Discovering the Joys of Singing in Church

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If I haven't mentioned it already, the Church of Christ believes in acapella congregational singing only. This means that there are no musical instruments or choirs allowed. Everyone must sing, no matter what their abilities, and there is no piano or organ to help keep everyone in tune and on the beat. Most congregations do have a man designated to be the song leader. He chooses the songs and stands in front of the congregation and starts the songs, sometimes keeping the beat with his hand. Some song leaders will use a pitch pipe to get the correct starting note, but the more conservative congregations even frown on those because they consider them to be musical instruments, so your starting note at the beginning of each song is going to be anybody's guess.


In a very small congregation of only 40-50 people (which is the size of the churches I attended growing up), acapella singing could be either wonderful or terrible depending on who showed up that day. Most of the time, though, it was just mediocre: out of tune, out of rhythm, and not very joyful or uplifting, at least not for me. I remember dreading certain songs, because no one could sing them correctly and they sounded horrible. For a serious music lover, it was a real downer. And that’s a real shame, because music is the heart and soul of worship. Nothing else can engage our emotions or foster a sense of unity the way music can, because when we sing together, we breathe together, with one spirit.

That's why, for me, singing in a church choir now is such a blessing. It's an amazing experience to sing beautiful music with other people who can also sing, and to see our joy reflected in the joy we see on the congregants' faces. Right now, we're rehearsing Will Todd's Mass in Blue to perform on February 15, the last Sunday before Lent. It's an amazing piece; you can find an excellent recording of it by the Vasari Singers on both YouTube and Spotify. 

I'm very excited to sing this piece again because we sang it last year, and the response from the congregation was phenomenal. People love it, and I love it, too. My favorite movement is the "Gloria." I'm not exactly sure what I believe in terms of doctrine any more. I suppose I'm functionally agnostic at this point. I want to believe in Something Bigger Than Us, but my experiences in fundamentalism have made me reluctant to sign on to any particular doctrines or ideas about God or religion. But I do know that when I sing that piece, singing "Gloria, gloria, gloria in excelsis Deo," I feel it in my body and in that moment I believe it in my heart, even if I can't 100% believe it with my intellect. That's what great church music can do for a person's soul, and the bland, mediocre singing in the COC can never hope to match it.

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