One of the basic disciplines of the Christan life is to worship God. A basic way to worship Him is with other believers singing together.
Psalms 100:1-2 Shout joyfully to the Lord, all the earth. Serve the Lord with gladness; Come before Him with joyful singing.
Ephesians 5:19 speaking to one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody with your heart to the Lord;
During the worship time at our church service each week I work hard at controlling my thinking and not letting my mind drift, but focus on the Lord and direct my words to Him.
Matthew 15:8 ‘This people honors Me with their lips,
But their heart is far away from Me.
When I worship God with others I sing as loud as I can. I think that the Psalms that admonish us to shout joyfully to the Lord suggest volume. I am not a good singer but I don’t let the intimidation of what others might think keep me from singing from my toes.
Psalms 98:4 Shout joyfully to the Lord, all the earth;
Break forth and sing for joy and sing praises.
A key principle is that if I worship well corporately, I will worship well privately. I will rejoice about everything, thanking the Lord all day long, and not complain and grumble about anything. But if I am distracted during the worship time in my church and just go through the motions thoughtlessly, not thinking about the Lord, if I worship poorly during corporate worship then during the week I will find myself taking things for granted, not appreciating what God has done for me, and I will grumble and complain a lot.
The principal again, “If I worship well corporately, I will worship well privately.” Try it and see what happens in your life.
Very few things wreck corporate worship in our own heart as much as a consumer spirit does. That is when we start thinking that the worship time is supposed to bless me, and I get critical about the quality of the music and the choice of songs. I have been in every kind of worship experience possible, with lively contemporary songs and also really old hymns, I have worshiped with amazing worship bands and also with an old lady playing a piano with one finger. In all of the variations I could still choose to worship God well as my creator and savior. Often the best worship experiences, where I sensed God’s presence most powerfully was in the simple setting that many would find dull.
Pastor Dee's Blog 
As you know, music has always been a big part of my life and singing for the Lord brings me great joy as I worship in song. I just have one question. Why is it that we seem to think only music is worship? Isnât prayer, reading scripture, music and listening to a sermon an act of worship when we meet corporately and in our private lives? It just seems that we put so much emphasis on music and singing that it ONLY is an act of worship. I believe all of the above is, when the worship is truly coming from a contrite and humble heart.
I do however agree, I have worshipped with a choir, a praise team or listening to the little old lady playing an organ or a piano from the heart. The latter would be nice to hear again.
Give me a Jill Hickenlooper piano solo and my heart and mind think I am in heaven. ð
Soli Deo Gloria.
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Hi Dee. I could not pass on the issue of singing and song selection. If the leaders (Ben plus others) would choose songs based on the “singability”, rather than purely the message, the whole congregation could sing out, the way we used to. Todays song leader was a prime example. Ther was no identifiable cadence to any of the songs, making singing along all but impossible. I used to truly enjoy singing praises, but no longer. I often arrive late to the service to avoid the frustration of standing there and only mouthing the words. More on this later. Have a really nice Monday Dee
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“Very few things wreck corporate worship in our own heart as much as a consumer spirit does. That is when we start thinking that the worship time is supposed to bless me, and I get critical about the quality of the music and the choice of songs.”
True statement, and I as a worship leader also need to make the songs as singable as possible. We do lower the keys on almost every song for that reason.
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