Our God Will See Us Throughنموونە

WHEN YOUR PEOPLE SING

By Clay Finnesand

I have a distinct memory of being a kid in church and my mom lip-syncing during the worship music. There I was, singing “Everlasting God” (having no clue what everlasting meant), and much to my spiritual shock I heard not even a single note escape her lips. When we got home, I asked why she didn’t participate—she was supposed to be setting the example, for crying out loud! My mom explained that she has a rare and incurable disease called “tone-deaf” and didn’t want to ruin everyone else’s experience. At first that made me sad, but then one day I overheard a strange croaking noise coming from the kitchen that faintly resembled a Hall and Oates song, and I understood where she was coming from! To this day, we still laugh about that.

Maybe you identify with my mom, or maybe you can carry a tune just fine. Either way, the idea of singing songs in church brings up some fair questions we might wrestle with, namely:

Why do we sing in church in the first place?

If I don’t sing along, am I doing something wrong?

What if I don’t connect with the song, like, at all?

Am I just being emotionally manipulated with these songs?

The bottom line is: What’s with all the singing?

I mean, it can seem a little weird—grown adults singing to words on a screen like some sort of group karaoke. I get it. But, of course, we believe there’s more to it than that.

The best way I know to talk about why we sing in church is to share a story about my friend, Gordon. I first noticed Gordon a few months ago. He attends the 11:00 a.m. service at my church. Every week. Third row to the right. He’s probably in his mid 80s. He sits near the aisle, in a wheelchair.

Gordon sings every single word of every single song. I can almost guarantee you that our songs aren’t exactly his style, but apparently that doesn’t matter to him. His hands are always lifted in an elderly man sort of way, and his face shines with the kind of grace only a lifetime of loving Jesus can produce.

Eventually I just had to meet him and tell him how inspiring he was to me. So, one day I introduced myself. And Gordon was as warm and kind as I expected. He talked to me about his passion for prison ministry and how he couldn’t wait to go home to be with the Lord. He talked about how much joy it brought him to sing to God with his church because “after all,” he said, “we need each other.”

And there it is. There’s the point of why we sing together.

We need each other.

Gordon knew explicitly what we know in our hearts if we’re honest.

The reason we’re singing is because of all that Jesus has done and who he is. And frankly, if we don’t regularly come together, say it out loud together, and sing it out loud together, there’s a good chance we’ll forget.

As the apostle Paul wrote in his letter to the Colossians, “Let the message about Christ, in all its richness, fill your lives. Teach and counsel each other with all the wisdom he gives. Sing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs to God with thankful hearts.”

Paul was telling the Colossians to help one another when it comes to growing in the richness of the gospel—and to do it through singing. Yes, even the bad singers.

Not every song will be your favorite or my favorite. But a song may very well be a favorite for the person next to you. It may be for the person in the wheelchair on the third row to the right, who by singing with a thankful heart reminded me of Christ’s heart—and helped me sing too.

You never know the impact you’re having by simply offering to God what little you may have. God is our audience for these songs, yet wouldn’t it be just like God to take what we sing to him and use it for the good of those around us?

We need each other. We need each other because without each other, we might miss what God intends to do in our lives—and in the lives of those standing right next to us. That’s why it’s a beautiful thing. In part, that’s why we sing.