July 31

Beloved of Good Shepherd Church

Grace to you and peace in Jesus Christ our Lord!

A good choir hits all the right notes. They sing the pitches the song requires precisely in time with the intentions of the composer and the direction of the conductor. A good choir lends beautiful sound to the liturgy and brings melody and harmony together in a seamless offering that leaves the listener smiling in admiration. The angel choir of Good Shepherd does all these things and more and did them magnificently on our pilgrimage to England last week. 

However, the job of the choir is not to be accurate, skilled, or beautiful. The task that God calls the choir to is a vocation of prayer. A good choir transforms the song into a prayer that transports the listener into the presence of God at which point the song effaces and the listener is left just a little closer to the Divine than she was before the song began. In this way the choir’s offering of song is like a vehicle in which the worshipper rides, tucked neatly into her seat nestled between the notes, soaring on the wings of the music into the embrace of God to whom the entire symphony belongs.

Therefore, a good choir sings from the heart, with heart, to the hearts of all the gathered congregants. In the end it is not the skill that God hears and values, but the love with which the song is offered. On our pilgrimage the choir of our church taxied the worshippers into the presence of God over and over again on the wings of their soaring, melodious prayers, sung in praise of God whose endless love is a concert of joy in which we all have a part to play. 

Imagine you are a member of God’s own choir. You don’t have to be able to read music or carry a tune, your very life is your part in the song. You don’t have to offer something great or fancy to the music, you just have to offer your gift with love. God will then take your offering sincerely and lovingly made and use it to usher someone else into His presence. In this way you are song and sacrament, a portal into God’s heart; this is your true vocation: to be God’s love sung into the world, so that others may be whisked up into the harmony where they will find their unique place of intimate belonging in the grace-soaked presence of God.

Remember this always - God loves you, and I love you too!

Love is all,

Hendree+