The Choir Room Podcast
This podcast exists to promote and encourage two long-time traditions in our society that seem to be dwindling…The Choir and Corporate Singing. We hope to revive the excitement and joy experienced with singing in a choir, as well as inform and educate the listener on all things singing, and all things choir related.
A weekly podcast featuring discussion and interviews with choir directors, choir members, and other guests representing church choirs, college and university choirs, community choirs, show and theatre choirs, composer of choir music, and other.
Segments include tips and instruction from skilled and professional disciplines within the choir community covering topics such as choir culture and community, choir directing, vocal training, ear training, sight reading, and more. A monthly virtual live audience episode allows the listener to engage with hosts and guests during instructional and Q&A segments via the live recording, chat, email, on various social media platforms.
A production of Metromusic & Arts, Inc.
- www.metromusic-arts.com
- thechoirroom@metromusic-arts.com
- mail@mmertomusic-arts.cm
The Choir Room Podcast
Research Shows that Singing with Others Is Better For You: Vocal Warmups and Workouts, Interesting Health Benefits Come with Singing with a Choir
Ready to learn about the transformational power of communal singing and how it can elevate your daily life?
In this episode Greg takes a quick look at some of the many different vocal warmups and workouts used by vocalists and coaches alike. From choir lofts to Broadway stages, we explore the diverse warm-up styles that help singers tune their instrument – their voice. We review vocal coach sensation Cheryl Porter, known for her viral YouTube vocal warm-ups, and the various styles of a few others.
Dorian then delves into the hymn of the week, the uplifting "O For A Thousand Tongues to Sing," which is bound to leave you thinking about what you're doing with the one tongue that you have.
Did you know choir singing is actually a secret wellness hack? Reduced stress hormones, increased disease-fighting cytokines, enhanced memory, increased lung capacity, and even relief from postpartum depression – all these benefits and more from letting your voice soar in harmony with others. We share heartfelt testimonies from choir members and music ministry participants who have found solace, healing, and community in the act of singing together. Remember, you don't need to be a professional vocalist to join in; all are welcome here in the Choir Room.
In his final segment on this topic, Coleman takes another dive into the deep symbolism behind raising hands during worship. Rooted in biblical tradition, this act of surrender and devotion serves a dual purpose – it directs our attention beyond ourselves, while also underlining our dependence and surrender. So, whether you're a seasoned vocalist or someone who's vocal booth is in the shower, join us, and let's make a joyful noise together in the Choir Room.
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Perpetuating and Promoting the Christian and Positive Idea Through the Medium of Music and Other Arts.
Welcome to the choir room. This is episode 19 of the Choir Room Podcast. Welcome to the choir room, a production of Metro Music and Arts, perpetuating and promoting the Christian and positive idea. Welcome to the choir room Through the medium of music and other arts. I'm Greg Tomas, your host, and I'm joined tonight by my co-host, dorian Johnson. Good evening, greg. I'm Dietas Dansofarar. Good evening, and who we like to call the fourth wheel, coleman Smart. Good to see you. We'd like to keep you informed with the upcoming services and programs through Metro Music and Arts, and one way to ensure that you are is that you contact us at mail at MetroMusicDashArtscom If you want to be notified about specific programs coming through the choir room. Make sure you subscribe to this podcast anywhere you listen to podcasts, or you can simply send the word subscribe in the subject field in an email to the choir room at MetroMusicDashArtscom, and make sure that you share with a friend that you're in the choir room.
Speaker 3:Welcome to the choir room. Could you give us a G please? We're going to do a lip trill. Please listen once. That has a raised soft palate has some resonance in it. Here's the opposite of closed sound. My teeth are closed. We want to open it up. Here we go. Breathe deep, keep the sternum high.
Speaker 1:The same way an athlete will prepare him or herself before a practice or before a game or before a track meet, vocalists are encouraged to do the same thing. Oftentimes the director will encourage the vocalist to shut off the concerns and the weight of the day. They'll go through some physical activity sometimes it's a massage across the back of the shoulder blade or it's a rolling of the neck or swinging of the arms just to loosen the tension that the body can carry throughout the work day and then they'll go into some vocal exercises, things to warm up the voice, get those vocal chords warmed up and ready for some singing. And some of those vocal warm ups might include a focus on intonation and placement, a vowel placement, pitch tone and even some of your training. And because everybody's body is different and everybody knows their body differently, there is no one practice that fits all.
Speaker 1:Her name is Cheryl Porter and she's become quite the sensation on YouTube nearly 10 million subscribers and she has put a whole new level of fun into learning how to sing With her vocal exercises and workouts, coaching and teaching. It is no surprise that millions of people are watching her videos each week. Not that she's discovered a new part of the body that you need to use to sing, or she's come up with a unique method, but I think the way in which she presents what she teaches has made her so unique. I mean, it is just plain fun. Even we can't take away the fact that she really is a great singer. Now, the basic exercises have been used in rehearsals for a long, long time, so they're not new.
Speaker 1:Now, though, she will present some original musical workouts. It's her musical twist to the common vocal warm ups that is attracting so many millions of singers to her vocal workout videos. Now, depending on the style of music and the venue in which the music is being used, each choir director will have a very different approach to warm ups. This Broadway director is using a very different warm up practice for his Broadway singers. Some are going to use practices that are common, some are going to create new ways to present the common, and then some are going to create totally new ways. The practices and warm ups used in a church choir may be very different from those used by a director in a Broadway show. Suffice it to say. Each practice, each warm up is designed to get you to do just that to relax the body and to invigorate those vocal chords so that you can do your best singing.
Speaker 1:So if you think that you or your choir director or your vocal coach have a very unique warm up practice, we'd love to hear about it. Write us at the choir room at MetroMusicDashArtscom and introduce us to your vocal warm up.
Speaker 3:Dorian has our hymn of the week. Thanks so much, greg. This week's hymn of the week is 04,000 Tongues to Sing. This hymn was written in 1739 and was written by the great hymn writer Charles Wesley, and the occasion was the first anniversary of his conversion, and the original hymn of the week version of this him actually had 18 stanzas. Now I have never seen a very the 18 stanza version of this him anywhere, but this him is a reminder of all that God has done for us and all that we should do in terms of giving back to him the praise that he so rightly deserves.
Speaker 3:The first verse says oh, four thousand tongues to sing my great Redeemer's praise, the glories of my God and King, the triumphs of his grace. And we, the Redeemed, know the triumph of God's grace, for he triumphed over our sin at the cross. He triumphed over our rebellion by taking out the hearts that were hardened by sin and replacing them with hearts of flesh. He triumphed over our waywardness as well, by instilling us by the power of his spirit to live lives according to his word. And all throughout this him, we see so many of what God has done for us in Christ. The fourth verse says he breaks the power of reigning sin. He sets the prisoner free. His blood can make the foulest clean. His blood availed for me.
Speaker 3:And the final verse of this him gives a call out to what we were before we were raised to life in Christ. It says hear him ye death. His praise ye dumb your loose and tongues employ ye blind. Behold your Savior come and leap ye lame for joy. And so, as we consider all that God has done for us in Christ, that he's made us, who were unable to hear his voice before to hear him, we were unable to speak his praises. He loosened our tongues, we were blinded by our sin, and he opened our eyes to see the glory of our Savior. And he caused us, who were once lame and unable to move towards him, to leap for joy at being brought to life in Christ. As we consider all of these things, is he not worthy of our praise, not only in our native tongue, whatever tongue that may be, but in the thousands and thousands of tongues that we see around the world and that will join together in heaven to sing his praise forever?
Speaker 1:Thanks again, dorian. I discovered this article a few weeks ago and I can't remember if I found it by just browsing or if somebody actually sent it to me, but I finally got around to reading it this week, and the title is Singing is Good for you. Singing with Others may be even better, and I found the title would be pretty intriguing, considering this is the choir room and we like to talk about all things singing, and all things choir corporate singing in particular. Now, many of the statements in this article really confirm a lot of the things that we had already been saying here in the podcast, but then there are other things that are more of a scientific and medical study, that are way beyond our pay grade and certainly beyond our degree of knowledge.
Speaker 1:Now, the article highlights a group of singers who got together in a London church for over a period of two years, and the one thing that they all had in common was their familiarity with cancer. They never got together to talk about cancer, but they got together to sing. Some were cancer patients, some were cancer survivors, some were caregivers, others were oncologists, and they got together each week to sing, to have a bit of fun, to meet people, to encourage one another through song, but they were all keenly aware that they were involved in a study as well, and that study is part of a growing body of research that points to the physical and mental benefits of singing with others. I imagine the patients were coming from treatments and the survivors were coming from checkups. Maybe the oncologists were coming from the clinics or the hospitals and those who were conducting the study were coming from their day jobs and now participating in this research.
Speaker 1:Now I lifted a few points from the article for our discussion today, gentlemen, and here's the first one Sing with us, which is the name of the group linked singing in the choir to reduced stress hormones and increased cytokines, which are proteins that boost the body's ability to fight serious illness. Wow, you know, one of the purposes of this podcast is to get people singing, to get more people singing, not just to bring back choir and the value and the importance of choir, but to get people singing and understand the benefits of singing in choir. And I often wonder why this kind of information, especially as it relates to our physical wellness, it's not more widespread. And then I'm reminded that there is big business behind the medical profession Not to take away from the profession.
Speaker 3:We need doctors, but I mean really yeah, you can't bottle it up and put it on television commercial. Exactly.
Speaker 1:This is the newest craze, right People would be singing in choirs all over the world. But I imagine over the two year period that they did this research, there's a lot more discovery that has yet to be disclosed. Now, to their credit, they go a little further and they say other studies have found a connection between singing generally with lessened anxiety, stimulated memory for those with dementia, increased lung capacity and an easing of postpartum depression. Now, I'm not a doctor, but those things we've already known, we've shared those on this podcast and I think we've all experienced them at some point or another. I mean, with the exception of the postpartum depression I haven't had to deal with that yet but the other ones lessened anxiety, stimulated memory and not because I have dementia increased lung capacity these are more commonly known benefits from singing in a choir. Now I know that I have personally walked some choir members through some very dark days and their involvement in choir was one of the key elements that helped them get through them, and I trust that you guys have had those experiences yourselves.
Speaker 2:Yes, I've had people come and join my music ministry things because of the therapeutic aspect of it. In fact, I had one person in a former music ministry I was involved with come and join us for choir. She said, listen, I'm not much of a singer, I'm not going to contribute very much in that way, but what this does for me you have no idea. And this person had a very troubled history and family life and that kind of thing. And so I was like, if this time together is a ministry to you, and then by all means please be apart. And so, yeah, I've seen, and not just her, but many other people who they find healing in those environments, and I believe God blesses music to be able to do that.
Speaker 2:I don't think that's just some some coincidence, but I believe that music is anointed and a special way to do that. I mean, we even look back in the Old Testament at how Saul or David, his music and his playing of the harp comforted and caused Saul's heart to be at ease when he was troubled. So there's a long history of music having this effect on people. So, yes, I've seen it. And yeah, just like you said, Greg, I often turn to songs and to music and to that kind of thing. When I'm experiencing various turmoil, that's like the first place I go. So yes, yeah, absolutely.
Speaker 3:Yeah, yeah, I mean, as you were talking about this article and the focus on corporate singing, I was reminded of anyone who has walked around New York City, particularly Times Square, will see these sort of side street or street performers and you'll see people just gathered around them and one would think like, why are they doing that? But whatever, I would see that it was just a reminder that we as human beings always want to be a part of something bigger than ourselves, and singing is one of the easiest ways to do that, particularly corporate singing. Because sure, as you're standing there watching these guys break, dance or do whatever, you know you can't do that. But to be a part of a congregation, or even you'll see videos from time to time of someone just singing in a part right Sort of a popular song, and other people will just join in because there is that sort of innate sort of thing in us that God has put in us to be a part of something bigger than ourselves.
Speaker 3:And so it's not surprising that people find comfort, that people find sort of this healing effect from singing, and particularly as you join in singing with other people as well, particularly if there's some commonality or something in that community as well, and so that is why, for us, as we gather together as a body of Christ and begin to sing, an unbeliever can be standing there, and you'll see them sometimes looking around like there's something going on here that I don't understand. But it's because there is something bigger than all of us that's going on, and it's because we're looking to the one who is truly bigger than all of us and who is the one who has given us the desire and the opportunity to worship him. And so, yeah, I'm not surprised by such an article, and I'm not surprised that it's not something that we hear more about as well. Right, right.
Speaker 1:You know, a key element in what you just said is the fact that we all want to be a part of something that's bigger than ourselves. And when you consider the fact that this group, which is a part of the research, they were not singing about cancer, they were not coming together to discuss it, they were just coming together, in a sense, to escape it, and I think music does that. Music allows us to come around a theme and then move from one thing to another thing or one thought to another thought, one place to another place. It isn't escaped. To an extent, it's an outlet, but it's an opportunity for us to internally do something that we don't even sometimes realize is happening in us because of our singing. Now here's another thought when we say something bigger than us, when we consider the fact that singing is not something that man created or man invented, or music is not something that man created or man invented.
Speaker 1:God created that and he put that innate desire in us that is the bigger than us and that is the one universal language that has been able to unite people from different cultures, from different age groups, from different social and economic backgrounds, people with various health conditions, similar health conditions. I mean, we're seeing it in this research, but we've also been able to see it in our own lives, where that universal language singing has been so effective, even in our own lives. Oh, but there's more. The article goes on and says that choirs are large families, he says, and singing in them promotes social bonding, which contributes to a sense of belonging and joy. Now, research bears this out.
Speaker 1:Studies have found that group singing fosters trust, cooperation and social cohesion. Again, and not to toot our own horn, but these are things that we were already familiar with the fostering of trust, cooperation and social cohesion. These are characteristics and practices that we've always pursued in the body of Christ, in the church choir, and I'm sure that that's been a practice in many community and college choirs as well. Now, remember that this article refers to research that was done in England, but it goes on to say here that in the United States, choir singing has not fully regained its pre-pandemic popularity, but in 2019, some 54 million Americans sang in choirs, and those that did were found to be more optimistic, more likely to vote, less lonely, possessed stranger relationships I mean not stranger stronger.
Speaker 2:I don't know, it might be stranger too.
Speaker 1:Possessed stronger relationships and were more likely to contribute positively to their communities than non-singers, were Now very interesting that those who are involved in choir are more likely to vote. I mean, when you think about the studies and the surveys, I mean I have never been a part of a study in my entire life and I keep hearing about they surveyed this whole. I want to be a part of one of those?
Speaker 2:No one calls me.
Speaker 1:Nobody's ever called me either. I've never been a part of one.
Speaker 3:I've been a part of a service.
Speaker 1:Clearly, koma and I are in a different class of people than Gloria. At any rate, research shows that people who were involved in choirs in America were found to be more optimistic, more likely to vote, less lonely, possessed stronger relationships and were more likely to contribute positively to their community than non-singers.
Speaker 3:This study is interesting. Did you say it came from England?
Speaker 1:Yes, the research was conducted over a two-year period at a church in England, but it was a community choir In.
Speaker 3:England they've been for years dealing with what they call this epidemic of loneliness, and this was pre-pandemic, because they actually had a pandemic, and they still do have a pandemic of suicide and just all sorts of things that stem from loneliness. And so, when you think about what COVID did, separated us, put us in our individual virtual boxes so that, sure, we could get together and sing, but to actually come together in one place and do that, there's something that's even more powerful that happens, and that's why even the whole few years of COVID was so, I would say, detrimental to the church, because we're ultimately called to come together. I mean, yes, people resort it to having church online and virtually and everything, but what does the Word of God say?
Speaker 3:Don't forsake the assembling of yourselves. And what does it mean to assemble? It means to come together, and I always say this I mean, how does iron sharpen iron If it's not unless it's hitting one another? So we have to be in contact, and so it's not surprising that this came out of England, because they have really been looking at what it means to deal with loneliness, to deal with that idea of being isolated and by oneself, and we have experienced that. But I don't think we are talking about it as much here in the US.
Speaker 3:Just an aside EC and I were driving along Route 22, which is a main, it's a major highway, and all you see all along are a bunch of places where there used to be stores and other commercial businesses. And what do you see now? For lease, for available, all of these things, because no one goes to the store anymore, no one goes to a place to physically shop, and it's because we sit at home and we order what we want it. But we can't do that same thing as part of the body of Christ. And I would say you can't necessarily do that same thing in terms of singing and an aggregation either. I mean you can, but its effectiveness, I would say is very diminished From when you gather together. You spend time with one another, you hit the wrong notes with one another, you help to explain something to one another all in place.
Speaker 1:Oh yeah, you correct me, joe.
Speaker 3:Yeah, yeah, yeah. So there are life lessons that are taught in choir?
Speaker 2:I believe so as you were talking about COVID Dory and it just got me thinking about how excited I was to get back to singing with other human beings in person during the pandemic. It's like, yeah, solo singing is fun and it's cool or whatever, but there's a certain kind of energy and excitement and like it's like for me it's like going to an amusement park getting to sing with other people like oh it just feels good.
Speaker 2:You know, harmonizing and that kind of thing. So, wow, you just brought me back in my mind to that place of like just being so ready to get back. I wasn't ready to get out of my house so that I could sing a solo in church. I was ready to get out of my house so that I could go back and sing in choir.
Speaker 2:And I think a lot of people felt that way, that I mean to hear other voices around you. I mean, there's just we've talked about it a million times about how there's just something different about that. But it just means something. It just has a deeper meaning when you know the feeling of loneliness, like you said, lonely singing.
Speaker 1:It just meant something more.
Speaker 1:You know, dorian referred to iron, sharpening iron, and that means that they have to touch the feeling, coleman, as you described. The feeling of singing is so important. I think we can often underestimate and even under appreciate the fact that the air moves when people are singing together. When you're in the room together, your senses, the hairs on your arm and the hairs on your neck and the hairs on your head, you feel that your body is responding to the movement of the air in group singing, and that's not to diminish the solo singing. But that movement, that feeling, that experience is not something that can be duplicated, apart from a group.
Speaker 3:And you just don't feel it. But, as Psalm 40, verse three, says, he put a new song in my mouth, the song of praise to our God. Many will see, exactly, it's a song that you see as well, right and fear and put their trust in the Lord. So it's a song that's, that's seen as well as heard.
Speaker 1:You know, when you mentioned COVID and we think about the effect that it has had on gatherings COVID was really our own modern day, if you will, modern day captivity. You know it was Psalm 137 by the rivers of Babylon. There we sat, and my mind immediately goes to the fact that they hang their harps up upon the willows. The scripture says that on the willow trees in the midst of Babylon, we hung our harps. They hung their harps up, they had the ability to sing, but didn't have the willingness to sing. They had known the faithfulness of God, they had known the riches of his glory, they had experienced manna throughout the day and and fire by night. They had all these wonderful experiences of the presence of God. But yet they found themselves in this captivity and they hung their harps up and failed to be able to sing. Now, granted, the captor was asking them of a song, but I think if a song is in you, it's going to come out of you, and we have to be careful that, even when we are in the travails of life, that we don't hang up our harps. I think, when we begin to isolate ourselves, whether that's by chance or by choice, if circumstances cause us to pull back to scrunch our song and then abandon the assembling of one another. Together we become what they became in Psalm 137, in that they begin to desire to see the worst happen to their enemies. They say, met in an unparalleled reason, that maybe, god, you will take their children and dash their hands upon the stones. I mean you have to become completely detached from hope and optimism and anything godly to wish that kind of atrocity even on your enemies.
Speaker 1:So I know that being involved in choir is another outlet. It's an opportunity for us to encourage one another. Hey, don't hang up your harp. I know it's not looking good, I know it's not feeling great, but you can't afford to hang up your harp and not sing the Lord's song in this strange land and for a lot of us, strange land was the pandemic. Strange land was being stuck at home. Strange land was not seeing your neighbors. Strange land was not being able to go to the grocery store. Singing has helped a lot of people through the pandemic and I think it's going to help a lot of people in the days to come. Now here's a question that was posed in the article and I tell you, when I read it I think that they were listening to our podcast. When they were listening, um, they asked the question but what if you think you can't sing? Now, I know we've addressed that here many times. Right, we've tried to encourage people to sing and make a joy for noise and to the Lord to lift their voice.
Speaker 1:If they have breath, let everything that have breath. Here's the answer that they give. If you can breathe and make sound, you can sing and receive its benefits. Now we say here in the choir room all the time that your sound or your joyful noise may not be so joyful or sound so great to the next person, but to God it is extremely joyful, it is extremely welcoming, it is a wonderful sound and I think the moment that you can get past the opinions and the critiques of man, you're going to find liberation and singing, whether that's in the kitchen, in the car and the privacy of your own home. In your head, you're going to find great joy and experience the benefits of singing. Sure.
Speaker 1:Now, this last statement that I lifted from the article is very interesting because it speaks to things that I have never fully put together before in my own head, and it says this Singing has numerous health benefits for older adults too. Now, I can't fully relate to the older adults thing because I'm just not there yet, but it goes on to say they experience fewer falls, fewer visits to the doctor, fewer prescription drugs, better social connections and better cognitive functions. According to a study sponsored by this, the National Endowment of the Arts, which is a government organization within the United States.
Speaker 3:Well, my mom, I mean and she's the one who I would be sitting in the choir loft with and everything else she sings in a community center choir and what was part of her routine is that she would go to this community center and she would do like do her exercise, which was basically just walking the track or whatever, and on certain days they had choir rehearsals.
Speaker 3:So, she would go and sing and they go to other senior homes, they go to VA hospitals, things like that, to sing and so so, yeah, I'm not surprised by that at all, because it's usually connected with something else that's going on. And if you take it within the church context as well, I mean they're getting a church there, getting a ride there, they're engaging other people, all of those kinds of things so, yeah, it's not surprising at all.
Speaker 2:Yeah, the cognitive improvement. I expected that because I've seen and heard a lot of studies about how music is associated with memory and how even young people we use music as mnemonic devices to learn things and memorize things, and how we can see videos, sometimes of people with Alzheimer's or dementia. That music will come back to them when other things are going to happen. So that's really fascinating. But I've heard it before. What I've never heard is all of the other medical things that you just listed. Why on earth it has to do with fewer falls is beyond me, but that's fascinating.
Speaker 1:That is absolutely fascinating.
Speaker 1:I'm reminded that it's not unusual, particularly this time of year, to go into parts of New York, spanish Harlem in particular, and find block parties on Saturdays. They're probably not block parties, but they are the equivalent of community gatherings, where the musicians in the community will bring out their congos, their bongos, their drums, their trumpets, their guitars, etc. And they'll just sit up on the sidewalk and they will jam. And I've seen older couples, usually older Spanish couples, who will come to the scene with a cane or sometimes a walk or maybe a limp, and I'm not exaggerating. But when the music starts, something comes over them and they are able to stand or dance without a cane or walker and can go the full length, the full duration of a nine to 15 minute song, because those Spanish songs sometimes they're like the songs that never end. But the fascinating thing is to see those older couples get in the middle of the street and just dance and not miss a beat and not lose their balance, and so I can say with personal experience that I've seen them sing and dance to that music and hold it together.
Speaker 1:I thought it was a fascinating article and it brought out points that I think I'm going to research a little more and bring back to the podcast for further discussion. The article ends with this it's a testimonial from a couple of the people who were involved in that choir, and one woman recalls arriving at a rehearsal not long after her hospital stay and she stated that the choir was good for my recovery. It affects the way you feel about being alive. Another one says that it's an expression of my yes, I am still here and it feeds my soul.
Speaker 3:It's interesting as we were talking, I was reminded of just something I experienced yesterday at the church that my daughter goes to down in Virginia and we were standing outside because they have two services. And we're standing outside and these older people came walking in and one of the men just shook my hand and said morning, didn't know me from Adam, but just shook my hand and said good morning. I said good morning and I said how are you? And he's like, well, moving slowly. I said, but I said, but you're still moving. That's what's important.
Speaker 3:And what is interesting is that I saw him later on in service and we were singing and he was sitting down, but you could sing. He was singing his heart out and just with the little strength that he had, he was there singing his heart out. And that's just what music does, and particularly music as we're seeing, unto the Lord. That's what it does. It makes the one who may be moving slowly to just be able to open their mouth and sing unto the Lord with all their strength. And yeah, yeah, and we see it, we see it, we see it.
Speaker 1:Well, there you have it to our listeners. If you've ever needed a reason to add your voice to acquire, whether that's in your church, your school, your college, your university, your community, research shows that the benefits are great when you join a singing aggregation. Coleman, take us out with the thought of the week.
Speaker 2:Thanks so much, greg. Over the last few weeks, we've been talking about this concept of lifting our hands in worship. What does it mean? Why do we do it? We've talked about how there's biblical precedence, what it symbolizes, but tonight I want to talk about how, sometimes, I like to imagine lifting our hands to God, the way a child would lift his or her hands to their mother or father.
Speaker 2:Often it's an expression of dependence. It's a posture of need. Actually, reaching out beyond ourselves sends the message that we lack something that God has. So it's a sign of dependence. It's also a posture that we take when receiving something. If someone hands you something, your body has to participate in receiving it right. Well, I'm not saying that you have to use your body to receive something from God, but the posture is symbolic of embrace, of that which the Father chooses to give.
Speaker 2:Lastly and I touched on it just briefly, when I lift my hands in worship, I often think about how I'm directing my attention outward and upward, toward God rather than myself. So over the last few weeks, we've covered a lot of reasons why many of us, from different traditions, lift our hands as an act of worship. There's a lot of biblical precedence. It's symbolic of vulnerability, surrender, dependence and receptivity. And we do it because we believe our bodies are good and they have a part to play in the worship of our good God. So, to quote Lamentations 341, let us lift our hearts and hands to God in heaven.
Speaker 1:And remember, if ever we put the messenger before the message, we have failed to present an unblemished gospel. I'm Greg Thomas. Join us again next week right here in the Choir Room.
