Take thou away from Me the noise of thy songs; And let Me not hear the melody of thy psalteries. JPS Tanakh 1917
I was cutting grass and having fun at the same time. While working, I like to listen to music through my IPod via ear buds. It’s a habit my Audiologist discourages, but one I just can’t break. Music makes work bearable. ESPECIALLY in the Florida heat and humidity! The song was about to crescendo into a great Jesus chorus and I was about to join in! But my grown daughter was standing nearby so… I thought it best to just hum.
It’s Wednesday and that means FLAP (Bible Study and discussion) with band rehearsal preceding. We named it ‘The Band’ because, outside of church, many people ask us if we have one! Now we snicker and say ‘yes.’ In reality, we are just a small, but kinda-dedicated, group of folks who sing contemporary songs to modern accompaniment tracks. We are as much a ‘band’ as Robin Hood’s crew was an ‘army!’ But we have an edge!
While it is true that we will NEVER receive a call from the New York Metropolitan Opera to perform on stage, it is ALSO true that we will NEVER have the performance jitters that would accompany such a call. We know our place and position very well. As the default choir director, whose only experience in leading a band was being a drum major in high school, I make it clear that we all sing to an audience of ONE! And HE is NEVER disappointed!
The Old Testament can sound like a parochial school nun. The verse today is a case in point. One of the difficulties to being a pastor is that when doing the duty, folks take the lessons personal. It is not uncommon to hear, “I don’t like how you say things!” It makes me laugh because… well… often ‘I’ don’t like what I say either! It helps to realize that we are not supposed to read the Bible for pleasure. But for guidance.
Left to ourselves… we stink. NO one would pay to come hear us sing. And no matter how hard we may try, we will NEVER get any better at performing. Which is a good thing because while our Master expects us to work at it, His REAL criteria for success is judged by the song in our HEART!
There is an old hymn entitled ‘He Keeps Me Singing’ that starts of with, “There’s within my hear a melody, Jesus whispers sweet and low.” When sung before God, it meets the only criteria which He cares anything about… His Son! His only concern is that the song is really in there… right in the singers heart! To make it simple, He wants us to acknowledge, by performance, that His Son is the center of our song! It is impossible to ‘fake it!’ Jesus Christ either is… or is not… my heart song!
Tonight, after we practice our song, we will discuss Bible verses that apply to our hearts. I am actually looking forward to it. Because while I am not a genius, I DO know that this verse in Amos cannot possibly apply to me! But do YOU know why?
