January 2004
Living in a Sacred Community
This November I officially became a member of this Church. Although I have been a member of this community for almost seven years now, there is a change when one takes the step to personally commit themselves to the work of God through a specific church family. This has caused me to reflect upon what it means to live in a community that dedicates itself to a sacred purpose and how it this purpose is reflected in all that we do.
Being a member of a spiritual community requires us to share our gifts with one another. In my case, that means express myself through the music that I help to create in and outside of worship. Music is such an integral part of who I am and therefore cannot be divided from my experience of worship with other people. The Apostle Paul, in his letter to the Corinthians, outlines for us what and order of worship should include:
What should be done then, my friends? When you come together, each one has a hymn, a lesson, a revelation, a tongue, or an interpretation. Let all things be done for building up. – 1 Corinthians NRSV
The gift I can bring to worship is the one of hymnody (and possible interpretation through the means of music), but what of the others parts of worship that wee are required to fill? This is why Christian communities are formed, for no one person can fulfill these requirements. That is why we are driven as humans to live in community with each other. God has told us that we must work together to build up the people of God through our worship together. The next step is to figure out how we do this together. Fortunately, the work that I do with this church provides a great example of people working together to do the work of God.
The surest way to the heart is through song and story… I do not know why this should be, but I believe it to be true… Perhaps it is how we are made; perhaps words of truth reach us best through the heart, and stories and songs are the language of the heart. – Stephen Lawhead
Each music ensemble at this church is made up of people of varying ages and from different walks of life – from middle schoolers, to single women and men, mothers and fathers of young families, grandparents, retirees and many more that I could not even begin to define. Together we bring all of our experiences and our own particular gifts to unite in music for the purpose of “building up” the people of God. We may have our own special reasons for being there, and we certainly have different stories as to how we got there, but the point is that we are personally called to be there together.
More than all of that, we have become small families. We share the intimate details of our lives, all of our joys and pains, our hurts and sorrows as well as our celebrations. Through the days we are in good moods, exude kindness and enjoy sharing time with each other to the days where we struggle, say things we don’t mean and feel like we should retreat into our own little holes, we still appear at our rehearsals to be with one another. What we know is that we are all there together, supporting each other through whatever is going on in our lives (whether we speak those things out loud to each other or not) and knowing that we are all together for a common purpose – to relate to each other and glory in our relationship with God.
As God’s chosen ones, holy and beloved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience. Bear with one another and, if anyone has a complaint against another, forgive each other; just as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive. Above all, clothe yourselves with love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony. And let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which indeed you were called in the one body. And be thankful. Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly; teach and admonish one another in all wisdom; and with gratitude in your hearts sing psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs to God. And whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him. – Colossians 3:12-17 NRSV
God has taught us how to be with one another, and we are able to exemplify that love in the way we interact and create music with one another. It is interesting that the message from Colossians ends with a celebration of the Christian experience in song and a dedication of our lives to God. For that is another way in which we are called to live – as a people of song. Ephesians 5:19-20 tells us that we should, “…sing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs among yourselves, singing and making melody to the Lord in your hearts, giving thanks to God the Father at all times and for everything in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.” Making music is such an integral part of who we are as Christians that it is difficult to realize what our experience of faith would be like without it. Could you imagine a church service without the singing of a hymn or without an organ or other musical instrument playing? There are times when that happens, and it is our conscious recognition of the lack of music that makes those times poignant. We have come to expect music in our lives and we therefore miss it if it is not there. We come to expect it because God has placed music in our hearts as an expression of God’s love for us. We, in turn, must use this gift as we live together and praise God together, using it to unite us in the way that only music can.
My greatest hope is that all of you may realize the gift that God has put inside of you – the gift of music – for it is the music of our hearts that unites us as a Christian community.
With all the love the God bestows on us, let us remember the joy we share as a family in Christ....
Director of Music
