The Power of Male Voices on Sunday Morning

I don’t know if you’ve ever experienced it. There’s something inspiring, fortifying, soul stirring, and celestial about it. Its bass has the strengthening tone of an army. Its tenor reflects the worshiping pitch of sincere tenderness. The fact that it’s not something we regularly observe and encourage on Sunday mornings in our churches leads me to believe that its absence has greatly diminished our spiritual appetite for it. In other words, we’re starving for it and don’t even know it.

To what do I refer? Male voices – singing together in worshiping unison. There’s nothing quite like it. I was reminded of this while listening to a choir of ten thousand I was privileged to be a part of earlier this year. The album hit iTunes and Amazon this week. The recording mesmerized me. Moved me. Changed the posture of my soul on the spot.

To be fair, this “choir” was not composed solely of men. There were sisters in Christ sprinkled throughout the gathering, which was fantastic. (Who doesn’t like to listen to the sweetness of godly women singing in unison?) That said, when you listen to the recording, the dominant reverberation of male voices singing together unto God strikes the soul immediately with power and gravitas. How can you stay unmoved listening to ten thousand men belt All I Have Is Christ?

The fact that this awesome dynamic is missing from our churches was recently addressed by one of the great preachers of our day, Alistair Begg. I agree with his general assessment – namely, there’s feeble singing coming from the men in American congregations today. Could he be right that this is an indication of a deeper spiritual problem? Only God knows that. I do know one thing, though, gentlemen: if we love our Lord Jesus Christ, we will not be silent – at home, at work, in public, and (not the least of which) in the midst of the saints on Sunday morning.

He has rescued us from eternal wrath, and that, my brothers, is reason enough to lift our voices – even if we’re (unfortunately) tone deaf, (wrongly) think singing is an emasculating exercise, or come from a background where it was (falsely) taught that doing so was silly. Men, if we’re gripped by the gospel, singing on Sunday won’t be contrived with difficulty, but born of deep conviction.

(Pastor Begg's comments can be found in the clip below approximately between 5:05 and 8:15.)