I think if you had a microscope. A really really (really) big microscope. And were able to look at the very core of our human DNA, I think you might find a clef symbol. Okay, I’m kind of kidding, but the point is, I think music is that deep. It’s basically in our DNA. We were made to breathe, eat, sleep and experience music. So, where’s the evidence? Scientific evidence is sometimes experiential. So, do you know anyone, and I mean anyone, who does not like some form of music? Neither do I. I recall being in India in 1995. One night while sleeping, I could hear outside a drum and some kind of bell, dancing together in rhythm. It could have been worship to one of a million gods in India. It could have been that the person or persons playing, simply liked the sound. It reminded me that even here in India, pretty much another planet from Albion NY, there was still music. Different, but then, not so different. I think it’s part of our DNA. That deep. And I think it’s a human thing. Sure it’s said “music soothes the savage beast”. Maybe there’s evidence of animals reacting to music in some way. But as humans, we need to hear music. When we’re not around the man-made stuff, we listen for it in the wind, or the waves, or the trees. Or we start to hum and then bust out into song. We can’t help it. We can’t escape it, and we don’t want to. It’s part of who we are. We are distinct from animals, in that we are living souls. And so, yup you guessed it, we have soul music. It’s that deep. That connected to our core. And if this is true, what do we do with music as part of our worship to God? From the beginning, the church has used music as a significant method of worship. Why? Because God is worthy of our worship, and our hearts cry out for a means to worship, and so we express our praise with as intimate a form as we know. With song. As it was once said, there is nothing in this world as similar to prayer, as music. Prayer is personal. So is music. Prayer is expressive communication of thoughts and emotions. So is music. Prayer is connecting to God. Do you feel connected to God when you worship in song? Me too. There is also the negative connection. Prayer can be a simple recitation; impersonal. Music can also be that. Prayer can be over-rehearsed; a show. We have all experienced music that has ceased to be worship in song, and become a concert. Not that there’s anything wrong with concerts. But there is a difference, and we can usually distinguish the two. Because we are experts at music. We all are. And Christians know (why, I don’t know, we just do) when they are at a concert or a worship service. Anyway, if music is part of our DNA, and if music is an important means of expressing our worship to God, than we can truly say…that we were made to worship with song. I really believe that. And it has nothing, absolutely nothing, (nothing) to do with skill or ability. It is to us as breathing. We don’t discuss how someone breathes better than another (okay, don’t get smart with the “what about asthmatics?”). And might I go one step further. We are made in the image of God. We are God-like. So, what is God–like? Of the many things, I think God is a musician. He just uses different instruments. So, music is part of our DNA. It’s in our soul. It’s part of how we were made. It can be as personal as prayer, and it can be just as misused. So if all of this is true, think of the implications when we gather together to worship in song. Connecting at a personal, and at the same time, corporate level. Expressing from our souls. Concurrently with the angels of heaven, letting God have it. This is what I was made for. I’m trying to do what should come natural. I was wondering; Are you doing what you were made to do?
