Each one has a hymn
As I’ve mentioned before, our church meetings are a little different the typical (i.e. traditional) Protestant church meeting.
Each week someone leads our time of singing, but there is a group of people who alternate/rotate doing this for us. We still schedule someone to teach (preach) each week, but that person changes from week to week, and that person is not always an elder. We typically read more Scripture than normal – usually at least two chapters, sometimes more. We also have a time when anyone can exhort the church or ask for prayer or make announcements.
Last Sunday, there was another difference. As I said, there is a group of people who choose songs and lead our time of singing each week. Last week, the brother who was planning to lead the singing, sent out an email to everyone saying that he was not going to choose songs for the church to sing for that Sunday. Instead, he asked the church to think about what songs God had used in their lives during the week. When we came together on Sunday morning, he asked the church to suggest songs that we should sing.
Like I said, this is something relatively different for us. I really enjoyed it, primarily because the people who suggested a song also explained why that song was special to them that week. This was much more than a time for people to request their favorite songs.
As I was preparing to meet with the church on Sunday, I was a little apprehensive about this change. I wasn’t sure how people were going to respond. Would they sit silently and not suggest any songs? Would they get upset because they didn’t have the words to the songs in front of them? Would they be disappointed that the music time didn’t “flow” and wasn’t done with “excellence”?
In fact, all of my fears and apprehensions seem to have been groundless. I’ve talked to several people who were there, and all of them were excited about the time of singing – more excited than normal. (I’m not suggesting that I’ve talked to everyone, and there could be someone who did not like this at all.)
For example, Meagan loved that we sang a song that her 2-yr old daughter likes. One brother told me that he actually enjoyed NOT having the words to the songs, because it forced him to think about what he was singing. Another brother said that he enjoyed hearing why people suggested different songs.
I don’t know if we’re going to do this again. I know the person who is leading our singing this Sunday has already chosen some songs to sing, because he sent a list out for people to see. I’m hoping that this does happen again though. However, even if we never sing this way again, I enjoyed seeing what God would do when “each one has a hymn”.