Singing with Understanding: Why HCC is Embracing the Sing Hymnal

Jeremy Lyerla
Sep 19
3 min read

At Heritage Covenant Church, we confess that worship is not entertainment, nor is it a matter of personal taste. Worship is a holy encounter between God and His covenant people. When we gather on the Lord’s Day, God speaks to us by His Word and we respond in prayer, confession, and song. Among the most powerful ways we respond is through congregational singing—lifting our voices together in psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs.

With this in mind, HCC is adopting the new Sing Hymnal, a resource that serves not only corporate worship but also family devotions and personal piety. Our desire is that this hymnal will help our congregation sing with deeper understanding, theological richness, and heartfelt experiential response.

Congregation at Heritage Covenant Church singing from the new Sign hymnal with instruments supporting, highlighting Reformed experiential worship focused on psalms, hymns, and family devotion—avoiding worshiptainment. — Sing Hymnal

The Central Place of Song in Reformed Worship

The Reformers restored congregational singing to the life of the church. John Calvin, in his preface to the Genevan Psalter, wrote:

“We know by experience that song has great force and vigor to move and inflame the hearts of men to invoke and praise God with a more vehement and ardent zeal.”

Martin Luther went even further:

“Next to the Word of God, music deserves the highest praise. It is a gift of God, not of man; it drives away the devil and makes people joyful.”

For both Calvin and Luther, singing was not optional ornamentation—it was central to the people of God expressing their faith. Singing is theology set to music; it is truth carried on the wings of melody to the mind, heart, and affections.

Experiential Worship: From the Heart to Heaven

Reformed worship has always emphasized experiential Christianity—truth applied to the soul. Singing is not merely reciting doctrine; it is doctrine experienced and confessed.

When we sing, we unite heart and voice, doctrine and doxology.

In corporate worship, song unites the congregation as one voice, embodying the communion of saints.
In family worship, song helps train children in the truths of God’s Word, embedding theology in memory and affection.
In personal devotion, song lifts the weary heart, reminding us of God’s promises and stirring us to prayer.

The Sign hymnal is designed for all three contexts. The very songs we sing on the Lord’s Day can be taken into our homes and into our closets of prayer. In this way, Sunday worship overflows into Monday living.

Psalms and Hymns: The Word Dwelt Richly

The apostle Paul commands us: “Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs” (Col. 3:16).

The psalms are God’s own inspired songbook, shaping our praise in lament, thanksgiving, confession, and hope. Hymns faithfully crafted from Scripture also give voice to the fullness of Christ’s person and work, declaring the gospel from age to age. Together, psalms and hymns give the church a vocabulary of worship that is both biblically faithful and experientially rich.

The Sing hymnal upholds this biblical pattern by including a robust selection of psalms and theologically sound hymns that exalt Christ, edify the church, and call the world to faith.

Guarding Against “Worshiptainment”

In our age, worship is often confused with a concert experience—lights, mood, and performance. But biblical worship resists such reduction. As the Puritan Jeremiah

Burroughs wrote:

“When we worship God, we must give Him the glory of His attributes. It is not stage-plays, nor theatrical pomp, but reverence and godly fear that becomes His presence.”

At HCC, our singing is not about showcasing talent but about magnifying Christ. Instruments serve the voices of the congregation, not the other way around. Leaders guide but never replace the gathered people’s voice. True worship is marked by reverence, joy, and truth—not spectacle.

Building a Heritage of Praise

By adopting the Sing hymnal, HCC seeks to build a heritage of faith expressed in song.

Our prayer is that:

Our children will grow up with psalms and hymns on their lips.
Our families will be strengthened by singing together in their homes.
Our congregation will be united as one voice on the Lord’s Day, proclaiming Christ crucified and risen.
Our witness will be strengthened as our neighbors hear a people whose joy and hope overflow in praise.

As Psalm 96 exhorts: “Sing to the LORD a new song; sing to the LORD, all the earth. Sing to the LORD, bless his name; tell of his salvation from day to day.”

May the Lord use the Sing hymnal to deepen our worship, strengthen our faith, and direct our hearts to Christ, until that great day when our earthly singing joins the heavenly chorus around the throne.