Dear St. Luke’s,

Kate and I had a good conversation about singing in Church last week. We were considering including the words and not printing music in the bulletin. That may or may not happen, but the conversation around it has been bouncing around my head all week.

Everyone was much better at singing at one time because if you wanted to hear music, you had to sing or play an instrument. It meant that most Church-goers, even if they were not in the choir, had some idea how to read music, and there was significantly more participation. An unexpected consequence of recorded music is that people suddenly could hear flawless music whenever they turned on the radio and became shy about making mistakes. It may explain a common sight you’ve seen in Episcopal Churches, the choir belts it, while most of the congregation is shy to lift their voice and sing to God.

One of the first things you may have known about me is that I am a terrible singer, but what you may not know is that I love singing in Church as long as no one can hear me. The first Church I served as a priest had a huge choir sitting next to my Church seat. Their volume enabled me to sing along with being burdened with hearing my voice, and it was liberating. All of a sudden, I felt like I was singing for the first time. I got singing in a way that I never got before, and it illuminated hymns in ways I could not imagine. I felt like I was praying with my lips and my heart. Then, I would start walking home after the service, and I would start singing the hymns to myself, and the illusion was over. The choir was carrying me, I had not actually figured out singing, and I was still as tone-deaf as ever.

Another skill I wish we would practice more often is doing things poorly. Sometimes performance matters. You want your doctor to be consistently skilled and professional, just as you should strive to be always safe when driving a car. However, with some of the most important things in life, it is more important to show up than excel. Parents all strive to excel, but if you choose not to play soccer with your child in the backyard because you are a poor athlete, you miss a tremendous opportunity to bond with your child. If my son wants me to sing with him, even in public, I would be foolish to turn him down because I will be teaching him shame over finding joy, even in things we have no skill.

In the coming weeks, you may see just the words and not the music to the hymns in the bulletin. Regardless of whether you have sung in Church before this change, I urge you to lift your voice and sing, and if looking at music would help, then the hymnals will be in the pews. In Church, we are not called to perform or impress, but to show up and try to find joy even in things that go far beyond our expertise.

Blessings,

Nick