Turning Discordant Notes into Blessed Harmony

Did you know that not everyone can sing? If you possess a good singing voice, this might come as quite a shock. But believe me – some of us can’t sing, even in the shower. It’s like the old joke, “Can Baptists dance?” Answer: “Well, some can. Some can’t.”

 

I do recall singing in the children’s choir when I was a boy, but once my voice started to change, all hope of generating melodious notes from my vocal cords was lost. I’m so glad that Psalm 100:1 says we’re to “Make a joyful noise to the Lord,” because even on my best days, that’s all I can do.

 

Lack of singing aptitude doesn’t excuse us from singing praises to God, even if we couldn’t even qualify for the laugh track on “American Idol.” The Psalms – literally, “The Songs” – instruct us to do so. Psalm 98:1, for example, states very clearly, “Sing to the Lord a new song, for he has done marvelous things.” 

 

Three verses later it adds, “Shout for joy to the Lord, all the earth, burst into jubilant song with music,” and Psalm 98:7 says, “Let the sea resound and everything in it, the world, and all who live in it.” This is helpful since while my singing skills may be about .5 on a scale of 1 to 10, I have been known to shout as well as resound from time to time.

 

I’ve known – or more accurately, heard – people who couldn’t sing any better than I could, only they didn’t know it. Or else they chose to sing anyway. What can we say about such folks? Proverbs 21:2 states, “A person may think their own ways are right, but the Lord weighs the heart.” Thankfully from God’s point of view, it’s not the quality of singing that matters most, but our motives. A heart in tune with the Lord, even though the voice may be out of tune, is far more pleasing to Him than a marelous voice motivated by pride or applause.

 

In today’s contemporary worship, the pipe organ has been replaced by guitars, keyboards and drums. In those settings, choirs and choral arrangements are rarely if ever heard. And often the electronic music is so loud it’s difficult to hear oneself sing, let alone the person standing next to you.

 

Some congregations, however, have maintained traditional forms of music, including organs and choirs. For those worship settings, congregational singing is also an important element. I think back to the days when that was my standard worship experience – a collection of singers and non-singers, harmonious and not so, joining together. And amazingly enough, they were able to produce vocal music that somehow sounded beautiful. Discordant notes blending together to create divine harmony.

 

Please don’t understand me to be dissing modern praise music. There’s much of it to be commended – along with some that’s not so deserving. But the human body is made up of disparate parts, performing very different functions; when working properly, it results in something we call “good health.” Similarly, I think the widespread deemphasis on congregational singing is depriving many of us of the opportunity to participate in making “a joyful noise unto the Lord.”

 

I like the words of Colossians 3:15-16, in which the apostle Paul admonished believers in ancient Colossae about teaching and singing with one another: 

“Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, since as members of one body you were called to peace. And be thankful. Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly as you teach and admonish one another with all wisdom, and as you sing psalms, hymns and spiritual songs with gratitude in your hearts to God.”

 

Who knows, perhaps Paul’s “thorn in the flesh” (mentioned in 2 Corinthians 12:7) was that he couldn’t sing. Probably not, but wouldn’t it be funny if it were? Anyway, he too was exhorting all to sing, and didn’t suggest any exceptions or exclusions. In essence he was saying, “Sing out! Sing loud!” Maybe that was one way of letting the peace of Christ rule in their hearts.

 

On many occasions I’ve had the joy of being in assemblies where believers from many different countries joined to sing familiar hymns and songs in their own languages. To the human ear it may have sounded like a high school orchestra tuning up. God receives our vocal offerings very differently, I believe. We’re told, “For we are to God the aroma of Christ…” (2 Corinthians 2:15). 

As Paul wrote, “And whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him” (Colossians 3:17). My singing to me might sound like the moaning of a dying frog, but to God it’s “a joyful noise.” 

Messages of Music

Music has the capacity
to communicate on many levels.

If I have one regret in life it’s never having made the effort to become proficient with a musical instrument. I played drums in the high school marching and concert bands, and was in a little rock  band for awhile, but never devoted the time to advance beyond basic rudiments. As a consequence, the only drumming I do these days is on my car's steering wheel.

Nonetheless, music has always been important to me. I find it impossible to imagine a world without it. A couple of years ago our city gained a new radio station that calls itself “hippie radio,” and it constantly carries me down memory lane. I was never a true hippie, apart from the longish hair, paisley shirts and bellbottoms of the ‘60s, but loved the music. So every time I hear a tune by Jimi Hendrix, Janis Joplin, The Doors, the Beatles or Cream (most of whom, sadly, are no longer with us) I’m transported to another time.

When I hear “Good Vibrations,” I think of a Beach Boys concert I attended in Houston where I concluded, “Wow, their harmony isn’t as good live.” Blood Sweat & Tears’ “You Made Me So Very Happy” reminds me of dancing with a lovely young lady in college and thinking, “Maybe this is what love is like.”

“Wipeout” reminds me of days I still envisioned myself becoming an accomplished drummer. It, along with “Surf City,” also conjures images of surfboards, baggy swimsuits, dark tans and sun-bleached hair. (I only tried to surf once, and wasn’t good at it, but the idea was fun.)

But it’s not just the “golden oldies” of the ‘60s and early ‘70s. I enjoy music of favorite TV shows. “Hawaii 5-0” has been recreated, keeping its original theme song, and the M*A*S*H theme song always reminds me of Hawkeye, Col. Potter, Corporal Klinger and “Hot Lips” Hoolihan. Movie soundtracks of classic films like “The Sound of Music,” “Gone With the Wind,” “Chariots of Fire,” “West Side Story,” “Rocky” and “Saturday Night Fever” also stir old emotions.

Music has spiritual connotations for me as well. During the holiday season, I can’t hear “Silent Night” without recalling Christmas Eve worship services as a boy, when it was sung bilingually in the Hungarian-American church we attended. Michael W. Smith’s “Friends” reminds me of attending the singer’s concert just days after a good friend had passed away after suffering from a rare disease.

“Great Is Thy Faithfulness” never ceases to reassure me even though I’m often not faithful, God always is. And I’ll never stop marveling at the inner strength of Horatio G. Spafford, who wrote “It Is Well with My Soul” in 1873, just days after losing his four daughters when the French steamer they and their mother were traveling on from America to Europe collided with a British vessel and sank.

Colossians 3:16 affirms the importance of music for growing in faith: “Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly as you teach and admonish one another with all wisdom, and as you sing psalms, hymns and spiritual songs with gratitude in your hearts to God.”

The Psalms, in fact, are a collection of songs from ancient Israel, heartfelt and honest in their lyrics. I’ve always been thankful for Psalm 100:1, which in one translation tells us to “Make a joyful noise….” That’s about the best I can do. God apparently not only decided I shouldn’t be a musician, but also not a singer.

But I am a good listener!