This past Sunday was frustrating for me as a worshipper. I wasn’t leading or playing with the praise team – I was worshipping with my wife with the, rest of the congregation. The root of my frustration had nothing to do with either my wife or the congregation or the songs we were singing. No, in fact, it had everything to do with me. Or with my tongue, to be more specific. There was a nice little canker sore on my tongue and on Sunday it was hurting so badly that I couldn’t even speak correctly.

Yep, that was my frustration – I couldn’t sing in worship. Now, I don’t exactly take pride in my voice (it’s good – but not mindblowing by any stretch), but I really came to appreciate how involved in my worship it is when this past weekend I couldn’t really use it.

Do you have to sing to worship? No, worship isn’t about singing at all. It’s about exalting God and taking pleasure in that exaltation. So what does that have to do with singing? As I thought about it, when I sing, I engage in worship with my entire being: my heart, my mind, my body. When I stopped singing (because of the pain), I found that my worship had turned more into a meditation-like exercise of the mind – still worship, but not in the same dimension of engagement as when I was singing.

So, if one doesn’t sing, can one still worship during the music portion of a service. The answer would be a tentative ‘yes’. In my mind, when you choose not to sing, not to participate, you are distancing yourself from the community as it worships as well as denying your self a Biblically honoured method of worship.

What about those who cannot sing as they worship? Well, obviously there are medical and physical conditions which might limit or outright prevent someone from singing in worship. That is a cross I am grateful the Lord has not asked me to bear (at least yet). But I imagine that “entering in” during the musical worship portion is quite challenging for those who cannot vocalize.

So what’s the point of this post? Singing is important in worship. Whether or not you can carry a tune is irrelevant. Whether you are good or bad at it, when you sing, you engage more of yourself in worshipping the Lord. That glorifies him all the more.