It was an unlikely source of insight… a recent airing of the TV show “Code Black.”
In the story line a small rock band, Escalade, was in an accident. There’s a guy in the band talking about his musical gift compared to that of his girlfriend. He tells the doctor, "The truth is, she's better than me; she is. Look, I sing from my heart. But she... she sings from her bones.”
I’ve spent decades trying to get people to sing from their hearts. Maybe I’ve been doing it wrong.
“For the word of God is alive and powerful. It is sharper than the sharpest two-edged sword, cutting between soul and spirit, between joint and marrow. It exposes our innermost thoughts and desires.” (Hebrews 4:12)
This makes me wonder, what if we invested more time (in and out of rehearsals) using scripture and worship lyrics (and other resources) to disciple those who sing in our churches? What might happen if the Word gets into our bones and then we sing it out?
Isn’t this what the best preachers do?
They don’t study the Bible so they can teach it like a Shakespeare sonnet, a mathematical theorem, or a chemical equation. They immerse themselves in passages of Scripture, they swim in the deep waters of theology, they walk with their congregants through the joys, sorrows, and monotony of every-dailyness. And then they stand in a pulpit and the truths God has shown them are squeezed from their bones, through their heart and mind, and across their lips.
I’m not suggesting worship leaders—song leaders—start preaching. I am encouraging us to think of our Biblically rich song lyrics as pre-written sermons that we can declare with great authority, clarity, and expressiveness.
Think of the worship leaders you have found most impactful. I suspect you’ll see evidence of this. Maybe it was hard for you describe and this helps.
It’s not emotionalism. It’s not intellectualism.
It is deeper than our hearts and our minds. It’s nestled in between our joints and our marrow.
"I sing from my heart, but she sings from her bones."
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