The best way to spread Christmas cheer is singing loud for all to hear. – Buddy the Elf

The movie, Wicked, is proving as popular as was anticipated. Wicked took the #1 slot at the box office during the first weekend of its release. What wasn’t expected though is that some of its fans dare to defy theater etiquette. They’re singing out loud along with the musical during the movie, to the consternation of other theatergoers. 

One Wicked fan, 28-year-old Leah Barnes, said people who want to watch the movie without listening to other viewers sing along in the theater should “wait to stream it.” She went on to say that the movie’s musical charms are irresistible, “You can’t stop someone who loves it so much.” 

But  it’s creating a big backlash. One theater chain, AMC, has banned sing-alongs at its showings. 

A survey found that most Americans are fine if their fellow moviegoers whisper to each other, but they become very intolerant when viewer noise rises to compete with the sound of the movie. Polling hasn’t included how Americans feel about singing in the cinema. 

One place where singing, even Elf-style singing, is always wanted, is when we gather as a church family for worship. Yet, if you look around during congregational singing, you’ll see a high percentage of worshippers with their mouths closed, never joining the congregational singing.  

Don’t you love that line from Elf? The best way to spread Christmas cheer is singing loud for all to hear. Maybe we can revise that to, The best way to spread WORSHIP is singing loud for all to hear.

The Christmas season is one of the best times to begin to sing together as a church. Some of the simplest music to sing as a congregation are Christmas carols. Most of us know them by heart. 

Something very vital has been lost in the Church in recent times when so many in the congregation fail to sing as part of the worship service. We’ve devolved into spectators rather than participants, which is God’s plan.

Did you know that the Bible contains over four hundred references to singing and fifty direct commands to sing? The longest book of the Bible, the Psalms, is a hymnbook, a book of songs. In the New Testament we’re commanded not once, but twice, to sing psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs to each other when we gather together (Ephesians 5:19; Colossians 3:16).  

I realize that there are several reasons why some in a congregation don’t sing. For some, it’s all new. Either they didn’t grow up in church or they grew up in a church where no one sang. Perhaps the organ was the primary source of music. Another reason is that there is so much new Christian music being produced that sometimes a song is unfamiliar. In some churches the worship team is so loud, you can’t hear yourself sing.

Probably for most of us we just feel that we don’t have a good enough voice to sing where others might hear us. Yet, six times the Psalms repeat this phrase: God isn’t concerned about the quality of your voice; He’s concerned about the state of your heart.

When it comes to music, it’s astounding all the things that we remember. We can remember a jingle for a commercial from decades ago. Probably, you’ve found yourself singing along to a song you haven’t heard for years. Music helps us remember the words. That’s why it’s essential that the songs that we sing in worship are accurate biblically. While there’s room for some poetic license, our yardstick must be lyrics that line up and are accurate with God’s Word. And music helps us to remember the words.

We store hundreds, literally thousands, of songs in our memories, ready to be accessed at a moment’s notice. Music has a powerful mnemonic ability that scientists are only beginning to understand. Our minds are hardwired to recognize, categorize, and remember patterns in music better than we remember patterns in words by themselves. 

Every culture has songs and rhymes to help children learn the alphabet, numbers, and other lists. The power of music has been observed in Alzheimer’s patients who can’t remember the name of their spouse or children but can instantly sing songs they learned as a child. The more unique, repetitive, or immediately impacting these musical elements are, the easier it is to remember the song.

There is a horizontal and a vertical aspect to singing in church as we gather with our spiritual family, our brothers and sisters. As we participate in worship, it encourages others to worship. We sing vertically to worship our Heavenly Father and give Him our praise and adoration. We sing horizontally to encourage each other, lift each other up and love one another. The Bible doesn’t tell us to perform for each other. We are on level ground with our “family,” gazing up at the glory of King Jesus.

Singing together helps us dig deeper roots in our hearts of God’s truth. Singing is more than a warm-up for the sermon or a filler in the service. Colossians 3:16 clearly unpacks for us that singing together stands alongside of preaching as one of the two great ways that God has ordained for His Word to dwell richly in each one of us!

C.J. Mahaney calls church singing “Take Home Theology” because the best songs we sing together serve as a small, easily remembered, biblical summary of important truths from Scripture. The examples of that are endless. Take for example, “In Christ Alone.” In an easily memoizable form, you have a thorough theology of the cross of Christ with clear and practical applications to apply to your life during the coming week. 

When I get Home, I want to talk to Paul and Silas. Acts 16 records that they were singing praises to God though falsely accused, beaten and imprisoned. I want to know how they did it…yet I know and so do you. When I’m going through trials or have a heavy heart, worship music strengthens and encourages me. And every week each of us is going through some level of trials because we live in a fallen world. If we only sang when times were good, we wouldn’t sing very much. Singing together is like praying together. It encourages us to look to Jesus (Hebrews 12:2). Worship music has helped persecuted believers persevere. 

So, let’s take a lesson from Buddy and sing so all can hear! Lift your hands in praise if it helps you worship. I’d love it if the Racine Sheriff’s Department was called because we were so loud and vibrant that our neighbors heard us praising King Jesus! It’s a fine that I’d willingly pay!