Choir

Toberkeigh Choir

See Audrey Kane for further information (028 2076 9426).

Singing is for all God’s people, and at Toberkeigh the congregation is the primary choir. To aid whole-congregational praise some of us do a little practise – and we need You!  We would encourage as many as possible to join us that the word of Christ would dwell the more richly in us all (Colossians 3:16).  The Church has a long musical tradition and one can be greatly blessed by tapping into some of its rich treasure. We seek to enjoy the best of the old and of the new and join our voices with the many who also have been redeemed.

One has put the essential ministry of congregational singing like this:

The Christian church sings. It is not a choral society. Its singing is not a concert. But from inner, material necessity it sings. Singing is the highest form of human expression….What we can and must say quite confidently is that the church which does not sing is not the church. And where…it does not really sing but sighs and mumbles spasmodically, shamefacedly and with an ill grace, it can be at best only a troubled community which is not sure of its cause and of whose ministry and witness there can be no great expectation….The praise of God which finds its concrete culmination in the singing of the community is one of the indispensable forms of the ministry of the church. [Karl Barth, CD, IV.3.16.72#4.]

We do not have a junior choir (yet), but, perhaps as a starter, some may find this primer on nurturing the musical intelligence of children helpful. Music and Intelligence in the Early Years.

Some of the young children’s Bible songs that we use with our youth can be found on YouTube which they may learn in full if desired.

Preview our praise for the coming Sunday services. 

Some advice!

Above all, sing spiritually. Have an eye to God in every word you sing. Aim at pleasing Him more than yourself, or any other creature. In order to do this, attend strictly to the sense of what you sing, and see that your heart is not carried away with the sound, but offered to God continually; so shall your singing be such as the Lord will approve here, and reward you when He cometh in the clouds of heaven. [John Wesley]

We should be very careful that our ears be not more attentive to the melody than our minds to the spiritual meaning of the words….[S]uch songs as have been composed only for the sweetness and delight of the ear are unbecoming to the majesty of the church and cannot but displease God in the highest degree. [John Calvin]