I'm reminded of one particular "incident" that happened during services. Our pastor had selected "Christ Beside Us" as the closing hymn. You know the one: "Christ beside me, Christ above me," etc... to the tune of "Morning has Broken." Now, "Morning Has Broken" is at a moderate tempo, and is very relaxed. This closing hymn is THREE verses long, and at the end of the service. I made the call to bring it up to a brisk, upbeat tempo, so as to end on a peppy note, and to get us out of there to get our coffee as quickly as possible.
Now on that particular Sunday, we had several choir members who had recently had hip surgery, or foot surgery, or some other reason to not brave the staircase up to the loft. Therefore, we stayed down in the pews, and sang from offstage left. I positioned myself in front of the reader's lectern, so as to be in the sight lines of both the choir and the organist. And I began to conduct my brisk tempo for the final hymn.
When the choir and congregation began to sing... it was awesomely slow; trudging along at roughly the tempo of the original, "Morning has Broken." As much as I tried to pick the tempo up, it trudged along slowly, and after all three verses were complete, the room was filled with an air of boredom and "Thank goodness that's over."
What happened? Nobody watched their conductor.
The organist listened to the congregation, and followed the tempo she heard from them. The congregation was listening for the choir and organ, trying to follow the tempo they heard from them. In the half a second that it took for sound to enter the ear, the brain to register that there was music going on, and the signal to get to the voice to perform; we were getting slower and slower and slower. Plus, everyone was following each other. No one was leading.
How often does that happen in real life? With God as our conductor, He send us signs and messages that tell us what the right course of action is at all times. Yet we don't listen to Him, instead we try to follow each other's lead, which sometimes leads us in entirely the wrong direction. We hear God saying, "Help out the needy;" but instead, we follow the crowd in saying, "No, wait, we can't spare the money right now." We hear God saying, "Forgive your brothers, love your enemies, and pray for your persecuters;" but we follow the crowd who say, "You gonna take that? What are you going to do about it?"
Another problem with our hymn performance was that the congregation sang without really being confident that they knew how the song went. They've sung it many times, but we tend to not have confidence enough to take the lead and sing strongly the part that we know. So, instead, we wait to hear the rest of the congregation, and just do what they do.
We've read the Bible, studied the scriptures, and listened to countless sermons. We should know what God wants us to do. But often, we are afraid to confidently do what we know to be right, and we look around, waiting to see someone else do something, and then follow their example. Why do you think people tend to sit towards the back of the church instead of up front?
We could have had a brisk, positive ending to our service, if only people had followed their conductor. I gave the brisker tempo, our organist could have followed me, and led the congregation; the singers could have watched me, kept time in their head, and sung it briskly. But no one was even looking in my direction.
You can have a brisk, happy, loving, abundant life; if only you would watch and follow the lead of your conductor, Jesus Christ. He came to lead by example and through teaching; in the same way as I, as conductor of our choir, rehearse and give instruction to the ensemble. God is giving us the answers every day, and is always conducting the symphony of our life. We should look up, and follow His lead. Otherwise, our life becomes drudgery, slow, painful, and hard to tolerate.
Lord, I will watch for your cues, and will try to follow your conducting of our lives. Make your gestures clear and precise, and give me the confidence to follow unconditionally.
AMEN
Judges 7:17-18 - “Watch me,” he told them. “Follow my lead. When I get to the edge of the camp, do exactly as I do. 18 When I and all who are with me blow our trumpets, then from all around the camp blow yours and shout, ‘For the LORD and for Gideon.’”
Matthew 16:23-24 - Jesus turned and said to Peter, “Get behind me, Satan! You are a stumbling block to me; you do not have in mind the concerns of God, but merely human concerns.”
24 Then Jesus said to his disciples, “Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me."
