9Marks Journal: The Church Singing (43期：教会的诗歌敬拜)

Singing is not one of the nine marks, a point which, not surprisingly, has come up once or twice with my minister-of-music father. That said, okay, yes, 9Marks does have a few opinions on music. Our understanding of the local church pushes us toward a slightly different perspective on church singing than some of our evangelical brothers and sisters. The difference comes down to the question of performance. Who is performing? The congregation or the people on stage? Dimming the lights and turning up the volume of instruments and leaders doesn’t necessarily mean you have turned the congregation into an audience, but it often does. Or think about it like this: is the “worship experience” in your church a solo transaction between the individual worshipper and God as stimulated by a high-emotion performer up front? Because here is an alternative: the musicians and song leaders help to facilitate an intellectually and emotionally engaged communal experience where members sing to one another while singing to God. The primary thing people hear is the faith-reinforcing praises and laments of their fellow saints. “I’m not the only one who rejoices like this…mourns like this…pleads like this. So does everyone around me!” They don’t listen for the organ, electric guitar, or praise ensemble. They listen for the folksy and hearty voices of other pilgrims walking alongside them on this long and rocky road of Christian obedience, rehearsing old memories of Calvary and new hopes of the heavenly city. Are these just my preferences that I’m trying to impose? I hope not. Think about what the New Testament emphasizes when it comes to the church’s corporate music. It doesn’t talk about crafting a highly charged worship “experience.” Interestingly, it doesn’t use the language of “worship” at all in this context (which is not to deny that corporate singing is worship). Instead, the Bible talks about the congregation singing to one another (Col. 3:16; Eph. 5:19), and doing everything for the sake of edifying one another (1 Cor. 14). That’s it: people singing together. When it comes to the topic of music, Christians might do well to talk about the church singing or the congregation singing because that’s what the Bible talks about. In this edition of the 9Marks Journal, we start with singing and the song. Why do congregations sing, what should they sing about, and how can they sing better? We then think more carefully about the music itself, particularly with two different perspectives on whether or not some musical forms are better than others. Finally we think about what is involved in leading music.

歌唱并不是九个标志之一，不出意料，这一点也被作为音乐敬拜牧师的父亲提起一两次。

好吧，其实九标志事工的确对于音乐有一些见解。我们对地方教会的认识使得我们与其他福音派弟兄姐妹就教会唱诗方面有些许不同的观点。

这区别可以归结为敬拜参与的问题。谁是参与者？会众还是在台上带领的人？将灯光调暗，调高乐器和领唱者的音量并不等同于你把会众变为听众，但实际情况通常如此。

或者想一下这样的场景：你教会的“敬拜体验”是个别在台前拥有高昂情绪的敬拜带领者与神之间个人的互动吗？

其实还有另一种做法：乐手和诗歌带领者帮助促进在智识上和情绪上更亲近的群体经历，当会众向神歌唱时，他们也彼此对唱。人们首先听到的是同为圣徒的肢体信心得以坚固所发出的赞美和哀伤。“我并不是独自一人如此欢呼……如此哀伤……如此恳求。我身边的每个人都是如此！”他们不是来倾听风琴、电吉他或者赞美合奏。他们是来倾听其他在漫长坎坷的基督徒顺服之路上一同陪伴的天路客平凡而又发自内心的歌声，重现各各他山的古旧回忆，以及预演天上圣城的全新盼望。

这些仅仅是我要强加给人的喜好吗？我希望不是。请思想新约所强调的教会公共敬拜的样式。它并没有谈论制造充满情感的敬拜“体验”。有趣的是，圣经在这样的处境中根本没有使用“敬拜”这样的语言（这并非否认公共唱诗属于敬拜）。相反，圣经谈到的是会众彼此对说（西3:16；弗5:19），并且凡事为了彼此造就的缘故（林前14）。也就是说：会众一起歌唱。论及音乐的话题，基督徒应该好好讨论教会唱诗或会众唱诗，因为这是圣经所教导的。

在本期的九标志期刊中，我们首先讨论唱诗及诗歌。为什么会众一起歌唱，他们应该唱什么，他们可以如何更好地歌唱？我们接着会更仔细思考音乐本身，尤其是关于是否某种音乐形式好过其它形式的话题，带来两种不同的观点。最后我们会思考带来音乐敬拜时所涉及的内容。