Purpose

This blog focuses on the quest to know and please God in a constantly increasing way. The upward journey never ends. My prayer is that this blog will reflect a heart that seeks God and that it will encourage others who share the same heart desire.

Saturday, December 19, 2015

Music Made Personal

I was talking one day with my church music director about an idea for incorporating hymns into my daily life. Thinking of the positive impact I expected from this, I jokingly said, "Because you know music doesn't affect me at all!" He smiled and replied, "I know. You're one of the people I can't look at," (meaning as he directs music in church). Yes, I'm one of the most likely people in our church to cry during songs.

I took my song leader's reply as an encouragement. It meant that not only do songs affect me, but that other people notice that effect. There is something special about music; it should impact the heart and cause a noticeable response. That does not have to be tears; it might be a smile, a joyful face, a thoughtful gaze, a deepening faith, a pointed encouragement, or some other tangible reaction. Without any response or appreciated value in singing, a church's song service is basically a waste of time.

I was not always so sensitive. As a child, I enjoyed hymns with catchy melodies. When requesting favorites in church, I chose the longest hymns because I wanted my choice to last a long time. As I got into college, there were a few special hymns that were meaningful to me because of their words and their challenge to my heart. I began to enjoy singing more, recognizing the joyful aspect of it.

I can't say specifically what caused me to become more aware in song services and more conscious of the message of the hymns. I don't recall any particular catalyst. I suppose it was just growing maturity. As my heart grew closer to God, it was more ready to sing to Him and about Him. I'm still not perfectly consistent at this, but I began to purposefully think about the words as I sang. I worked to eliminate the mindless parroting of words and to focus on what the songs were saying. I began to see the song service as an important part of church, valuing the songs for their message.

Singing is an important part of corporate worship. It allows a congregation to unify in its affirmation of truth. It challenges members to adjust their thoughts as they prepare for the message. It gives believers the words to say to express the longings of their heart and to proclaim their aspirations and commitments. Very often Sunday's songs continue in the heart throughout the week, reinforcing truth and convictions.

Good hymns have power to positively impact a believer's heart, both in and out of church. Because of the melody, rhyme, meter, and repetition, hymns are easier to remember than other expressions of biblical truth. This "remember-ability" makes them wonderful tools in the life of the believer - reminding him of truth about God, calling his heart to worship and submission, providing encouragement, and allowing him to talk to God.

Over the years I've had a few ideas for incorporating hymns into my daily life and therefore profiting from them on a more consistent basis. The most obvious and simple way is to listen to recorded music. There is a lot of good music available that can fill most of the day if someone chooses to do - listening at home, in the car, maybe even at work. Although the mind can easily wander due to the activities of life and the music can become background noise, even some reminders are better than none.

Something that requires a little more effort is deliberate memorization of hymns. This is a wonderful tool, enabling a believer to sing at any time, not just when he has a hymnbook in front of him. Christians who have been in church for any length of time often have many hymns memorized just from repeated singing at church. This memorization is often incomplete, however. It may be limited to the first stanza or maybe just the chorus. Song leaders often joke about the neglected third stanza, and Christians are probably not as familiar with the middle stanzas of hymns, even though they also contain great truth. The good news is that memorization isn't too difficult, due to the factors of music that are listed above, as well as the fact that partial memorization already exists.

One personal frustration with recorded music is that often a particular CD includes many songs that I know, maybe even several favorites, but also songs that I'm not as familiar with. It can be difficult to find recordings with a completely satisfying mix of songs. To address this issue, I have made several CDs of my own. I chose the songs and the stanzas I wanted, and then I sang and recorded them, using my computer to burn them onto CDs. I'm not a great singer, and I'm not super tech-savvy, but I was able to figure out how to do it. Now I have CDs of just the songs I want to hear, and since no one else will hear them, it doesn't matter that the quality isn't that great. They are just right for me to sing along with and tailor-made to remind me of pertinent truths. 

Finally, I have taught myself to play the piano - not to master it, but just enough to plunk out a simple melody. It really didn't take that long, and it has allowed me to enjoy extended seasons of playing hymn after hymn, allowing them to minister to my heart. A simple keyboard is not very expensive, and as long as the expectation is that of rudimentary piano skills, this is a great way to direct the heart through music.

Two great aspects of each of these methods, whether memorization, creating CDs, or playing the piano, is that one does not need to be a great musician to carry them out, and he can choose the songs most appropriate to him. He can concentrate on specific areas in which he needs to be challenged, he can collect songs that are specially designed to bring encouragement, or he can choose songs that will purposefully help him to concentrate on truth about God. The more a believer pursues these types of activities, the more he will find hymns to be meaningful in his life.  What a blessing it is to have songs to sing in the darkest of nights, when waking up in the morning, and while going through the routine of life! Some days are far from perfect, but I am encouraged by how often appropriate hymns come to me, keeping my mind fixed on God and my heart tender toward Him.

"Let the word of Christ richly dwell within you, with all wisdom teaching and admonishing one another with psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with thankfulness in your hearts to God." Colossians 3:16 (NASB)

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