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Chapter 10 Praise "Up Above My Head, I Hear Singing in the Air" One morning soon, One morning soon, One morning soon, I heard the angels singing. All in my room, All in my room, All in my room, I heard the angels singing. Lord, I was down on my knees, Down on my knees, Down on my knees, I heard the angels singing. Lord, it was all over my head, All over my head, All over my head, I heard the angels singing.1 When saints sing about the celestial chorus, they aren't simply painting a metaphorical picture. Instead, they are voicing a deeply held conviction that heaven rings with the songs of Zion. Inspiring and delighting in this singing is the Lord Himself, who reigns over all as the ultimate master of music. Within this frame, song ranks as much more than "just another" realm of expression. Song stands apart, vaulted to the very pinnacle of heavenly favor. In the eyes of the saints, song reigns as the chosen channel of celestial expression. Sounding from the mouths of countless angels, it fills heaven with the tuneful sounds of praise. For this to be, it must accord with God's will, for He both created the angels and granted them the gift of song. He also granted this gift to those here below and called upon them to fill their worship with song and the joyous strains of music. "Sing unto the Lord a new song, and his praise in the congregation of saints;' declares the psalmist. "Let them praise his name in the dance: let them sing praises unto him with the timbrel and harp. For the Lord taketh pleasure in his people" (Psalm 149:1, 3-4). For the saints, pleasuring the Lord is the frame within which all sacred song falls. Whenever one joins the choruses of a congregation, sings as a performer before a church audience, hums melodic praises in a moment of privacy, or simply listens to sacred songs on the radio, one enters a sphere imbued with associations of celestial agency and godly delight. Engaging with song thus entails more than just engaging in praise. It also entails, if only in a limited way,partaking of the holy.As Isaac Watts declared in a hymn that was likelychorused by the earliest African American saints, singing draws saints into a relationship of "kindred" with the angels: We bring our mortal pow'rs to God, And worship with our tongues; We claim some kindred with the skies, And join th' angelic songs.' Even more important than "claiming this kindred;' however, is the simple fact that singing involves the singer in a kind of service that the Lord Himself deems particularly pleasing. The equation, as holiness deacon Joe Vereen points out, is quite simple: "God loves music. He loves to see us worship and praise Him. And we love-and live-to please Him,"? When saints speak about music, their first and final reference is alwaysthe Bible. Herein lies source and answer, foundation of faith and cradle of understanding. Herein also lies justification for belief in the celestial wellsprings of song. Though specific references are relatively few, their words are widely known and their ramifications are far-ranging. The saints point to the Old Testament, for example, for stories of the heavens singing forth, sounding joyous praises that sweep over the earth. In the New Testament, these praises find themselves in the mouths of angels, serenading the shepherds with news of Christ's birth (Luke 2:13-14). Angelic song also sounds forth in the final days of judgment, when "ten thousand times ten thousand, and thousands of thousands" of angels will sing hosannas before the Lamb (Revelation 5:8-13), when the blessed 144,000, accompanied by "harpers harping with their harps," will chorus a "new song" with a voice like "many waters" and "great thunder" (Revelation 14:1-3), and when those who gain victory over the beast will "sing the song of Moses the servant of God, and the song of the Lamb" (Revelation 15:2-3). At this time also shall ring from heaven the calming sounds of celestial harps (Revelation 15:2), and the fearsome blasts of the seven trumpets of judgment (Revelation 8:2-11: 15). The saints affirm that from the very birth of creation (Ezekiel 28:13) until the final days of glory, the heavens have echoed and will continue to echo with the hallowed songs of...

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