As the only practicing pianist at my church, I have experienced a wide variety of successes and shortcomings. With limited formal instruction and years of experience, my church family is grateful for some musical accompaniment and they tolerate and overlook my mistakes. Playing the piano has become a major form of worship for me. Occasionally, I especially sense God’s smile as I play a song for Him. At other times, I find my mind wandering as I play.
If I am comfortable with the notes, I like to sing along. If I don’t know the song, I focus on looking at the words. Being distracted by the words, sometimes I lose my place in the music. Then as I fumble through the notes, I frantically search for my place and lose the meaning of the song. At other times when I am not familiar with the words, I find myself playing the notes mechanically and without feeling.
Recently, I was singing “I Love to Tell the Story” with great enthusiasm until I listened to the words and heard the words of God in my heart, “Do you really?” Ouch!! If I really loved to tell the story, I would be actively looking daily for opportunities to announce that beloved, life-changing story to those I meet. The fact is that I was into the tune, singing the words, without really comprehending what I was singing. How often do we sing songs of consecration when we are holding back some area of our lives or songs of surrender when we are clinging to what the Holy Spirit tells us to lay aside? We sing songs of praise when we don’t recognize His blessings in our lives, and we sing songs of blessings without heartfelt gratitude.
The major purpose of the music in the church service is to center our hearts and minds on God and to prepare ourselves for a message that is specially given to us from God Himself. If we are distracted or mechanical during the music time, we have missed part of what God wants us to hear. As a musician, my greatest desire is to enhance the message through music. Are you listening to what God has for you in the church music, or are you distracted or inattentive to the words?
Ponder that.
