Singing

Jesus said that the mouth speaks from the abundance of the heart. Experience teaches us  that tears also come as an overflow. I would group singing somewhere between speaking  and crying. Think about it.  

When do we sing? I mean suburban Americans in 2025. The National Anthem (quietly),  Happy Birthday, and then at ball games—Sweet Caroline—we might really go for that,  especially if our team is winning.  

But what if we didn’t sing at those times? I’ve seen people stand with their mouths closed  during Happy Birthday; that meant something. 

While Jesus points to the content of speech as an indication of the heart, I would point to  the fact of singing as a fairly strong indicator of spiritual health, certainly in our culture.  This is especially true for boys.  

Singing, for all of us, but most of all for adolescent boys, is the equivalent of an animal  lying on its back—it means assurance and safety. Singing, really singing, is a very self forgetful act, and a joyful one. That’s why we do it alone, in the shower and the car, and it can be quite ecstatic.  

So it’s a wonderful thing to attend morning prayer at Trinity, or to walk down a hall as a  class hour is beginning. You will generally hear two or three classes singing for their opening prayer. We sing a lot because students feel free. The seventh grade boys sing In  the Jailhouse Now, complete with yodeling, as they pack up. 

How did this happen? It was the ninth and tenth grade boys of 2005; they broke the levee. The exact nature of this was mysterious, but it was a psalm setting by Heinrich Schütz  and the Pange Lingua by Thomas Aquinas that did it—a properly ecumenical mix.  

Once that happened, it was a matter of time. Those 9^th graders grew into the powerhouse  that won the 2008 State Lacrosse Championship. When your 12^th grade lacrosse stars  sing, everyone is free to. And that was it. As with money or happiness, it takes a little to  make some more, and once you’re started, it gets easier.  

Singing is not only a sign of spiritual health, it is an aid to it. That’s why, right before  promising the peace of God, Paul enjoins his people to sing. Whether it’s sea shanties or  hymns or psalms or a Mozart canon, we are singing at Trinity, most hours of the day.