Sing praises to God, sing praises;
    sing praises to our King, sing praises!
For God is the King over all the earth.
    Praise him with a psalm. (Psalm 47:6-7)

. . . be filled with the Holy Spirit, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs among yourselves, and making music to the Lord in your hearts. And give thanks for everything to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. (Ephesians 5:18b-20 NLT)

Has your church been able to resume services yet? Can you sing? Because of Covid19 our church doors closed – at first for two weeks, but now it’s been well over two months. This next Sunday** our church will open its doors for the first time, but we can’t sing. We have an outstanding choir in spite of the smallness of my town and church, but our singing voices have to be silenced in the church. It breaks my heart. (FYI: Church Music in the Age of Covid-19, by the Wisconsin Council of Churches)

I understand the reasons, so I’m not attempting to challenge the position. Singing voices do project any viruses that might be present if anyone should unknowingly be carrying the virus. But we have to sing. I wonder if we could hum the hymns in church as we listen to one person sing them. Just a thought to consider.

But, on the other hand, nobody says we can’t sing praise to God in other places. It’s time to revive families singing together. Some of my most treasured memories are of my family singing around the piano while Mama played. And for the most part we sang hymns from old church hymnals. Sometimes my brother played the trombone or my sister the saxophone. And going farther back in time, Mama played a ukulele that was my birthday present. (She played it better than I did.) We enjoyed making music together.

Have you ever heard someone play a trumpet outdoors in the distance and felt moved by the sound. That hymn drifting in the breeze had the most calming effect on my spirit. Perhaps it’s time to take our music to our front porches and share the joy and peace with our neighbors. Make a joyful noise. Practice might make perfect and be appreciated, but joyful singing can lift spirits anywhere.

Families are singing on YouTube. Here’s a family that lifts my spirit when they sing, as they obviously enjoy singing together. Imagine my delight to find a brand new video that perfectly fit my post. They sang on their back porch, and included a violin and a guitar. Enjoy the Getty Family Hymn Sing LIVE 6.9.2020

Here’s a link to another recent Getty Family video.

Are you ready to sing? Don’t worry if you don’t have a hymnal, there are several sites on the web with hymns you can download for free. You can even use your computer to supply you with piano or organ accompaniment if you need it. Hymnsite.com includes the words and accompaniment for hundreds of hymns.

Do you play a guitar or ukulele? Hymnchords.net offers a wealth of hymn lyrics with chords. Sing the Bible Story is another website that includes both piano music and chords for instruments. Guitar Video Chords offers Gospel music in both English and Spanish.

Use your browser to find other sites that give lyrics and chords. I’ve listed only free sites, but there are bonus features in the sites that charge a fee that you might like.

Let us lift our voices in praise to God, anywhere and everywhere. This world needs to hear it today.

Post written by Janice D Green, Honeycomb Adventures Press, LLC

Photo by the Getty family.

**Edit: My misunderstanding. Sadly, our church is still not able to open its doors due to the recent sharp increase of Coronavirus cases in SC this past week. It may be yet another six weeks. All the more reason to sing on the porch!