the music of community

i woke up this morning to a beeping alarm clock. Quarter to ten, and church starts at 10:30. ah well, Laura isn't here so i can show up right at 10:30 and slide into the pew, barely noticed, like a ninja stealthily gliding under the radar. (my lovely and gorgeous girlfriend headed back to Kingston last week, and i miss her terribly, but it has thus given me an excuse to push the sleep-in limits on a sunday morning, thanx babe ;)
and so here i am sliding in beside Laura's brother-in-law Ethan as i joined the already singing congregation in Here I Am to Worship. I love music. I love the balance between simplicity and complexity and how good music can find itself at both poles of the spectrum. I love singing, somehow it is wired into my DNA to sing, and few things give me more enjoyment than singing. But there is a time to sing and a time listen. altho sunday morning worship is generally a time to sing, i found myself actually listening. it was beautiful. not so much the worship team (altho they were very good) but i was tuning my ear to the collective sound of the congregation. a group of people well over 500 people bringing their voices together and raising up a beautiful offering to the Lord. the sound made me pause in my thought process, it gripped me as something truly meaningful that was taking place. it occurred to me that among this many people there must be a good number of people who have strong voices and can hold a tune. but it also occured to me that there must be some people with lousy voices, and not to offend them, but couldn't hold one note of a tune if they were offered a billion dollars. and this is why, it was so incredibly beautiful to me. it struck me as a great picture of community. our lives are much like voices. sometimes they're strong, sometimes, they're weak. sometimes they're in tune, sometimes they aren't. sometimes, they crack and there are highs and there are lows. but when we're all committed to each as a community our voices blend together to make one beautiful sound. if there is one thing i've noticed about a large group singing together, is that unless you're right up beside someone, you cannot hear individual voices, they are bleed into each other and its always in tune. those sharp and those flat and those right on key are all come together to form a sound much more grand. and perhaps it is those voices her are on key that carry those slightly askew. and isn't that how community should be? those lives that are strong, and on key, help carry those who are maybe feeling a little flat. and amidst all of this the tune of the community grows stronger, almost as one thunderous voice. i want to be part of a community like that. sometimes in life im beat. and i need someone to carry my tune, cuz sometimes i feel a little flat. but also there are sometimes when i feel strong, and i don't think i reach to out enough, to those who could use some comfort, some encouragement, some love.
the harmony that comes forth from a community singing/living in sync, no matter how well or poor their individual voices/lives may be, is truly something more than human.

a suggestion: next time you're in a worship service with a large amount of people, pause for a moment and listen. its beautiful.