Music is one of the seven great lights in the medieval model of education. It’s part of the Quadrivium, along with Geometry, Arithmetic, and Astronomy. The common denominator of all four is numbers. Arithmetic is the study of numbers proper, geometry is numbers in space, astronomy is numbers in space and motion.

Music is numbers in time, numbers in proportion and intervals.

“[M]usic advances even further towards that ‘summit of perfection’ for which the quadrivium is a prerequisite. The theory of music is a penetration of the very heart of Providence’s ordering of things. It is not a matter of cheerful entertainment or superficial consolation for sad moods, but a central clue to the interpretation of the hidden harmony of God and nature in which the only discordant element is evil in the heart of man.” (Henry Chadwick)

Rhetoric is the pinnacle of the Trivium, Music is the crown of the Quadrivium, and in some ways, Music is the high point of Rhetoric, or at least a glorious expression of truth and goodness in beauty. A song is time adorned, and a song sung together is adorned time shared.

Christmas is a celebration of God adorning humanity by taking on flesh. The eternal God now shares time with us. What better way to honor the Son’s birth than singing?!

In our series of Advent Activities we started with Waiting. Since then we’ve successfully waited two additional weeks, closer to Christmas and to the Second Coming. Last week we considered Feasting, and I am bursting after multiple opportunities just this past week. Now we come to Singing.

Unlike waiting, I’ve addressed singing multiple times, whether related to our liturgy or just while teaching through some psalms. Also unlike waiting, which is more a question of How? instead of If? since the time will pass regardless, feasting can be consciously rejected (and is by some). Singing can be good or bad or rejected. Unlike feasting, singing can be outsourced; we can depend on/hire surrogate singers. While there are certainly times to enjoy the skill of a soloist or performing group, we shouldn’t choose to only be an audience and never a choir.

Whether or not your noise is skillful, even tuneful, it ought to be joyful. And the coming of the Son of God in flesh, once already and again anticipated, should stir the soul up to sing. A Queen once said, “a stable once had something inside it that was bigger than our whole world.” Are we just supposed to hum about that?

Though singing is not the command in Colossians 3:16, it is an inevitable and edifying result of obedience. We Bible people will be known to the degree our lives together are lyrical.

Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, with thankfulness in your hearts to God. (Colossians 3:16)

The word should be “in-dwelling.” It’s supposed to dwell richly , abundantly, in full-measure. We could say, let the Word live like it’s completely at home in us. It belongs in us.

One thing that stands out is that it is identified as the word of Christ . Christ Himself is the Logos, the Word, who took on flesh and dwelt among us. So we’re to let the Word of the Word dwell in us. This is only the second time this label is given to Scripture (see also Romans 10:17), and it seems that Paul was going out of his way to help the Colossians see the preeminence of Christ.

Christ is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of creation, not in time, but in rights and privileges (Colossians 1:15). By Christ and through Christ were all things created and so all glory to Christ (Colossians 1:16). Christ is the head of the church, the firstborn from the dead, both chronologically and eschatologically (Colossians 1:18). In Christ the fulness of God was pleased to dwell (Colossians 1:19), in Him the whole fullness of deity dwells bodily (Colossians 2:9).

Christ, His person and His power and His life and death and resurrection to life, compels songs! It started on the night of His birth. There is good reason to think that the heavenly choir was doing more singing than chanting in Luke 2.

And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God, and saying, Glory to God in the highest,
And on earth peace,
Good will toward men.
(Luke 2:13-14 KJV)

“Hark! the herald angels sing, glory to the newborn King!”

Philippians 2:5-11 has been called a “hymn”; it does have a different rhythm than most prose. It sings of the Incarnation, of Christ Jesus who was made in the likeness of men, and was found in the form of man. 1 Timothy 3:16 also has a more lyrical shape, and begins with the Incarnation, “God was manifest in the flesh.” The section above in Colossians 1:15-20 is also often called a hymn, and highlights the Incarnation in multiple ways.

Back to Colossians 3, when Christ appears our lives, now hidden in Christ, will appear with Him in glory (Colossians 3:4). So we are commanded to forgive like Christ forgave us (Colossians 3:13). We are required to be ruled by the peace of Christ (Colossians 3:15). And we must let Christ’s Word have its place at home in us (Colossians 3:16).

What happens when that happens is that we don’t stay quiet. We speak and we sing. There is wisdom and there is thanks. And in our verbal arsenal are songs, songs, and more songs.

No joke, I’ve read the argument that psalms and hymns and spiritual songs refer to three classes of psalms. But, there isn’t agreement on what psalms are which psalms.

Psalms tell us to sing, and many Psalms look to the coming of Christ. A couple of Christmas applicable-s are Psalm 96 and 98, both of which start with singing and anticipate the Lord coming to judge.

Oh sing to the LORD a new song;
sing to the LORD, all the earth!
Sing to the LORD, bless his name;
tell of his salvation from day to day.
Declare his glory among the nations,
his marvelous works among all the peoples!

Let the heavens be glad, and let the earth rejoice;
let the sea roar, and all that fills it;
let the field exult, and everything in it!
Then shall all the trees of the forest sing for joy
before the LORD, for he comes,
for he comes to judge the earth.
He will judge the world in righteousness,
and the peoples in his faithfulness.
(Psalm 96:1-3, 11-13)

Of course anything written after about AD 90 would have to be application of Colossians 3:16, but so would any English translation of Colossians 3:16, or of any inspired Psalm, or any more modern musical arrangement.

Some of the best in our arsenal are Christmas carols. Carol is a word for a song of joy and praise, now most often associated with the Incarnation. Great carols exalt Christ. They teach and admonish one another in wisdom. They express our thanks to God. They let us apply Colossians 3:16. They unite us as one body. They let announce joy to the world.

“He comes to make His blessings flow Far as the curse is found” is Genesis 3:15. “Adam’s likeness, Lord efface, Stamp Thine image in its place” is Colossians 1:28 in carol form. “God rest ye merry, gentlemen, let nothing you dismay. … Now to the Lord sing praises all you within this place.” “Comfort, comfort ye, My people, Speak ye peace thus saith our God; Comfort those who sit in darkness, Bowed beneath their sorrow’s load.” “Boundless shall Thy kingdom be; When shall we its glories see?!”

There’s something that makes singing stir the soul, and when the soul is stirred it wants to sing.

Let men their songs employ. When I say this message is an apology for Christmas carols, I mean apology not as an admission of error or regret, but apology as defense against criticism. In fact, the ubiquity of pagans singing about Christ’s birth is an apologetics class itself.

Not every meal is a feast. Not every get-together needs a Cantus bully; we are not on stage in a musical. That said, maybe you could use a little more considerable noise in your house. Get some Cantus under the tree. Use “Sing Your Part” (or get the app).

Conclusion

What better than singing (in minor keys) to express our sadness and longing? What better than singing (in major keys and moving melodies) to express our joy and praise?

Choirs help to make community. There’s more about that in a book called, Keeping Together in Time; choirs are a force against isolation and depression. TEC has power because we have one amazing singing voice. Singing together has grown us.

For the Lord God omnipotent reigneth Hallelujah…. King of kings and Lord of lords
And He shall reign forever and ever (Handel, Messiah, HWV 56: Part II, no. 44. “Hallelujah Chorus”)

Singing is not mere preparation, it is participation. Singing is not filler, it is an expression of faith. Don’t hold back.

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Charge

Sing Your Part is not just the name of an app, it is the charge to every member of the body of Christ. You are a part, you have a part. The church/choir is stronger and better and brighter because of you. You have been called/employed to sing joy to the world, the Savior reigns!

Benediction:

May the God of endurance and encouragement grant you to live in such harmony with one another, in accord with Christ Jesus, that together you may with one voice glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. (Romans 15:5–6 ESV)