ROBERT WEBBER ON SINGING "IN THE SPIRIT"



The following is a brief excerpt from Robert E. Webber's Music and the Arts in Christian Worship:

The place in the service when singing in the Spirit happens is quite varied. It is usually thought appropriate whenever prayer and praise are appropriate. Often, extended congregational praise will very gradually evolve into singing in the Spirit. Some congregations exercise it after a hymn or chorus, utilizing the keynote of that song as the harmonic basis of the exercise. Others sing in the Spirit at the congregational prayer times during the service or at the ending altar service. Some churches practice it regularly, others infrequently, and some not at all.

As previously mentioned, singing in the Spirit most often includes the vernacular as well as tongues. It is quite natural, when engaged in intense worship and praise, for the individual to move from glossolalia to English and back again at will. One hears such phrases as “Thank you, Jesus,” “Praise the name of Jesus,” “I love you, Lord,” “Hallelujah,” and so forth. Including the vernacular in corporate singing in the Spirit also allows those who do not speak in tongues to participate with praise singing. Thus no one is excluded. The singing of so many different expressions concurrently might seem at first to be confusing to the uninitiated. For musicians, however, it is but another use of musical and textual counterpoint.

Source: Robert Webber, Music and the Arts in Christian Worship, 1st ed., vol. 4 of The Complete Library of Christian Worship (Nashville, TN: Star Song Pub. Group, 1994), 130.

It's been said that, "no singular person in the American church did more work in the late twentieth century toward worship renewal than Robert Webber." For more on Webber's influence on the subject of worship, see his brief bio at the Robert E. Webber Institute for Worship Studies website.

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