Singing together in worship is not about talent. It’s not about perfect or even beautiful voices. It’s about coming together to worship God, to be transformed by the music into a place with space for everyone, young and old, people of different ethnic and racial backgrounds, political viewpoints and histories.
Music simultaneously locates us in time and takes us beyond time – binding us to all who ever sang these hymns and all who ever will – our grandparents, neighbors, ancestors in faith and those who will come after us, many years from now. Singing beloved liturgies and hymns firmly situates us as God’s beloved people of faith, now and always. With the psalmist, we sing out, “Lord, you have been our dwelling place in all generations” (Psalm 90:1).
Whether we take part in time-tested melodies or try out new music, we join with all of God’s creation in singing and making music to God who created and loves us all. We learn the breadth of God’s story and our place in it, in a new way.
This message is excerpted from “Finding the rhythm of love” by Jordan Miller-Stubbendick in the May 2018 Gather magazine. Today we commemorate Jiri Tranovsky, hymnwriter, 1637.
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