I’ve always enjoyed choral music and felt that it and other types of music are important parts of worship. I especially enjoy the harmony that is present in choral music. I love the way the parts blend together to form a whole much more pleasing than the sum of its parts. Here is a quote that says it better than I can.

“One voice takes a simple part and around it sing three, four, or five other voices, leaping, springing round about, marvelously gracing the simple part, like a square dance in heaven with friendly bows, embracings, and hearty swinging of the partners.”

Can you guess the writer? It’s Martin Luther. It could also be applied to the music of a later Lutheran composer J. S. Bach. Luther felt that music was a gift of God and should be an important part of worship. Here is another Luther musical quote.

“With all my heart I would extol the precious gift of God in the noble art of music, but I scarcely know where to begin or end. There is nothing on earth which has not its tone. Even the air invisible sings when smitten with a staff. Among the beasts and the birds song is still more marvelous. David, himself a musician, testified with amazement and joy to the song of the birds. What then shall I say of the voice of man, to which naught else may be compared?”

Luther loved choral music, but I think his major musical contribution was in congregational singing. He is considered the father of congregational singing and we still sing a number of his hymns today, 500 years later. The reason Luther felt that congregational singing was an important part of worship is that it was an embodiment of his doctrine of the priesthood of believers. As we sing our hymns it is a witness to the wonderful unconditional love that God has for YOU and me.

Jim