April 8, 2023

Voices for God

Psalm 98:4   
Shout to the Lord, all the earth;
break out in praise and sing for joy!

Psalm 81:1
Sing praises to God, our strength
Sing to the God of Jacob!

These are just two examples of instruction in the Bible encouraging us to “Sing” to the Lord. So, why is it that I, and many others, sing softly in church? My excuse is obvious. I was not blessed with a beautiful singing voice. I love music and l love listening to music. When I was in high school, I played the clarinet in the band and even earned the position of “First Chair” in the clarinet section. For many years I have expressed a desire to learn to play the piano, and a couple of years ago, my children gave me a keyboard and beginner piano lessons. I took lessons for about nine months before COVID hit, and have continued self-taught lessons in my “Level 2B Church Hymns” instruction booklet very slowly since then. I love the time I spend “practicing” on the keyboard. Sometimes when I’m feeling extra brave, and in the house alone, I even sing along as loudly as possible.

One disadvantage to being able to read music and hear the notes is that when the note is wrong, I hear it! Trust me, I hear it when I’m singing! As a matter of fact, when I was in the eighth grade, the music director kicked me (and three of my friends) out of the Glee Club. In her defense, I’m sure we were talking too much, but I also believe that it was a good excuse to improve the quality of the chorus! Therefore, I rest my case on why I sing softly in church.

Conversely, my sister sings just as off-key as I do (maybe even more so – if possible). She is tone deaf and doesn’t realize how off-key she is. She loves the Lord and she loves to sing. (I bet you can see where this is going…) When we were children, I constantly complained that she needed to tone down her volume in church, which, as you can imagine, only encouraged her to sing louder! I remember being quite embarrassed, so I finally gave up the cause.

 
Fast forward many years and now that I’ve (hopefully) matured a bit, nothing makes me smile more than to stand beside my sister in church and listen to her sing! Yes, she still loves the Lord and yes, she still loves to sing loudly. Hallelujah! I’m so glad that my childhood badgering had no impact on her singing. One of our favorite Easter songs is “Up from the Grave He Arose” (UMH 322), and now my greatest joy is to stand beside her on Easter morning as we sing with all our heart to the Lord:

Low in the grave He lay,
Jesus my Savior,
Waiting the coming day,
Jesus my Lord!

Up from the grave He arose,
With a mighty triumph o’er His foes,
He arose a Victor from the dark domain,
And He lives forever,
With His saints to reign.
He Arose! He arose!
Hallelujah! Christ arose!

So, to all of those who have beautiful voices, I am in awe of you. And, to those who bravely sing off-key with joy and thanksgiving to the Lord, I am even in more awe of you!!!!!!!

Lynn Woodside – CGUMC