This week’s news calls for a fresh look at this well-known passage in Amos:

This is what the Lord God Almighty says: Take away from me the noise of your songs; I will not listen to the melody of your harps. But let justice roll down like waters, and righteousness like an ever-flowing stream.
Amos 5:16,23-24

Last week Governor Newsom of California issued an order banning singing in worship in California churches (except for a few singers doing a livestream). This ruling elicited outrage from a number of churches there, whose leaders decried what they considered to be an abridgement of religious freedom. They vowed to keep singing; one pastor said that his congregation would sing louder.

Perhaps these leaders should read Amos. The prophet said that worship songs are “noise” – rejected by God – if they are accompanied by injustice. It is now well demonstrated that the quickest way to endanger other people in worship during this pandemic is to sing! Singing propels droplets much further than ordinary speech. To have a congregation sing is to bring harm to our neighbor.

This is why, at our in-person 8:30 service, we have no singing! We take seriously Jesus’ commandment to love our neighbor, and we do not love if we put our neighbor at risk. In our church’s view, there should be no need for a governor’s order forbidding singing during worship – because churches should not be singing at in-person worship in the first place! We do, of course, affirm singing as a primary way that we praise God. This is why we include singing as an important element in our livestreamed worship. The biggest number of singers that we have in a space in our building is at our 10:30 worship, where we have three widely spaced vocalists singing out into an empty sanctuary. The congregational singing we encourage is for everyone to sing at home! These are the songs at this time that truly praise God – songs in which we worship while caring for one another.

Prayer – Lead us, O Lord, to worship You in a way that shows Your love toward our neighbor. Share on X

If you missed Sunday worship, you can join with the recorded service of either the 9:30 or 10:30 worship hours at live.kentmethodist.org

About the Author

Dr. David A. Palmer has been the senior pastor at the United Methodist Church of Kent since 1995. He has a B.A. from Wittenberg University, a Master of Divinity from Duke University, and a Doctor of Ministry from Princeton Theological Seminary. A native of Wooster, Ohio, he has served three other churches in east Ohio before coming to Kent. He and his wife, Mavis, have three children.