I’m Not Good Enough To Sing In Choir, Am I?

By David Dunst, Music Director

This description may surprise you, but St. Peter’s is a singing parish.  You may or may not believe me, but my experiences here reveal a people with great appreciation for the art and function of music and who value participating in the singing of the Mass.  At the same time, and as is the case in so many Catholic parishes throughout the country, many people do not believe they are qualified to participate in their local music ministry or sing in their church’s choir.  I will simply join the litany of people to pronounce: You are qualified!

We all must admit to knowing people who “couldn’t carry a tune in a bucket”, but we must also be honest in assessing our own abilities.  If we can carry the proverbial tune, then we can be a choir.  I would make the argument that we, then, should be a choir.  If we are competent enough to sing pop songs of questionable value in the shower, why would we withhold our voice from the chorus of God’s praise?

Unfortunately, we seem more comfortable neglecting eternity in favor of dialing some lost past on a “Payphone”, or selling out  for a short-term “party on the roof-top, top of the world” emptiness.  Centuries of human heartbreak tell us that just leaves us miles away from “Home”, looking in the mirror at “Somebody That I Used to Know.”  God’s message to us is that we are always better than that.  In the eyes of an everlasting God, we are not at all “Hard to Love”.

We are, really, on “The Edge of Glory”, but not in some vain human pursuit.  Rather, we flirt with an all-glorious God, who has every affection for us.  What is it, then, that would prevent us from falling far in love with God?  What holds us back from singing first to the lover of our souls?  Instead of “One More Night” seeking love that fails, lies, steals, and leaves I challenge you to embrace the love of Christ that “Won’t Give Up”.  God is inviting us into a “Love Story”, but one very different than the ones we hear of in pop music.

God does not “Call (us), Maybe”, but he does call us daily – to pick up the tune sung by creation, along with all the angels and saints, and our loved ones gone before us, and carry it in the vessel of the heart.  And when God is the one who fills our bucket, we overflow in splashing song everywhere we go.