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Transcribed highlights of the show can be found in our episode summaries.\nCalifornia\u2019s Department of Health\u2019s reopening guidelines for houses of worship contain\xa0bitter news for those who love corporate worship.\xa0\n\u201cStrongly consider discontinuing singing, group recitation, and other practices and performances where there is increased likelihood for transmission from contaminated exhaled droplets,\u201d the report warns.\nIn another section it notes, \u201c Activities such as singing and group recitation negate the risk-reduction achieved through six feet of physical distancing.\u201d\nAbsorbing this is tough news for those who feel most connected to God and others through music.\n\u201cThere is something about articulating our emotional state and using music, using song, as a means of expressing ourselves before the Lord. And that's deep in the Christian tradition, from singing and praying the Psalms to the early hymns in the New Testament like in Luke's gospel and peppered through Paul's letters,\u201d said Glenn Packiam, associate senior pastor at New Life Church in Colorado Springs, Colorado. \u201cThere was also a reputation that early Christians get. In Pliny\u2019s letter to the emperor, he says, \u201cThese strange Christians get together before sunrise and they sing these hymns to Christ as if to a God.\u201d\n\u201cThere's something about song that helps us express more than just what the words of the song are saying,\u201d continued Packiam, who is also the author of the forthcoming book, Worship and the World to Come Exploring Christian Hope in Contemporary Worship.\nPackiam joined digital media producer Morgan Lee and editorial director Ted Olsen to discuss how his church has handled the pandemic from a worship perspective, what makes corporate singing special,\xa0and what it means that eschatology is missing from our worship music.\xa0\nWhat is Quick to Listen? Read more \nRate Quick to Listen on Apple Podcasts \nFollow the podcast on Twitter \nFollow our hosts on Twitter: Morgan Lee and Ted Olsen\nVisit our guest\u2019s website: Glenn Packiam\nRead more about Packiam\u2019s church: New Life After the Fall of Ted Haggard\nMusic by Sweeps \nQuick to Listen is produced by Morgan Lee and Matt Linder \nThe transcript is edited by Bunmi Ishola\nLearn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices