The Basic Disciplines of a Healthy Christian Life – that’s what we’re exploring in this current series on A Visit to the Pastor’s Study. You can be a Christian with a healthy Christian life, or you can be a Christian with an unhealthy life. Pastors want you to have healthy Christian lives; and that’s why we’re taking time with these spiritual equivalents of the disciplines, diet, and exercise that you need for a healthy physical life.

In our previous program, we just scratched the surface of the huge topic of Singing and the Healthy Christian Life – singing personally, singing in your families, and singing with God’s people as we’re gathered for worship – and for other occasions.

  • We sing because we’re made in the image of God – who exults over His people with singing!
    · We sing because God commands us to sing. Sing to the Lord a new song…
    · We sing because so many times mere words don’t capture our feelings of joy, of sorrow, of the
    need for justice, of our love for God, and – above all – of God’s love for us in Jesus Christ.Pastor Charles Oliveira – pastor of Westchester Orthodox Presbyterian Church in Mount Vernon,
    NY joined me last week, and he’s back with us this week. Pastor Charles was born, brought up, and trained for the ministry in his homeland of Brazil. He comes from a musical family, has studied and lectured on music for many years, he married a musical wife, they have musical children, and – well, you get the point – Pastor Charles knows music!

Along with emphasizing that congregational singing needs to be Scriptural, Suitable, and Sing-able, in our last Visit to the Pastor’s Study, Pastor Charles added that the music we sing to worship God should be both Expressive and Impressive.

  • Expressive refers to the actual message conveyed by a song and its musical accompaniment (if
    there is one). What does the song tell you about God the Father, God the Son, God the Holy
    Spirit? About the joys and trials of the Christian life? About heaven and hell? About life and
    death? What’s the content of the song?
    · Impressive refers to the how the music and its accompaniment (if there is any – your voice and
    voices united without any instrumental accompaniment have a power all of their own) – how the
    song affects your feelings – your emotions. Does what you’re singing make you confident in the
    Lord? Does it make you joyful? Does it make you fall in love with Christ all over again? Does
    it make you sorrow for your sins and failings? Does it make you long for Christ’s return and for
    eternity? If those kinds of things happen to you as you sing, that’s the impressive character of
    what you’re singing and how you’re singing it.

But there’s so much more to thinking through Singing and the Healthy Christian Life. Let’s continue our discussion with Pastor Charles Oliveira.

Here’s a link to the full program:

Yours in the God who exults over us with singing,

Pastor Bill