there's a song in my heart and i got to let it out
i hate singing. i don't know why.
i was hugh the dragon slayer in our 5th grade musical. it was the lead role and i had three solos. i was the king of the castle for sure back then. i even sang a love song to a girl. that was awkward. seriously, i didn't even love her. back then, i loved singing and thought i was going to form the next new kids on the block. i'm not sure where that changed. i think as i grew up, i got too concerned with appearing cool, and cause i wasn't a christian, it wouldn't be very cool to sing in church or chapel. after all, how would i have gotten all the ladies?
fast forward to now. i'm a christian, but i still hate singing. i used to say it was the old hymns that i couldn't stand. but then chris tomlin started to make me gag as well, and i realized that i just don't like singing. i could scream in a band, and i liked listening to people sing in bands, but for some reason this whole notion of singing as worship to God didn't make sense to me. well, it made sense, but i couldn't do it. i think it's easy for those who love singing to implement that into worshipping God. i have lots of trouble doing that, though, since i don't like singing in the first place. i have two questions, with some sub-questions attached...
1. for those of you that love worshipping God through song, how do you make it more than just music? how do you really mean the words you are singing to God without just being concerned with staying on tune?
2. for those in the same boat as me, how do you worship God? do you just sing anyway, or in what ways have you learned to worship God?
hopefully some of you want to share. i think singing is a beautiful act of worship, but i also think that worship of God has to be so much bigger. i'd love any thoughts you guys might have to help a chump like me grow closer to God. dankushein...
i was hugh the dragon slayer in our 5th grade musical. it was the lead role and i had three solos. i was the king of the castle for sure back then. i even sang a love song to a girl. that was awkward. seriously, i didn't even love her. back then, i loved singing and thought i was going to form the next new kids on the block. i'm not sure where that changed. i think as i grew up, i got too concerned with appearing cool, and cause i wasn't a christian, it wouldn't be very cool to sing in church or chapel. after all, how would i have gotten all the ladies?
fast forward to now. i'm a christian, but i still hate singing. i used to say it was the old hymns that i couldn't stand. but then chris tomlin started to make me gag as well, and i realized that i just don't like singing. i could scream in a band, and i liked listening to people sing in bands, but for some reason this whole notion of singing as worship to God didn't make sense to me. well, it made sense, but i couldn't do it. i think it's easy for those who love singing to implement that into worshipping God. i have lots of trouble doing that, though, since i don't like singing in the first place. i have two questions, with some sub-questions attached...
1. for those of you that love worshipping God through song, how do you make it more than just music? how do you really mean the words you are singing to God without just being concerned with staying on tune?
2. for those in the same boat as me, how do you worship God? do you just sing anyway, or in what ways have you learned to worship God?
hopefully some of you want to share. i think singing is a beautiful act of worship, but i also think that worship of God has to be so much bigger. i'd love any thoughts you guys might have to help a chump like me grow closer to God. dankushein...
posted by xblairx @ 9:29 AM
11 Comments:
At 10:50 AM ,
Anonymous said...
i am paddling the boat you are in blair! i hate singing...in fact, the whole time i was at bible school i tried to figure out why when we got together to worship God we always had to stinkin sing! and then of course everyone could sing amazing, so i felt like i sucked, but i still tried to find the whole 'worship' thing in it...which worked once i shut my mouth! and since then i have tried to find my own ways to worship, and it's kinda fun coming up with new ones! without even trying my latest ones have included smelling a babies head and studying snow! sounds weird? maybe. but my approach to worship has definately changed for the better once i shut my mouth.
At 11:14 AM ,
John, Angie and the kiddos said...
I think the Hallelujah chorus is a breeze to sing.
John
At 12:48 PM ,
2-minute mark said...
blair, i think that the music we hear and the music God hears is so different. Many people get goosebumps when they hear a beautiful song sung by a person or persons with a beautiful voice. I wonder if God gets goosebumps when i go for a walk and hum out of tune. My point is that God hears your worshipful heart, and maybe not so much your tunage.
At 5:50 PM ,
dave said...
this really concerns me, blair.
no man.
my problem is that i actually like singing, and usually don't think to worship when i'm doing it, because i just like hitting some notes.
im so holy?
usually when i remember about worshiping, i stop singing and just think, because i know that if i start singing it'll just be for fun. i don't know. some would argue that using whatever gifts God has given you is worship, but just like there's definitely a couple of different attitudes i can have when playing soccer, there's different attitudes i can go at with singing... and you know how bad i am with soccer... and singing is worse.
basically, like steven curtis chapman, i'm saying this: "words cannot express the love we feel, so listen to our heeeeeeeearts". wait, nope. lie. maybe, "words cannot express the love we feel, so listen to my sweet pipes" (the vocal ones, not the biceps)
ps. chelsea smells babies?
At 1:46 PM ,
Chris & Rachel said...
blair - i really hate that song too, and i hate to sing in most church settings also... my only thoughts on this are that God listens to the sound of your heart regardless of the sound of your voice.... so to me, i can sing out to God in my own way without having to open my vocal chords. i guess at least now i know why you never sang in chapel at western... maybe it's because we weren't singing mxpx.... thoughts? :)
At 3:34 PM ,
chelsey said...
i used to be too afraid to sing. now i don't really care because i know that God doesn't care about what my voice sounds like. but i do have a really hard time staying focused while i'm singing. i can be singing these words "to God" but be thinking about blogging or a shirt i want to buy or other random selfish thing. i find that really frustrating. sometimes i find that it helps to close my eyes, and sometimes i just listen to the words, especially if i don't really know the song. it is hard to always really mean the words, but there are times when i can't stop myself from singing. times that i just really really mean it.
At 8:44 AM ,
Anonymous said...
Thanks for the concern... and props to the AVB nod. I just really wanted to spend some time encouraging you to find the answers your looking for in the letters that Paul wrote to the acappella churches of Christ. I think there is just a lot of there. by the way, come visit your in-laws alright.
At 8:48 AM ,
Anonymous said...
Blair, there is tons to say on this. First - I think there is a huge problem in the way we "box in" worship to Sunday morning singing - a symptom of how we box up our Jesus following life and throw most of it in Sunday morning (which is mostly singing so if you don't sing what sort of xian are you anyway?)
I have always thought that likely a lot of the issue with people like you who don't sing is pride. Take that eh? Yes - that is a total generalization, but wait for it, here's another one since I'm on a roll- at the same time I have no doubt that the issue with people "like me" who like to sing and are up front singing for everyone to hear is also pride. Of course there are tons of other issues as well to complicate the whole singing worship thing - for me doubt and distraction would be near the top of the list. Perhaps style/preference would be big for you - it is big for me at times when I am part of the "crowd" rather than leading and being able to choose the stuff I like. Like Dave, I have also always enjoyed creating and listening to music, and many many times while supposedly "worshipping" it has been only about the music.
I also have to say, as I've moved away from "leading worship" (I really don't like that term), I only do it about once every 4-5 months now, I find myself looking at this question from a very different angle.
I guess like lots of my life - my level of devotion in "singing worship" seems to come and go... perhaps that's just part of the journey and a reminder that it is exactly that - a journey.
Like I said, I think this is a really big discussion so I may post some of my own thoughts on my blog... you just love to stir it up eh? As I hope you can tell - I have many of the same questions as you do.
At 10:00 AM ,
xblairx said...
ha, come on tim. i'm not trying to stir it up! i know i'm in the habit of doing that, but seriously, i just want to ask questions of people who are wiser than me and have been there before.
thanks everyone for doing this. i think tim is right. alot of my problems with singing are pride. i'm kind of stubborn, so it is hard for me to even give it a chance. besides, i'm way too cool to sing...
i hear a lot of people echoing that it's not how you sing or the sound with which you sing, but where your heart is, and God recognizes that as worship. i agree.
what about those of you who dislike singing altogether. do you have any different ways in which you worship? chelsaw mentioned a couple, and i'm interested to hear more if anyone's got any.
At 8:11 AM ,
Anonymous said...
hey dude.
for me, since i sing like a tree frog with hemeroids, i find it hard to worship with that stuff.
it may seem lame, but i take anything that i enjoy doing, and before i do it, i try and say 'hey God, this is for you.' i try and devote it to him.
for example, i try and devote playing soccer to God, and just hope i don't swear at myself too many times. i worship by listening to music, going to concerts, stage diving. i worship by writing stupid blogs, and looking at the stars. i'm one of those guys that thinks everything is worship, if you just think of it in the right way, devote it to the right God, and give it your best....
at least, this is what i think. someone could probably find a verse in the bible that proves wrong everything i just said, but that verse is probably in the book of Zephakariah or something.
i hope this makes any sense.
At 7:17 PM ,
Anonymous said...
Blair,
What are you gonna do when we get to heaven? Aren’t we supposed to be singing for the first 10 000 years or something?
Seriously, I bet heaven will be full of surprises, but we will also be sayin’ things like, “Oh, ya, that makes sense. Almost like things that are true and natural here will be more true and totally natural there.” So, singing for a thousand years or so just doesn’t make much sense. To me anyway.
I hate using a single scripture to create a doctrine, but it says something about serving God for all time. I’m not sure what he needs, but it probably is a continuation of what He is all about now, and will specifically reflect or fulfill what Jesus was all about here; which was ultimate worship eh.
Worship won’t have a start time or end time, it will just be. ‘For in him we will live and move and have our being.’ That kind of worship. Like in your post above. Not sure everyone will be walking around praying, maybe some will play with the kid, maybe others will have a snowball fight, others may pick up the garbage. Thanks for the shove tonight.
Brian
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