Singing

Sunday Preacher Man answered the question we have all been dying to know: "What's the deal with no music?" Our congregation sings a capella during worship, and it often throws people off when they visit. Those who continue to visit, and eventually become a part of us, often ask why we don't have music.
Well, first of all, we do. Singing is a form of music. We sing a capella, which means "in the manner of the church". The church sang without instruments for many hundreds of years before introducing instrumental worship. It made a lot of people angry. It caused divisions. It "rang people's bells" so to speak. But eventually the mainstream Christian churches adopted the use of instrumental music in worship.
Preacher Man talked about our desire to live as closely to the Scriptures as we can, and that singing is a command. Not a smack your face and go to Hell if you don't sing type of command, but instruction in how to encourage each other and how to worship God. So we sing a capella.
Two events came to mind during the sermon. One was from fifteen, nearly sixteen!, years ago. I was past my due date with #1 and feeling slightly nervous. Hubby was in the back room studying for class, so I sat in the livingroom by myself and sang. I sang to God about His greatness, about my love for Him and His love for me, and I sang to myself.
Hubby came out after a while to ask me to please be quiet so he could study. My eyes welled with tears as I tried to remain calm. Then it occured to Hubby why I was singing in the first place, "Are you scared?" "Yes, terribly," I answered. Like Paul and Silas singing in prison, I was reaching out to the One I knew who could sweep away my fears.
The second event ocurred this past February. #2 had invited a friend to Gatlinburg to attend Winterfest with the youth group. Many of us were disappointed in the singing because there didn't seem to be enough of it and it was always the same songs. Usually we sing for an hour and the variety is lovely as well. On the way home, as we discussed the weekend's events, the invited friend commented that he enjoyed the singing the most. His church doesn't sing very much, a few songs each Sunday. How that changed my perspective on the weekend's music! What had not been encouraging to me had been to him.
Worship is often about me. I need encouraged, uplifted, grounded. But it is also often not about me, but about the one sitting next to me, the one I need to encourage, uplift, and help ground. All of that with the ascending and descending of voices. Amazing.