Psalms, Hymns and Spiritual Songs

Ephesians 5:19 offers this advice: "When you meet together, sing psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs, as you praise the Lord with all your heart."

Singing around the piano in someone's home seems like such an old-fashioned custom. It is something more often seen in an old movie than in daily life. I rarely find myself in a social setting, with the possible exception of Christmas, singing hymns and offering praise. But that is exactly what happened earlier this week.

After supper, at the end of the evening, we were invited to gather by the piano to sing "psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs." We sang robustly and with good cheer, even if a bit off-key. We did have one false start. We got confused (well, I got confused) with the stanzas and refrain and some of us were (no, probably just I was) singing the right words at the wrong time. We stopped, my wife (the designated pianist) explained patiently again how we were supposed to sing and we began once more.

It really was a wonderful evening. We had prayed before the meal, we sat down to eat, we had fun and told stories, and we sang praises. What could be better than that?

Two thoughts have run through my mind since then. First, can you imagine how different our social gatherings would be if we always prayed together, ate together, and sang psalms, hymns and spiritual songs together? I don't think it would be hard for me to achieve. Everywhere I go I am surrounded by Lutherans! I do have Jewish relatives, but even in their presence prayers and psalms would not be offensive.

The second thought had to do with our singing in worship. I have had the joy of serving congregations which were great at singing. Some congregations are just better than others when it comes to singing. Occasionally, even in these congregations, we would stumble on an unfamiliar hymn and I would interrupt the singing to start over. I would suggest that you check the mood of the organist before you try it yourself! I recall deeply offending a parishioner once in stopping a hymn. He felt that I was judging the quality of his worship. He took it very personally. It certainly made me think before I tried it again. Lest you think it is a common element of my ministry, I think I've stopped a hymn a total of three or four times in 25 years.

How about you? Have you gathered with family and friends to sing at a social gathering in a home? Pastors, have you dared to stop a hymn or re-try something in worship when it just didn't go well? Parishioners, how did you react when your pastor asked for a do-over?