Lots of Christians today, without realising it, have started to treat singing as a sacrament. Now, I know that the word 'sacrament' doesn't trip off most Christians' tongues. I doubt you instinctively think of it like that, but I think it gives a useful handle to describe what's often going on subliminally in people's heads.
What is a sacrament?
Well, sacraments are physical things God has given to his church to sign and seal his love to us. They're like divine 'kisses'. So the Holy Spirit takes the water of baptism and the bread and wine of the Lord's Table, and uses them to strengthen our connection to Christ, through faith. They work by taking what God has verbally promised and then 'sealing' those promises to us non-verbally.
Now, sacraments are full of mystery; they're not magical, and don't 'work' without faith, but the Bible uses strong language to describe what they do to us. For example, in Romans 6:4, water baptism unites us to Christ in his death ('all of us… were baptized into his death').
Or what's the consequence of eating and drinking the bread and wine at the Lord's Supper in an unworthy manner? 1 Corinthians 11:27 says we'll be 'guilty concerning the body and blood of the Lord'. Clearly the sacraments are designed by God to produce intimacy and 'communion' with Jesus Christ (see 1 Corinthians 10:16); they have a very close relationship to him.
Singing today
Isn't this exactly how lots of Christians treat the singing? Maybe you'd describe the singing as the part of the service that the Holy Spirit particularly uses to 'connect' you to God.
