Churchly responsibilities

The musicians in a church tend to have to leave Sunday School early to get to choir warmup, or they have to miss some midweek services for choir rehearsal.

As the organist, I would love to have attended (or even led) some Sunday morning classes, but alas. However, I was certainly "getting some church" each week. The choirs were my Sunday School. The music was my food. The paycheck wasn't the only thing getting me to church each week.

I always felt a responsibility to the choir members and to the congregation. Since the choir was likely having to miss something else to participate in music, then I felt that I should give them the holiest time I could. It was work time, but it was beautiful music preparation time. And it was 'sacred' in that it began and ended on time. And in the course of a routine rehearsal, we'd also joy in just being together, all huddled over beautiful music, cracking a couple jokes, and listening to progress being made at every turn. Dare to tell a musician that THAT is not church!

For the congregation, my responsibility was deeper but shared with the choir. Our job was always to lead the congregation in their own musical health and also to offer praise that they themselves couldn't offer (unless they joined the choir and came to rehearsals). But we had to be ready. We had to have rehearsed and practiced. We had to do some nuts-and-bolts, non-holy work to get there each week. And yet when we presented our hard work, it was translated as "worship" for the whole room. That was a non-sequitur I have never really processed fully -- that of training and preparing in order to allow the Spirit to be free.

An old friend always said, "God does not do dishes," which meant that we have to learn the notes and watch the conductor, while everyone else gets to ride the train and experience the holiness of the moment. That was a trade I was willing to make, since I had already "had church" with the choir before the congregation arrived.

Somewhere in there, I hit the right notes. Somewhere in there I allowed everyone a little extra time to hit high notes, spit out lots of words, and breathe between stanzas. Perhaps somewhere in there, I also offered some sort of musical thrill? My job was simply to be prepared on a professional level. There was nothing I could do about the otherwordly of it. 

People who say, "Y'all, we just really need to focus on the Lord when we sing this," are wasting their and my time. God doesn't do dishes. You need to focus on the MUSIC and let the Lord do as he pleases. Count on your professional music leaders to point the way. That's how it works.