A Dangerous Hobby

We Filipinos come out of our mothers' wombs singing.

At least, it sure seems that way.

For as long as I can remember, singing and music have always been a part of my life. Performing, “I like to see the butterfly, flying high, flying low” as a wide-eyed toddler in front of adults at family parties with my mom nudging me along … joining children’s choir, then youth choir, then gospel choir, THEN church choir… wasn’t there was an ensemble or two somewhere along the way? … spending long hours on the karaoke machine with friends and family belting out our best impersonations of Mariah, Whitney and Celine … trying to hit Aerosmith’s high note in “I Don’t Want to Miss a Thing” with a, “Yeah-yeah, yeah-yeah, yeeeaaahhhhhhh!!!” (Did you do it in your head?)

Our culture is saturated with music.

It’s no wonder then that at church, we can sometimes get caught up in the vocal harmonies or familiar tunes or epic instrumental build-ups during praise time. Music IS pleasurable. Singing IS gratifying. Hearing smooth harmonies and learning a new song IS fun. But be careful; singing worship songs can be a dangerous hobby.

If your main focus during Amazing Grace is trying to figure out how much of the song you’ve got memorized in your head and what the next lyrics coming up are, uh-oh.

If all you got from belting out the Hallelujah, Salvation and Glory chorus throughout three key changes was a challenging vocal workout, watch out.

If you don’t realize the gravity of what you’ve requested God to do while singing Oceans, for the Spirit to lead you where your trust is without borders? You better wake up, and fast.

These songs we sing at church, they are meant to be MORE than just a pleasant and relaxing way to pass the time. They are meant to be a meaningful and transforming experience, portals in which we are brought into His very presence. They usher us into an encounter with a God who can humble, comfort, strengthen, expose, convict and overwhelm us if we allow our songs to be a part of our dialogue with Him.

The lyrics are our response to His love, our soul desires, our gut-wretching pain, our secret hopes, our guilt and gratitude, our very surrender. Every song is an opportunity to draw a line in the sand and declare who and what we believe… to Him, to ourselves, to the prince of darkness and powers of this world. And most importantly, they are meant to be an overflow of our love as we praise and point to Him as our Father and Saviour and King.

Do not take singing these songs lightly. God doesn’t.

He says, “This people draw near with their mouth and honor me with their lips, while their hearts are far from me” (Isaiah 29:13) and goes on about how they are a sad, sorry bunch of hypocrites.

Singing worship songs without being mindful and honest angers God. “I hate and despise your religious feasts; I cannot stand your assemblies….Away with the noise of your songs! I will not listen to the music of your harps.” (Amos 5:21-27) It is a terrifying place to be.

So I encourage you all in your singing: be mentally PRESENT, be emotionally OPEN, be TRUTHFUL in every word that crosses your lips, and in so doing, offer up meaningful and acceptable worship to God.