I base my desire to make God’s praise glorious is found in Psalm 66:1.2:

Shout for joy to God, all the earth!

Sing the glory of his name;

Make his praise glorious.

A simple dictionary definition of the word glorious is “full of glory.” A simple definition of glory is “great honor and admiration.” Our church choirs have been given the opportunity to admire God with great grandeur and to bring Him great honor and admiration as we encourage, instruct, and inspire others through our music making. So how is this accomplished?

Of course, some of the ways in which we accomplish this are rather obvious. One of the most obvious ways a choir can bring honor to God is to sing in a manner that is pleasing to the human ear. Singing in tune and having a quality choral sound are certainly two elements of that, as is good diction. Singing that lacks well-sung consonants and well-formed vowels falls short in its educational and inspirational potential for those who hear us.

A few less obvious ways of bringing honor to God as a choir are such things as the way we enter the choir loft or other physical space from which we sing. Do we enter that space and maintain body language that in essence says, “God is here. Let’s worship!”?

Some things that contribute to a choir’s vibrancy and effectiveness—consequently, a source of God-honoring praise—are discovered behind the scenes. That is, not in the church’s worship service and, in some ways, not even part of a typical rehearsal. Such behind-the-scenes experiences are the things I wish to share with you in this book. The description of these happenings is drawn from my blog. Based on the feedback I’ve received, I believe putting the blogs into print could provide a useful resource for directors, choir members, and others.

The stories shared in this book represent a variety of scenarios. Each is drawn from my career as a church choir director. Some are based on very recent events, especially those relating to the worldwide COVID-19 pandemic. However, these can also be applied to nonpandemic times as well. Other entries represent much lighter moments, such as when one of our sopranos fell out of the choir loft and when the choir stole my wife’s and my toothbrushes! All of the stories are easy reads and offer an opportunity to kick back and gain a fresh vision and sense of confidence in our quest of making God’s praise glorious!

Several times in the Bible we are encouraged to sing a “new song” unto the Lord. It is my prayer that each anthem, hymn, and service piece we sing will truly be a new song, whether it is recently composed and new to our choir’s repertoire or one of the anthems or hymns we’ve sort of “always known.” May every musical note and every word we sing be expressions of fresh musical and spiritual understanding and God-directed praise and worship. When our church choirs sing in this manner, there will be little doubt that choirs are still a relevant ingredient in our churches’ worship services. The church will recognize that we are truly making God’s praise glorious! And, most importantly, it will see that our glorious finite singing is bringing unmatched and endless glory to Almighty God.

Praise the Lord! Who reigns above,

And keeps his court below,

Praise the holy God of love,

And all his greatness show;

Praise him for his noble deeds,

Praise him for his matchless power:

Him from whom all good proceeds

Let earth and heaven adore.

Celebrate the eternal God

With harp and psaltery,

Timbrels soft and cymbals loud

In his high praise agree:

Praise him every tuneful string;

All the reach of heavenly art,

All the powers of music bring,

The music of the heart.

—Charles Wesley (1743), based on Psalm 150