A Joyful Noise

Music. It's an integral part of my life. Lifting my voice in harmonious praise is as familiar as eating, breathing or sleeping. Between Mom's angelic vocals and Dad's passion for making melody, it's not a wonder that we, (my brothers and sisters and myself) are a little bit obsessed with music.

It was a deep rooted love for praising our maker - or that's how I always considered it, until I had a startling reality check a couple of weeks ago.

The shortened version of the back-story would be that for the past 16 (or more) years we've been going every Sunday afternoon to an assisted living facility, (that's halfway between a nursing home and a retirement community) to do a church service for the residents there.

16 years of Sundays to practice singing in harmony, to perform special music and learn to blend our voices together. 16 years of singing the same hymns until we know them as well as we know our names, and most importantly, 16 years of unforgettable characters.

So there we were, a couple of weeks ago, halfway through a familiar hymn when one of our memorable friends shuffled in. We knew without looking that she had arrived, by her out of pitch, loud, un-rhythmic singing. I nudged my brother and snickered, before singing just a little bit louder to drown her out.

Do you really think your music is more pleasing to Me than hers is?

What?? Where did that come from?

At least she's singing from her heart. You're singing for your own gratification.

I craned my head over my shoulder to take a look, and saw our friend - with her shoulders thrown back, her head erect, the emotion of the words displayed across her face - and I knew that I had been wrong.

"Make a joyful noise unto the LORD, all the earth:

make a loud noise, and rejoice, and sing praise.

Let the floods clap their hands: let the hills be joyful together before the LORD; for he comes to judge the earth: with righteousness shall he judge the world, and the people with equity."