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We sing songs that are full of truth from God’s word, we sing to God with gratitude in our hearts, and we sing to each other, to teach and instruct each other.

It's winter. It's cold. And if you go to one of our traditional services, you'll be all-too familiar with the heater's impeccable timing in breaking down right as the first cold snap hits (update: it’s fixed now!). It’s tempting to stay in bed and watch the sermon on YouTube from the comfort of your lounge with a blanket and a big cup of tea. And yet, as Graham reminded us in last month's newsletter, Hebrews 10:25 urges us to avoid the terrible habit of refusing to encourage each other by giving up the godly habit of regularly meeting together.

I'm not going to use this bit to tell you to toughen up, layer up, and get yourself to church. Instead, I want to remind us all of one of the truly warm things we do when we gather: singing (okay, I'm using "warm" figuratively here, bear with me…). In Colossians 3:16, we're told to 'Let the word of Christ dwell among us richly as we teach and admonish one another with all wisdom through psalms, hymns, and songs from the Spirit,   singing  to  God  with  gratitude  in  our  hearts.'  When we gather singing is one of the main ways of doing just that. We sing songs that are full of truth from God’s word, we sing to God with gratitude in our hearts, and we sing to each other, to teach and instruct each other.

It's not just the act of singing that’s warm. It's also - especially - the content of our songs. A perk of preaching at all five of our services is getting to sing all the different kinds of songs we sing. And I've got to say, I've become a big fan of many of the old hymns! I became a Christian in the kind of church that was trying to throw off anything that smelt vaguely traditional, including the music. I once thought the old hymns were cold, stodgy, and contained too many thees and thys to make much sense anymore. How wrong I was! Many of the hymns by authors such as John & Charles Wesley, John Newton, Isaac Watts, and Augustus Montague Toplady are rich and deep theology expressed in warm poetry that captures the joy of salvation and the hope of the resurrection. Majestic gospel truth contained in powerful and intimately personal language.

It’s no coincidence that many of our favourite hymns come from the same era in history: the Evangelical Revival of the 18th century. The impact of the Enlightenment (with its emphasis on empirical and rational truth) was dwindling,  and Romanticism (with its emphasis on beauty and feelings) was on the rise. You can hear those authors using those two things - truth and beauty - in the hymns they wrote.

All this is not to suggest that singing in our auditorium services lacks truth and beauty! But it is perhaps not surprising that many church songs published in recent  years are starting to sound more like 18th-century hymns. Just listen to the Gettys (In Christ Alone, How Deep the Father's Love), or City Alight (It Was Finished Upon That Cross), and you'll hear the same heritage of truth and beauty shining through.

Feeling cold? Come and warm up by singing about God’s grace together, in songs that are both true and beautiful!

Rev Matt Jacobs

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