In our small country church, I led a teen ministry to local nursing homes and organized a teen choir. When time came for the teen choir to perform in Sunday evening service, I worked to get the presentation just right. I wanted to do our BEST. I wanted to give a great presentation with good harmony in song. That would bring God the greatest glory, right? The subtle undercurrent was that a great presentation would make me look good. It would make me look like someone who really knew what they were doing, trying to bring some excellence to the music program at our small country church.
I had spent years away at Bible college and its various associated camps and ministries, all which emphasized EXCELLENCE. You had to try out for choirs, and only the best made it in. The presentations were awe inspiring, every hair in place, every note exact. And I came to believe that such presentations brought the most glory to God, and we need to do everything to bring glory to God, right?! (I Corinthians 10:31)
Now back to the teen choir in my small country church. We had practice once again right before the evening service in which we were supposed to sing. I made sure those with the best voices were closest to the microphone, and we sounded reasonably good. But RIGHT before service began, a tone-deaf teenage girl ran in late wanting to sing with us. And I refused her. Her mother wanted her to sing too, but I refused her as well (ever so politely). I had been trained to value an excellent presentation. The goal was to bring glory to God, right?! And you can do that best by being as good as you possibly can be, right?! Even refusing to let the tone-deaf girl who missed practice sing even though she REALLY wanted to, right?!
I never saw that girl and her single mom (who probably really needed the fellowship of that congregation) at church again. And I know to this day that my actions put a stumbling block in front of them that they indeed did stumble over. I can’t change it. But I know that in my naïve quest for the glory of God, I denied the thing that gives Him the most glory – the tone-deaf singing of a sinner saved by grace. God may receive minor glory from slick presentations, but it can't compare to the glory He receives from simply saving sinners. People are more important to God than presentations. That’s a no brainer, right? But it wasn’t to me, and I sacrificed a person for the sake of a presentation. I knew as soon as she walked out of the building that I had made a BIG mistake.
I believe strongly that God saves people, not me, and I’m at peace that I am under no condemnation by way of Christ’s death on the cross for me for this incidence. I don’t feel GUILT. But I do feel regret. Most of all I feel firm resolve that I always keep this truth in my mind – God saves sinners and His greatest glory is from the grace He lavishes on them.
Ephesians 1: 4 – 6 “In love 5 he predestined us for adoption as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will, 6 to the praise of his glorious grace, with which he has blessed us in the Beloved.”
I pray that I never again pursue a slick presentation at the expense of the heart of an individual. Ministries do it all the time, content to let hurt individuals walk out left and right like they are dead weights holding back the ministry from properly fulfilling God’s mission. No!! Run after the hurt individual. Call them back with grace. Because THAT is God’s glory!
I’ll end with this song by Philips, Craig, and Dean – His Favorite Song of All which is also my favorite song of all.
He loves to hear the wind sing
As it whistles through the pines on mountain peeks
And He loves to hear the raindrops
As they splash to the ground in a magic melody
He smiles in sweet approval
As the waves crash through the rocks in harmony
And creation joins in unity
To sing to Him majestic symphonies
But His favorite song of all
Is the song of the Redeemed
When lost sinners, now made clean
Lift their voices, loud and strong
When those purchased by His blood
Lift to Him a song of love
There's nothin' more He'd rather hear
Nor so pleasin' to His ear
As His favorite song of all
And He loves to hear the angels
As they sing, "Holy, holy is the Lamb"
Heaven's choirs in harmony
Lift up praises to the Great I Am
But He lifts His hands for silence
When the weakest, saved by grace, begins to sing
And a million angels listen
As a newborn soul sings, "I've been redeemed"
Cause His favorite song of all
Is the song of the redeemed
When lost sinners, now made clean
Lift their voices, loud and strong
When those purchased by His blood
Lift to Him a song of love
There's nothin' more He'd rather hear
Nor so pleasin' to His ear
As His favorite song of all
It's not just melodies and harmonies
That catches His attention
It's not just clever lines and phrases
That causes Him to stop and listen
But when any heart set free
Washed and bought by Calvary, begins to sing
That's His favorite song of all
Is the song of the redeemed
When lost sinners, now made clean
Lift their voices, loud and strong
When those purchased by His blood
Lift to Him a song of love
There's nothin' more He'd rather hear
Nor so pleasin' to His ear
As His favorite song of all
Holy, holy, holy is the Lamb
Halleluiah, halleluiah
16 comments:
Amen! I wrote something similar about this very same song about four years ago!
http://bobbixby.wordpress.com/2006/01/03/his-favorite-song/
I love this song text, Wendy. And I fully understand what you are saying here. I have much to unlearn in my perfectionism...and isn't it great how having kids helps us along in that process? ;) I have to share that in our church in MO there was a woman who could not carry a tune. Even remotely. I don't dare say she could not sing...because she could, and with gusto. I grew to love it when she did specials...always acapella. Her expression and passion was unequaled by most of the polished performances I've seen over the years.
Thank you for being honest about your reasoning, Wendy, and I'm sure plenty of your readers can identify.
However I'm not sure that the conclusion you came to (that the tone-deaf person who doesn't rehearse shouldn't sing) was a wrong one.
In 1 Corinthians 12, not everybody gets to be a 'hand' or an 'eye' in the body of Christ. And as Paul rightly points out, "if the ear should say, 'Because I am not an eye, I do not belong to the body,' that would not make it any less a part of the body. "
Not everybody sings well, just as not everybody preaches well, and great enthusiasm to serve has to be tempered by kind but firm feedback from the rest of Christ's body.
You can see the point more sharply, possibly, if your teenage girl was instead a keen young man who turns up to preach at church one Sunday without preparation and without aptitude. Out of kindness to the young man and concern for the congregation, the leadership would say no to his enthusiastic offer to give the regular preacher a morning off.
Thanks, all, for your comments. Gordon, I disagree with your use of I Cor. 12 for this reason. EVERYONE in the Body is called to sing praise to God for His grace. I don't think singing is a gift reserved for a select "gifted" few. Some are gifted to teach. Some are not. Some are gifted with hospitality. Some are not. And so forth with the named spiritual gifts. But singing is not named as a spiritual gift in the Bible. I think we have imposed the standards of music quality on ourselves in a way that God has not.
Thanks Wendy. I really appreciated this post. Such a counter-intuitive vision of God's glory reminds me that his ways are not our ways! I hadn't heard that song before but what a great encouragement it is to sing our hearts out to God just because we are his!
Wendy, every teenager in that choir showed up for practice and obviously worked hard. It would have been unfair to them to let a lazy girl and her mother perform at the last minute, even if they both had excellent voices. They are the ones who would have been doing it to be seen and heard.
You could have always called her before each future practice and let her know you really wanted her to be "one of the group."
I think you did the right thing but for the wrong reason.
Just saying.....
Anonymous, you are wrong. You assume it was laziness--which is EXACTLY what that mentality teaches us to assume. And even if it WAS laziness, you think she'd learn her lesson if I punished her by not letting her sing. But instead of her learning some lesson about the value of choir practice, she and her mother were hurt and left the church, because they were WEAK in faith. My obligation was to extend her grace, not try to teach her an obscure lesson on choir protocol. Your comment offends me.
I apologize for offending you. That was not my intention. Maybe laziness was a poor choice of words. I didn't see not letting her sing as punishment, more just not the right thing to do at that particular time. Sorry.
Thanks for clarifying, Anon! She was a regular participant in teen choir and had practiced with us many times before, which I didn't mention originally.
I like your post Wendy.
I've been studying Romans 14-15 carefully (in light of all of Romans), being challenged to not please ourselves...welcoming each other as Christ has welcomed us...freedom governed by self forgetful love...the kingdom not being about eating and drinking (and choirs??!!) but righteousness, peace and joy in the Holy Spirit... not destroying the work of God for the sake of food (or slickness!)...
Your story resonates. Thanks Wendy.
Thanks for that. I had a similar experience when working with young 6 grade girls in a singing group and one girl in particular and her Mother were totally against including another lass who was not from such a tight church family.......and of course you know the end of the story....we lost her. I do not know...even reflecting back how I could have handled it any differently...I pulled back from my involvement with them as I did not want to be a party to that type of exclusive behaviour.
But I grabbed your song and had a Phillips Graig and Dean celebration on my blog today.
Wendy, I love that song....there is a beautiful version of it by Brooklyn Tabernacle Choir....
Love your blog!
One of the best missionary presentations I ever heard was from a man who worked maintenance at a Christian camp. He obviously wasn't comfortable with public speaking, and wasn't the smoothest speaker I'd ever heard, but the fact that he was trying his hardest at something that obviously made him feel uncomfortable made me realize what a heart for ministry he had. I was so blessed by him.
Thank you for your post Wendy. Reminded me of a story that Corrie Ten Boom reportedly shared often. It's not a true story - but was shared by her to get a similar point across.
The story begins with an elderly, tone-deaf friar that always sang the solo during his community's yearly Christmas Eve service. He had done this for years, singing in a wobbley voice, but with much earnestness and sincerity in his worship. One year a much younger friar, one who was professionally trained at singing, came to join the community. Right away the head of the monastery appointed the younger friar to sing during the coming Christmas Eve service and thus replace the older friar. The younger friar did so and did an excellent job. Later that very evening the head friar was visited by an angel who asked, "What happened to this year's Christmas Eve solo?" The head friar responded, "Did you not hear our new young friar sing the solo?" The angel replied "Indeed we did hear his solo in heaven, but we so missed the beautiful singing of the elder friar's solos from previous years."
The point of the story is that it doesn't matter that in earthly terms the quality of the singing may be inferior, in heaven and indeed the Lord, Himself, hears the beauty that comes from the intentions of the heart.
LDT
Wendy - I coudn't agree with you more. Thanks for posting this story.
Gary, it is SO good to see your name! Thanks for reading and commenting. Hope you and yours are well.
Post a Comment