𝐌𝐚𝐤𝐞 𝐚 𝐉𝐨𝐲𝐟𝐮𝐥 𝐍𝐨𝐢𝐬𝐞

Psᴀʟᴍ 100 

¹ 𝘚𝘩𝘰𝘶𝘵 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘫𝘰𝘺 𝘵𝘰 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘓𝘰𝘳𝘥, 𝘢𝘭𝘭 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘦𝘢𝘳𝘵𝘩. 

² 𝘞𝘰𝘳𝘴𝘩𝘪𝘱 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘓𝘰𝘳𝘥 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘨𝘭𝘢𝘥𝘯𝘦𝘴𝘴;

      𝘤𝘰𝘮𝘦 𝘣𝘦𝘧𝘰𝘳𝘦 𝘩𝘪𝘮 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘫𝘰𝘺𝘧𝘶𝘭 𝘴𝘰𝘯𝘨𝘴. 

³ 𝘒𝘯𝘰𝘸 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘓𝘰𝘳𝘥 𝘪𝘴 𝘎𝘰𝘥.

      𝘐𝘵 𝘪𝘴 𝘩𝘦 𝘸𝘩𝘰 𝘮𝘢𝘥𝘦 𝘶𝘴, 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘸𝘦 𝘢𝘳𝘦 𝘩𝘪𝘴;

      𝘸𝘦 𝘢𝘳𝘦 𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘱𝘦𝘰𝘱𝘭𝘦, 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘴𝘩𝘦𝘦𝘱 𝘰𝘧 𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘱𝘢𝘴𝘵𝘶𝘳𝘦. 

⁴ 𝘌𝘯𝘵𝘦𝘳 𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘨𝘢𝘵𝘦𝘴 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘯𝘬𝘴𝘨𝘪𝘷𝘪𝘯𝘨

      𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘤𝘰𝘶𝘳𝘵𝘴 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘱𝘳𝘢𝘪𝘴𝘦;

      𝘨𝘪𝘷𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘯𝘬𝘴 𝘵𝘰 𝘩𝘪𝘮 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘱𝘳𝘢𝘪𝘴𝘦 𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘯𝘢𝘮𝘦. 

⁵ 𝘍𝘰𝘳 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘓𝘰𝘳𝘥 𝘪𝘴 𝘨𝘰𝘰𝘥 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘭𝘰𝘷𝘦 𝘦𝘯𝘥𝘶𝘳𝘦𝘴 𝘧𝘰𝘳𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘳;

      𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘧𝘢𝘪𝘵𝘩𝘧𝘶𝘭𝘯𝘦𝘴𝘴 𝘤𝘰𝘯𝘵𝘪𝘯𝘶𝘦𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘳𝘰𝘶𝘨𝘩 𝘢𝘭𝘭 𝘨𝘦𝘯𝘦𝘳𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯𝘴. 

 

If you attend church regularly, I’d venture to guess you have a regular pew. Most of us do. When we started attending the church where we worship now, we sat in the back. I think we made the move to the front when I became a mom. It feels to me like the kids are more likely to pick up more from the service if they’re in the preacher’s face.  

Anyway, since we moved to the front, I’ve been a good little churchgoer and stick to my pew. Every now and then we overflow into the pew in front but, for the most part, I’m even roughly situated in the same area of the pew.   

When you sit in one spot so regularly, you become accustomed to things you may not realize: the person behind you to your left who sniffs a lot, the lady a few rows back who sings loudly like a screech owl, the person next to you who faithfully bows her head to pray during Communion, the person on the other side who doesn’t speak ever, the man behind you who has a voice that inexplicably touches your heart. 

The little bit that I’ve moved around in my corner of the world has made me more keenly aware of the worship personalities of my neighbors, and I have fallen in love with the variety. In my past, I only really noticed the habits that annoyed or distracted me. Then one Sunday this change just suddenly took over – I was listening to this one person belt out praises, and I was trying rather unsuccessfully not to be rude inside my head. I couldn’t help wondering if she was aware of how she sounded. I also wondered if that’s what people heard from me when I opened my mouth. Then I remembered that I wasn’t supposed to be concerned about what they thought of my voice, that I was singing for God. Then it dawned on me… So was she.   

Suddenly, her noise was beautiful. I listened at how proud she was to sing of her loving God, so proud that she couldn’t hold it inside. Her song just burst forth from her for love of our God. 

I started listening to the other voices – the ones who made more musical noise and others whose song was now just as beautiful in my ears. I took note of the facial expressions of people who simply listened – often they wore a soft smile. Some people chose to silently read the hymns – those looked like they were treating the hymns as a prayer. This past Sunday, I sat in front of a man who read aloud every word in the hymn – he would say the phrase just before or just as we were beginning to sing it. It was music to my ears. All of it is music. 

My little one has started singing the songs she recognizes or bits of the hymns she can read. Often she sings them as if she’s trying to be heard over everybody else, no melody, and less rhythm. It’s beautiful. She’s trying to participate. She says the Lord’s Prayer, too, just as loudly and sort of humming the parts she doesn’t remember. Also beautiful. And she says, “Halle-you-wah,” instead of “Hallelujah.” Simple, beautiful, proud praise. 

What’s your beautiful noise? Are you a silent worshiper or loud and proud?   

However you feel closest to God, it is my fervent prayer that you throw yourself into it, swim in your praises of Him, lose yourself in worship, and bask in one-ness with Him. Halle-you-wah! Amen. 

𝘰𝘳𝘪𝘨𝘪𝘯𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘺 𝘱𝘰𝘴𝘵𝘦𝘥 𝘤𝘪𝘳𝘤𝘢 2015