{"id":3637,"date":"2012-07-26T21:23:20","date_gmt":"2012-07-27T03:23:20","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.desertspringschurch.org\/blog\/?p=3637"},"modified":"2012-07-26T21:23:20","modified_gmt":"2012-07-27T03:23:20","slug":"men-sing-like-you-mean-it","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.desertspringschurch.org\/blog\/2012\/07\/men-sing-like-you-mean-it\/","title":{"rendered":"Men, Sing Like You Mean It!"},"content":{"rendered":"

In the course of Ryan’s mini-series on\u00c2\u00a0praise in the Psalms<\/a>, the subject of singing has come up a number of times.\u00c2\u00a0Paul tells us to, “[address] one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs” (Ephesians 5:19). Singing\u00c2\u00a0to one another<\/em>\u00c2\u00a0about God and singing\u00c2\u00a0with one another<\/em>\u00c2\u00a0to God has a way of winding the truth we sing around our hearts. Truth is beautiful set to song, and it is even more beautiful when we sing it together.<\/p>\n

If singing is this important for God’s people in their\u00c2\u00a0encouragement\u00c2\u00a0of one another in truth, then it’s an important place for men to lead out. Stephen Altrogge’s helpful blog, “Dads, Sing Like You Mean It Because Your Kids Are Watching<\/a>,” will encourage all of us to sing out and sing loudly, and especially the men and fathers among us.<\/div>\n
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The following account was written by a member in Stephen’s church about the timeless impact of his father’s leadership in song:<\/div>\n

Though I hold many cherished memories of [my father], perhaps the most vivid was his excitement over singing certain hymns. By all accounts he possessed at best an \u00e2\u20ac\u0153average\u00e2\u20ac\u009d voice when it comes to uniqueness and tonal quality. But he sang his favorites with a conviction that was beyond convincing and was by far one of the loudest and most joyful voices in a congregation of approximately 350. I remember looking up at him and \u00e2\u20ac\u0153checking him out\u00e2\u20ac\u009d while he was singing\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6 \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Is he for real?\u00e2\u20ac\u009d I would wonder. When he would catch me looking at him he would simply \u00e2\u20ac\u0153lock-eyes\u00e2\u20ac\u009d with me and sing all the louder while he broadened his grin to match proportion with his pleasure.<\/p>\n

He wouldn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t just sing hymns at church either. I can think of many times when the two of us would be welding up a go-kart frame or swapping an engine on a Saturday afternoon and he would spontaneously break into a hymn. In my teens and early twenties I actually found it annoying given the perplexity of some of the situations we would be deep into. But then again I would eventually come around and sing with him anyway. I just never managed to muster the joy he got out of it. I didn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t think about it then but I can see clearly now that he was blessing me with rich God honoring doctrine. That he was lovingly cramming truth into my psyche that would not return void in my soul.<\/p>\n

The now heart-softening aspect of these memories is that I am standing here in my church singing these same time impervious truths in front of my children. I catch them looking up at me and I wonder if I am anywhere near as good an example as he was. I get caught up and overwhelmed when I recognize the blessing that God had granted me in an earthly father. How diligent Dad was to bless me in an eternal way without ever making a point to tell me that he was doing it.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Stephen goes on to recount his father’s death. It’s quite moving, and relates the enduring impact of this father’s voice on his son.<\/p>\n

. . . Now almost two years later I am still unable to sing a lot of those \u00e2\u20ac\u0153old-Baptist\u00e2\u20ac\u009d tunes without experiencing the \u00e2\u20ac\u0153echo\u00e2\u20ac\u009d of my father. I count it a privilege to sing these rich truths in tribute to the one true God; but I also experience the benefit of knowing I am fulfilling the scriptural command to honor my earthly father as well.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

If the congregation is actually the choir, then we should have a rank of male choir leaders.\u00c2\u00a0So, men, let’s sing out and sing loud! If you aren’t looked to by a son on Sunday morning, you are still looked to by someone. Read Stephen’s whole post\u00c2\u00a0here<\/a>\u00c2\u00a0and look forward to “leading the choir” on Sunday morning.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In the course of Ryan’s mini-series on\u00c2\u00a0praise in the Psalms, the subject of singing has come up a… Continue Reading ›<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[45,39],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.desertspringschurch.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3637"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.desertspringschurch.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.desertspringschurch.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.desertspringschurch.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.desertspringschurch.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3637"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"http:\/\/www.desertspringschurch.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3637\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3644,"href":"http:\/\/www.desertspringschurch.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3637\/revisions\/3644"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.desertspringschurch.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3637"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.desertspringschurch.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3637"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.desertspringschurch.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3637"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}