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Worshipping Ears

I love music. I am amazed by the creativity of the God who would design it. Just think, objects vibrate in such a way that they send waves through the atmosphere at all different speeds and lengths. The human ear collects, senses, processes, and organizes all of these waves, and that information has a profound effect on the way we think and feel and even behave. Who comes up with this stuff? Well God does, I suppose, and that is just more profound than we ever take the time to realize.

 Since I moved to Boone in August of 2020, music has become a huge part of my life. Each week, I consider the subject of the weekly sermon (a text of Scripture or a topic), and choose songs for our congregation to sing. This has been a new way of teaching that, if I'm honest, makes me quite uncomfortable. It is fluid, subjective, and subtle in ways that lecturing or preaching just aren't. And yet, it is vital. It is irreplaceable. It is God ordained. It lays truth more directly on the heart than preaching ever will for due to one thing: the music. Truths sung are not just encountered by the congregation; they are are also participated in and embodied. Resurrected hearts sing of the resurrection. Those who have received grace exalt the Great Grace Giver. If I am doing my ministry well, we become what we sing and sing what God has made us to be. Because of this "special power" that singing has, music is unique amongst the arts, and thus has taken a central place in our worship services.

But music is good for more than just singing. As a worship leader, I am convinced that we can and should worship by listening as well. I was in a worship service in college that illustrated this perfectly. The band played a slow, soulful, gospel-type song that most of us didn't know. The girl who sang it had the perfect voice for the music: like it was written for her. The result was beauty that caused the lyrics of the song to come alive. When I left that service, I was talking about the song with a friend of mine, and his comment on it was striking to me. "It was wrong to sing along," he said. "You just take that kind of thing in." As I thought about it, he was exactly right. Sometimes you just need to listen. More than that, there is an element of worship that is missed if we fail to listen as we sing. 

Here's what I'm getting at: God has always had his people (Israel and the Church) worship in congregations through music. One reason for this (and there are many more) is that we worship by listening: we have worshipping ears. We should love hearing the voices of those singing around us. We should allow the music to move and soften our hearts through our ears, because it will posture us to interact with the Word in a new way. I don't lead music worship so that people get a chance to sing. The radio can do that. I lead music worship to give people something that they don't get the rest of the week: an opportunity to worship God through his chosen medium (music) with his chosen people. You don't get that on the radio. You get that at a worship we. It is a unique experience of our Christian community that displays the beautiful diversity of the Body. Everybody brings a different musical element to the table and then enjoys the gifts that others provide. 

So the next time you are in a worship service, put on your worshipping ears. As you provide your musical gift the people around you, whatever that may be, take care to receive the gift they are giving you as well. I hope your heart will be blessed. 

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