Out of Tune.

To the guys singing painfully out of tune in the row behind me in church yesterday:

Originally, I heard your voices through my musician's head and ears, not my heart. I stood in my pew next to a support column in the sanctuary, singing my best and trying not to cringe at notes that were neither melody nor harmony. As the offering plate went around, and the band retuned for the next song, I wondered if Autotune could save you.

Probably not, I sighed, standing up and settling into the comfort that is the key of F Major, launching into the first verse of Man of Sorrow. The tune is familiar from years of growing up in traditional Southern Baptist services, but I wasn't expecting the Hillsong rewrite.

Right before the sermon, however, spontaneous cries of joy and elation rose from the very souls of those present during the last stanza:

"See the stone is rolled away, behold the empty tomb, hallelujah, God be praised, He's risen from the grave!"

There is an ecstasy over the resurrection of the Savior here that I've never seen anywhere else.

Were we singing in tune? Definitely not, but that isn't the point. We're given vocal folds and voices and songs and music to rejoice in the concept of salvation and a God who willingly sacrificed Himself for a world full of lowly, shameful sinners who don't deserve a second glance.

I have a tendency to get so wrapped up and trapped in the music school mindset of remaining in time/tone/tune/touch with the every second of the music happening around me that I sometimes grow out of tune with the reason why God saw fit to put me here in the first place. And while that's still incredibly important, at the end of the day, it's not always entirely relevant.

God doesn't care if we sang in tune. He doesn't mind if we're singing a Bethel cover, Handel's Messiah, Jesus Loves Me, or the Doxology: all God sees is that we're singing in and for His glory, and that's the most beautiful harmony of all.

My purpose here is to show the love of a merciful and redeeming God through the joy of music to my students and help them find their voices, however out of tune and off-key they may be.

To the guys singing off tune in the pew behind me: I'm sorry.

Keep singing. Sing with every ounce of enthusiasm, joy, passion, and hope that you have. The world needs more of you.