Beauty and Christ
Sacred Music and Worship
Sacred music is music made for the worship of God, and it forms one of the richest treasuries in all of human culture. From the unaccompanied Gregorian chant of the early Church, to the towering works of Bach and Handel, to the spirituals and gospel of the Black church, to today’s worship songs, Christians in every age have set their prayers to music.
A treasury across the centuries
Chant. The earliest Christian worship music was sung prayer, unaccompanied and unhurried, carrying the Psalms and the liturgy. The masters. Johann Sebastian Bach signed his sacred works Soli Deo Gloria, to God alone be the glory; Handel’s Messiah set Scripture itself to music. The spirituals and gospel. Out of deep suffering, the Black church in America gave the world some of its most powerful sacred music, songs of hope and deliverance rooted in the Bible. Modern worship. Today believers around the world write new songs in every language and style.
What it points to
Different as these are, they share one aim: to worship God, and to help a gathered people lift their hearts to him together. The Bible commands God’s people to worship him in the beauty of holiness, and joins beauty to reverence rather than setting them against each other.
Sacred music is beautiful because its subject is beautiful. It is one of the ways the Church has learned to say, in more than words, that God is worthy. If a piece of it has ever stirred you, it was meant to; the beauty was pointing somewhere.
Come and see
Beauty is a door, never a trick. The cathedrals, the hymns, and the long roads of pilgrimage were all made by people who had first found something, or Someone, worth the labour of a lifetime. If the beauty draws you, follow it to its source. The living Christ it points toward is not an argument to win but a Person to meet, and he still draws near to everyone who comes to him with an open heart. The Gospel of John is a gentle place to begin.
Meet JesusRead the Gospel of JohnThe Church around the worldJesus Christ is Lord.
Frequently asked questions
- What is sacred music?
- Sacred music is music composed for the worship of God. It includes Gregorian chant, the great works of composers like Bach and Handel, spirituals and gospel, and modern worship songs, all written to praise God and lift the hearts of a gathered people.
- Why is sacred music important in worship?
- Music helps a gathered people lift their hearts to God together and carries the truths of faith deeper than words alone. The Bible commands God's people to worship him in the beauty of holiness (Psalm 96:9) and to let everything that has breath praise the Lord.
- Did Bach write religious music?
- Yes. Johann Sebastian Bach wrote a vast body of sacred music and often signed his scores Soli Deo Gloria, to God alone be the glory, expressing that his music was an act of worship.