Family Worship: Singing

“Glad songs of salvation are in the tents of the righteous.” ~Psalm 118:15

We’re a few weeks into our series on family worship, and today we’re going to discuss the part of family worship that is most frequently overlooked: singing God’s praises. Perhaps you’re starting to feel a bit anxious right now as you think about singing aloud with your spouse or family, but I want to convince you that it’s such a wonderful and worshipful part of our time with the Lord in our homes. 

Let's start with this: singing isn't just a musical flourish we tack onto the "real" parts of family worship — it is a real part of family (and public) worship. The Westminster Directory of Public Worship says this, ”It is the duty of Christians to praise God publicly by singing psalms together in the congregation, and also privately in the family.” Notice what the men who wrote this are doing there. They're not describing two tiers of duty, one required at church and one optional at home. It's the same Christian duty, just carried out in two different spaces. In other words, if you expect to sing from your heart on the Lord's Day, don't let your living room be the place you go quiet throughout the week.

There's another reason singing matters so much. Our Reformed and Puritan heritage tells us that singing is something different from reading or praying — it’s unique among the parts of family worship. Reading tells us who God is. Prayer speaks back to Him out of our need. But singing does both at once, wrapped up in joyful praise. It's the means by which we unite our doctrine with our affections as we offer our thanksgiving up to God. A family that reads and prays is informed and interceding — both very important. A family that also sings is communicating their gladness over what they've read and about how God will answer their prayers.

There's something else worth remembering here, especially if little ones are part of your family worship: singing shapes children long before they can explain a single doctrine. We've talked before about Timothy, acquainted with the Scriptures from infancy. The same is true of song. Your toddler can't parse a psalm's structure, but she can hum its tune years before she grasps its theology. So why wait until they are only able to fully comprehend? A voice-cracking, half-remembered, wrongly-pronounced verse sung nightly around your table will disciple your children more than a technically perfect one sung rarely.

So take a deep breath if you’re nervous about starting to sing as a family. You don't need a good voice for this. You don't need instrumental accompaniment, children who sing on pitch, or a good sense of rhythm. Rather, you need to be filled with a joy in the Lord that can’t help but overflow across your lips as glad songs of salvation. Psalm 118:15 doesn't say glad songs are in the tents of the talented — it says the righteous. That's every family gathered under the mercy of Christ, however rough the harmony.

Remember, Christian, the God who redeemed you is worthy of a home that rings, however imperfectly, with His praise.

Rev. Kyle W. A. Lockhart, Pastor