Reflect

I grew up in a small Christian school...kindergarten through 12th grade.  We focused a lot on music.  Singing was always a part of every chapel service.  We learned large passages of the Bible by singing them.  I'm a little rusty, but I can still sing you entire chapters even today.  Want to hear Luke's account of Jesus' birth?  I've got a song for that.  The love passage in 1 Corinthians?  Check!  How about the ten commandments?  I have a song for that too.  :-) 

We also held a Spring Program every year.  The entire school participated as one massive choir.  We worked on songs for a good portion of the school year, and a few weeks beforehand, we'd go into "scrunch schedule".  I loved it.  All our classes would be shortened to allow for more rehearsal time during the day.  I'd rather sing any day than sit through class!  We sang Handel, Bach, a little bit of Mendelssohn, all mixed in with some more current composers and a few more modern contemporary Christian songs from Steve Green and the like. 

I actually got to sing tenor for a couple of years.  Let's just say that tenor is not really the "cool" part that boys want to sing.  Singing bass somehow proves that you are manly.  So if you had to sing tenor because your voice wasn't quite manly enough yet, most of the time you weren't too thrilled about singing, and you didn't sing very loudly either.  Hence, the tenor section had the tendency to be a little weak.  And that's where I came into play.  If you know me, you know I don't have a problem with singing LOUDLY.  :-)  The tenor section...yup, that was pretty much all me!  haha

I'm really thankful for all of the time we spent singing.  I'm even more thankful that while we spent a ton of time working on parts and perfecting songs, we were also learning priceless foundational truths of God through the songs that we were singing.  And these songs still stick with me today.  They're buried deep within my heart.    

I'm also thankful that we were encouraged to let our faces reflect the words we were singing.  They weren't just random words that didn't mean anything.  We weren't just singing...we were worshiping God through song.  We were encouraged to really think about what we were singing.  We were encouraged to let the words affect our hearts, and in turn, our lives would reflect a heart for God.  As water reflects a face, so a man’s heart reflects the man. 

It's been an invaluable lesson to me especially now when I have the opportunity to lead others in worshiping God through song.  It's something I always want to keep in mind.  It's not enough to just get up there and sing.  It's not enough to hit the right notes and sing all the right words.  And it's not just a lesson for worship leaders.  It's a lesson for every participant in the service.  Every person in every seat.  Every musician.  Every volunteer.  Everyone who has come through those doors.  Don't just go through the motions.  Think about what you're doing and saying.  Think about the words that are coming out of your mouth.  Let the words affect your heart.  And let your face reflect what God is speaking to your heart.

Funny...I distinctly remember one year when I think our pastor/principal/music conductor thought we finally actually all had learned to smile while we were singing.  Our Spring Program was held in a sizeable church auditorium that had a pretty steep incline from the stage up to the back of the sanctuary.  Some little kid was sitting in the back with his mom playing quietly with a football during our morning program.  Of course, all little kids are prone to drop their toys from time to time.  And, yes, this little boy inevitably dropped his football.  We all saw it happen.  Our music conductor did not.  It started at the top of the incline at the back of the auditorium.  And it slowly made its wobbly descent...rolling end over end...all the way down the aisle towards us.  We all started smiling.  You know...one of those ear to ear grins you can't help but contain.  Our music conductor was impressed by our smiling faces, but not our timing.  Unfortunately, wouldn't you know it, it was during the ONE song where we shouldn't have technically smiled.  We were singing about the somber subject of Jesus bearing our griefs, carrying our sorrows, and being wounded for our transgressions and bruised for our iniquity.  Shoot...