Teach and Admonish
On Saturday morning, October 5, we held a worship band training event that included any current members of the worship band plus anyone who wanted to come to learn from one another about worship and music. We talked about why we sing together in church and looked at one Bible verse specifically. In his letter to the Colossians, Paul writes:
Let the message of Christ dwell among you richly as you teach and admonish one another with all wisdom through psalms, hymns, and songs from the Spirit, singing to God with gratitude in your hearts. (Colossians 3:16 NIV)
We may not think of the times we sing together in church as a way to teach and admonish one another. The word admonish may especially seem antithetical to singing in church. To admonish someone means to warn them or even reprimand them.
The word “admonish” in the original Greek text is noutheteos. This literally means “to put in mind,” especially for the purpose of gently correcting one another. This does happen, even though we are not always aware of the process. As an exercise at the Saturday morning event, we talked through our favorite congregational songs. We talked about lyrics that are meaningful to us and how they stick in our minds, especially because they are coupled with music. We also talked about how the lyrics we sing teach us and correct us.
For example, we learned a new song called Behold Him. This song talks about the greatness of Jesus throughout the ages, and then several times the lyrics lead us back to this call to one another: “oh, be still! And behold Him.” We agreed that “being still” is not something that comes naturally to us. Yet in the moment of singing the song together we are inviting one another to stop, take a deep breath, and see Jesus and who he is and what he has done. This pushes back against our propensity for busyness and self-importance and into a larger and better story.
What are some of your favorite hymns or congregational songs? What is it that they teach you and how do they shape you? I would love to hear from you if you’d like to share. Sing on!
Jill Schroeder-Dorn, D.A., Director of Worship Arts
