Why do we sing?

Some of the most important lessons that kids learn in school are the lessons that are "caught" rather than "taught". As I planned for the beginning of the 2007-2008 school year and thought about what I wanted my choir students to know about singing, I thought about all the Bible passages that talk about singing. I want my kids to know that music is a gift from God for all His children. I want them to know that God has placed a musical instrument inside their bodies (their voice!) that He wants them to use. And so I started looking up all the passages that have the word "sing" in them. And I made a list–and I was amazed! There were enough "sing" passages for one-a-day for the entire school year and then some. In fact, if I broadened the search to "sang", or "song", the list of passages from God's Word gets even longer.

So, I made a decision which embarrassed me. I want to start each rehearsal this year with a passage from God's Word about singing. I was embarrassed because isn't that what I should have been doing for the last 16 years anyway?

I'm asking each student to do the following when their turn comes up:

1. Stand up and read the Bible reference and passage for the choir.
2. Explain the context, setting, and people of the verse.
3. Answer the question "Why were they singing?"
4. Make the application for our lives: "Why do we sing?"
5. The choir will reread the reference and passage out loud.
6. All will close with the singing of Christian Worship 283:4

Yesterday was the first day of doing this and each of the three students who were up for the day did well, but what I wanted to do ahead of time (each morning) was to prepare for their passage in the same way as I asked them to prepare. So, that's what I'm doing today: reading Genesis 31:27 and Exodus 15:1 and blogging on them.