With One Voice: Discovering Christ’s Song in Our Worship
by Reggie M. Kidd

For a free download (pdf) of Chapter 1, click here.

Chapter 1 — “A Red Guitar, Three Chords, and the Truth”: Why We Sing
Christian belief is necessarily sung because when we sing it we own it better, because our redemption means song is true to reality, because singing puts us in the company of the Savior Himself, and because singing is part of our mission.

Chapter 2 — The Psalms: God’s Song and Mine
In a most amazing way, each generation of believers finds its experience of God enhanced by the songs of the Book of Psalms. All by itself, the Psalter is a concise telling of Israel’s story: one long pilgrimage from suffering to glory. It’s our story as well.

Chapter 3 — David: “Sweet Singer” and Architect of Praise
Israel’s King David provides the clearest example ever to emerge of a person whose relationship with God was shaped by song. As composer, proto-guitarist, singer, and sponsor of the Book of Psalms, David has much to teach us about clinging to God in hard times, celebrating the victories he gives us, and pursuing his presence always.

Chapter 4 — Psalm 22: The Musical Hinge
In Psalm 22’s recounting of a time when God miraculously delivered David from attack, there is a perfect crystallization of Israel’s journey from shame to fame. Further, in this psalm we find that David pointed to Another Singer, One who would sing of the deeper shame of the cross and rise to the greater fame of his resurrection. Psalm 22 introduces us to our Singing Savior.

Chapters 5 & 6 — Jesus’ Lament of Abandonment and Victory Chant
Jesus takes up both sides of Psalm 22: a song of suffering and a song of thanks for deliverance. It is no small thing to know that in the deepest sadness I will ever know, One has taken my side. He sings a blues deeper than I can imagine, and comforts me in my most desperate moments. And there is nothing better than knowing that the Risen Christ lives right now in heaven where he orchestrates his people’s praise, and where he sings over us — indeed, where he sings over me — with love.

Chapter 7 — The Singing Savior’s Many Voices
Psalm 22 anticipates Jesus leading song in a “great assembly” that includes Jew and Gentile, rich and poor, those who have already died and those who have yet to be born. It is a breathtaking panorama. Because those voices give Jesus’ voice its special tonal quality, we have reason to think about how we may honor his voice by valuing one another’s.

Chapter 8 — Bach’s Voice: “Sermons in Music”
“Bach’s” is the voice of culture and refinement, an aesthetic submitted to the standards of urbanity and schooled discipline. Bach’s voice gives expression to the New Testament’s vision of our being called to participate in the City of God, a commonwealth in which the worthiest of human aspirations find their goal and satisfaction.

Chapter 9 — Bubba’s Voice: “’Tis the Gift to Be Simple”
Jesus also sings among the culturally less refined. “Bubba” represents to me the most famous composer of folk songs and hymns: “Anonymous.” Bubba’s voice gives expression to the New Testament’s vision of our being called to participate in the Family of God — a sense of belonging to one another sheerly because we have been chosen for one another, not because we’re pretty or hip or smart, but because Jesus has made us family.

Chapter 10 The Blues Brothers’ Voice: “On a Mission from God”
Jake and Elwood Blues go “on a mission from God” to reunite their soul band for a concert to raise money for the orphanage that raised them, and so to take care of the next generation. The Blues Brothers are a parable of a similar call God places on each generation of the church. The Blues Brothers’ voice answers to the New Testament’s call to be Cadres of Friends (the NT term for this is koinonia) who enlist the common dialect of their culture (its koine) to the service of redemptive ends.

Coda: “Join in this Choir”
Musically, we are called to do the best we can with the musical idioms we have inherited — whether classical or folk or pop — so we can help the next generation hear the Savior’s song and take up their own voice in response.