Resolved: SING...

This is the second of five "simple ways to prepare your child for literacy"...unabashedly co-opted and turned into spiritual literacy...because--they fit. Talk, sing, read, write, play...

Yesterday we TALKed. Today's we SING. Don't stop reading yet. Anyone can sing. In fact, I learned last week during sermon prep that the Hebrew word for "sing praises" means literally a high pitched squeaking sound. So sing away. God set us up to be successful even if we can't carry a tune. Joyful noise, people. Joyful noise.

Teach your kids the hymns sung in worship. Choose one a month. You'll teach them to yourself as well. Your kids will actually teach them to you. They will learn them much faster than you can. Believe me, it is cool to sing without using the hymnal. I've been trying to learn the hymns we sing--glancing at the words, then trying to remember as I look up. I miss words, or sometimes make them up. The ceiling hasn't fallen in and I haven't been struck by lightening. So, go for it.

I don't know what it is about singing that builds faith. But it does. As we age and find ourselves losing most of what we thought made us worthwhile, we seem to hang onto the songs the longest. Try to preach in a nursing home and you may or may not make any sense or get any connection. Sing an old hymn, badly or well, and you will immediately find voices joined with yours.

All kind of music is out there...use it. Learn what you like and what you don't like. (Usually, what we don't like is what we don't know...you may find you like it better when you know it.) Google the old hymns and learn the stories behind them. Many from the reformation were set to pub music...drinking songs with church words...go figure.

I always thought you had to be a really good singer to sing...to lead singing...to teach singing. Then I heard John Bell. He's a great musician. He's written great songs. But he is not a great singer. He would get three X's from the judges for sure. But he sings with passion and he teaches a phrase at a time and he draws me into the community that sings praises...or laments...or drinking songs...

It doesn't get much easier than that...except maybe for tomorrow's. Tune in.