Sunday Afternoon Musing
Today, in worship we sang a classic hymn of the faith. Well, congregation did, my voice was not among them. A bad cold and a raw throat kept me from joining the throng. What do you do when your voice is taken but your heart cries out in worship? This sort of thing happens to all of us. Maybe you are sick, like me, and can’t sing. Or maybe the song is pitched to high or too low for you to sing. Or maybe, some pain in you body is so distracting that you can’t lift your voice. That happens to me sometimes with back pain. Here’s my strategy.
- I begin by praying the words of the song, chorus, or hymn.
- Sometimes, I open my Bible to the text for the coming message, and read/pray it using the melody and the congregational singing as the background.
- Sometimes, I read the words out loud, in a whisper, with whatever voice I have left; and meditate on the hymn’s words.
- Sometimes, these simple exercises help me to levels of worship that lead into or even beyond mere singing.
Today, the last line of the hymn captured my heart.
“God in three persons, blessed Trinity!”
The mystery and the wonder of thrice holy God, (Holy, holy, holy), the LORD God Almighty, the one who is merciful and mighty and God in three persons, blessed Trinity! It overwhelmed me.
The eternal God who is eternally and everywhere present and
The eternally incarnate Son, and
The eternally Spirit dwelling within His church.
Such truth is incomprehensible by finite minds like ours. It is filled with wonder, and awe, and mystery but it remains the truth we have entrusted to declare to the world.
I’m sick. I’m tired. I’m not well.
But I had to tell; somebody.q
