Dear Pastor: You know why this matters, right?

Okay, pastor, it's good to know that you are singing when the congregation sings. Good first step.

Now you know why the congregation and its song, and the congregation participating in song, is important, right? Right?

Okay, then, let's review a few points.

Note: throughout this entry I'm going to refer to congregational song with the more specific term "hymn" or "hymns." Adjust according to your situation.

Hymns teach. Indeed, when hymns were first introduced into the life of the church, that was their purpose. The likes of Ambrose of Milan and other early church leaders found that teaching congregations (who could not, for the most part, read) biblical or doctrinal basics was a lot more successful when those basics were set to song. Hymns served a didactic function from early on.

Of course, Ambrose's flock wasn't singing those hymns in worship proper. that would have to wait for the reform impulses of the likes of Luther and Calvin. For Luther the singing impulse was fairly free; translations and adaptations of old Catholic texts, newly-written hymns (including a few by Luther hmself, one of which might be familiar), anything with theological substance that could be transmitted by singing was more or less fair game.

Calvin was more suspicious (maybe he has something in common with you?), fearing what he knew to be the powerful capability of music on the human psyche. To be fair, he was somewhat following earlier church teachers in this. Even so, Calvin found his way to the acceptance of music in the form of psalms. They were scripture, after all. And so the metrical psalms of Calvinist traditions became a back-door means of teaching scripture.

Fast-forwarding to more recent times, we are a lot more informed about how memory and learning work, and being able to encounter a text by singing it still has an awful lot of power for the singer, more so than straight-up rote repetition and memorizing. People learn what they sing; that is just human basics. It still holds that if you ask a congregation member what they remember of your average service, there's a very stong chance it will be something from one of the hymns.

Beyond the learning capacity of hymns, there is also the communal aspect of singing together. Singing together brings people together, more effectively than a lot of other possible activities. Again, we are able to learn a lot nowadays of just how powerfully making music together really does create unity on virtually a bodily level.

Of course, this doesn't mean the sound you get is necessarily going to be Carnegie Hall-worthy. It will sound weird at times, some folks will be off-key, and occasionally somebody might get lost. But so what? When the congregation is singing together, the congregation is being together, and you'll never convince me that the congregation being together is not important. You know it is. Singing is almost elementary as a step to a congregation being "body of Christ" in any kind of unified way.

But maybe the most important part of congregational singing and its place in worship is the deeply vital element of participation. Congregation members shouldn't be spectators in worship. Liturgy is, after all, not a spectator sport. It is a thing to do.

There are of course other means of participation in worship. Responsive readings are good. Prayers that place part of the words in the mouths of the people are good. Singing together? Real good. The degree to which "worship" is an active verb has a lot to do with how much the stuff of worship has a fighting chance to stay with the congregation.

This could go on longer, pastor, but that is hopefully something to think about for now. And do remember to keep singing.