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Singin' Like We Mean It! |
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Location: Blogs Brad's BlogMid-Week Missive |
 | | Posted by: Brad Miller | 8/21/2008 11:54 AM | Greetings on this wonderful day!
If I didn’t know any better, I would have thought we were going to a worship service. It was after all, Sunday night, and a time when lots of people go to church. There were plenty of people making their way from the parking lot to their seats. When we got inside, I noticed that the back of the pavilion was almost full, but people in the front were coming in a bit more slowly. There seemed to be lots of breaking of the bread and sharing of the cup going on, so it was almost like communion. And to top it all off, besides Carol and me, there were three members of BCC present that we knew about: An elder, a deacon and the chair of the board! They had much better seats than we did, but they spotted us and came up to say hello. Hugs and handshakes went all around and it was just like the “Community Greeting” time before our worship. Yep, if I didn’t know better, I would have thought we were about to worship.
But, of course, it was not a worship service. It was a concert from two of the biggest bands of my college days, Styx and Boston. In a way, Carol grew up with Boston, as they were from Boston, Massachusetts (duh!) and they used to play clubs and concerts all around her home state, the neighboring state of Rhode Island. I had been a fan of both bands, but had never had the chance to see them. And now, some 30 years after they hit it big, we were ready for the show. And it did not disappoint.
I just couldn’t shake the similarities between worship and this concert. You know, it never gets old when I step out to preach and people are on their feet whistlin’ and hootin’, and calling for some well remembered greatest hit of a sermon. Oh, wait...that’s never happened…anyway, what I DID notice during the show was that the music was more than just pleasing to the ear: the music brought us all back to a time and place long gone and helped us remember what it felt like when we first heard these songs. When Styx broke into “Come Sail Away” it really was as if people were worshipping: on their feet, hands in the air, singing every word along with the band. Besides simply being a lot of fun, it did feel a lot like praise in worship. And that is a good feeling.
This summer I have felt some of that same feeling during our worship services, albeit on a much smaller scale. At the beginning of the summer we asked for people’s requests for their favorite hymns so we could work them into worship over the summer. We have even added a song each week at the beginning of the service to make sure we get as many of the 65+ requests that we got. A good number of these hymns have been old hymns, well loved, well remembered and well sung. The sanctuary at BCC is not the easiest place in which to sing. The expansion of the sanctuary, the addition of pew padding and more carpeting have altered the sound so that there are places where even if lots of people are singing, it is difficult to hear them. This in turn, keeps some people from singing as loudly as they might, because they are a little self conscious of others hearing them all around. But this summer, with these beloved hymns, I can see people singing out, sometimes with eyes closed, always with smiles on their faces. There’s just something about certain hymns that hit us right where we live, that take us back to an important time in our life, maybe a time when things were rough but God saw us through, maybe a time when we were with people that are not longer with us.
We are not finished singing these favorites, by a stretch. We will keep working to hear them all, and then maybe we will learn some new hymns that can touch us in the same way. And if you feel the need to stand and clap and sing at the top of your lungs when we sing one of your favorites, go right ahead…it is worship, after all.
For your prayer list:
Please keep Ruth Luckett, our administrative assistant, in your prayers as she undergoes surgery to remove her gall bladder. She is in Piedmont hospital and thanks everyone for their kind wishes and prayers.
Announcements:
For those who are going to be helping with Children’s Church, there is a workshop immediately following worship this Sunday, August 24. Contact Debbie Kinney at debbie@brookhavenchristian.org for further information.
I hope to see you in worship this Sunday, August 24th as we once again celebrate the Lord’s Day together. I will be continuing the sermon series “We Call Ourselves Disciples: An Exploration of our Faith Heritage” with a sermon entitled “The Cost of Baptism”. The scripture is John 1:19-29. Have a great rest of the week.
Be peaceful,
Brad
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