"Let everything that hath breath praise the Lord." - Psalm 150:6
Professional music has been a major focus of my life. A career of creating beautiful harmonies through a cappella music required developing an ear for pleasing, quality sounds. It's no surprise that churches seek out worship leaders who possess this kind of formal experience in music. After all, if you know what sounds good, you must know what is good, right?
Certainly God deserves the best we can offer, but in our quest for musical excellence, I think it's easy to to elevate musical quality above quality of the worshiper's heart. Without admitting this prejudice, countless Christians belittle those without musical ability. As we should remember, God desires to hear the voice of all His children, and everyone's voice is precious, including - or even especially - the so-called "tone-deaf."
For this reason, I have made it our ministry priority to encourage everyone to participate wholeheartedly in a musical offering of worship, especially those with no perceived skill. Listen to the comments of this precious brother who considers himself "tone-deaf," yet reminds us again of how God loves everyone's voice.
Everyone's voice is important!
Continuing this conversation, he went on to share that although they don't speak their thoughts, often he senses pressure from others with musical skills, looking down upon his inability to hear and match tones. Are we inadvertently discouraging members of God's family?