I heard John Bell say, “God has blessed me with a mediocre singing voice. That way when I start leading a song, other people think ‘I can do better than that’ and they join in.” I loved this reframing, because so many of us believe that our voices are not good enough to be heard singing. But the real power of our voices comes not from singing solo, but in groups.
Group singing is powerful. Researchers have discovered that the heartbeats of choir members sync up together. Some of the most transcendent and energizing moments in my life have happened during group singing, and I think that music has spiritual power not only to shape communities, but create real social change.
That’s part of the reason I’ve always loved protest songs. The fact that they are designed to be relatively simple, or that they use call-and-response, makes them perfect for *group singing* (unlike most contemporary worship music). What I hear recorded from anti-ICE protests in the streets of Minneapolis, Chicago, LA, and New York is a revival of public spirit, of communal consciousness. It is a movement of the Spirit that is bigger than any denomination, bigger than religion. I’m struck that one of the best songs out of this moment is a song about conversion (“It’s okay to change your mind …you can join us any time.”) There’s also exhortation (“Hold on …here comes the dawn.”) “Liturgy” means “the work of the people,” and this is a liturgy for spiritual formation and resistance.
I’m sharing two resources below:
I realize my Christian pastoral and theological lens on protest singing may not be shared by participants in this work for justice, and that’s perfectly fine. I have no interest in co-opting anyone else’s work or baptizing other people’s work into Christian hegemony. But I do think clergy and worship leaders have a unique opportunity to remind their own people what rich grassroots resources we have that are not mass-marketed by Hillsong or the for-profit worship industry.
In our Methodist youth group on Sunday nights, we used to sing Bob Dylan and Cat Stevens and protest songs from the 60’s, so my view on what constitutes “worship music” is probably different from folks raised on Chris Tomlin or Jeremy Camp. My formative worship music was about standing up to bullies, tenderness toward the Earth, following the sacrificial and discipline way of Jesus, and the gracious abundance of God. I still think that singing these things out loud, in public, makes them manifest.
The fact that churches are hosting mass events to teach singing for protests thrills my heart.
Dave Barnhart 