Music is so much a part of all that brings us joy, like gathering around a piano somewhere to sing in harmony the songs that renew the commitments made to God, to each other, and to our great country or sitting around the campfire with a guitar or autoharp and teaching parts to the children the favorites you first sang as a kid.
We believe there is an important reason —even a theological one— we must sing in harmony, whether in families or in the family of God: we are not one because of our consensus, but because of our commitment. Indeed, we are so different and have so many viewpoints, it's hard to get a consensus at the dinner table let alone in the church or in the broader community of believers. No, we are not one because of our consensus, but because of our commitment to something bigger than our individual opinions. It is our commitment to God and thus to each other as necessary parts of His body that makes us one. We each bring our unique identities in Him and join our voices in expressing our allegiance to Him. Amazingly, what results is beautiful harmony but one song. Oh, sometimes for a line or two we may sing in unison to emphasize some major statement, but mostly it is our very diversity that God uses to make His music.
Let's gather the children, the young people, the patriarchs and the matriarchs, the newcomers and veterans and sing our hearts out the messages that define our identities in Him, in harmony.
And there's nothing better for singing our roots than the hymns and gospel songs that have outlived us all, surviving trends and fads, good times and hard times. Great songs have been tried in the fires of human experience and have emerged true. Let's pass these pure gold gifts on to our children so that when life drops them into water over their heads, these bits of portable theology, these truths wrapped in music will be a lifeline when they're needing one in the worst way.
What we embrace in the inner sanctuary places of our hearts, what we protect in the secret places of our minds, will determine our victory or defeat. When what is unclean is exposed to the light, it will shrivel and die, for it will not grow in the light. Like fungus or mold (no roots, no nutrition for the spirit), evil needs the moist, dark places to live and multiply. But goodness and right thrive in the light. When we let God's Word enter our inner sanctuary, the beauty grows and blooms. When we sing out what we've embraced in the inner sanctuary that is good, it takes root in others as well and brings life and hope.
