My Journey with Church Music // Preparation: a Reflection of Love

There never seems to be enough time in the day to practice and thoroughly prepare for every music-related thing I have to do.  Can you relate?  Scales, theory, hymn arrangements, classical pieces, competition preparation, recital preparation, YouTube videos, hymn playing, “fun” music, accompaniments of every sort... too much music, too little time!  It definitely keeps me busy, though I wouldn’t trade any of it for the world (well, besides theory maybe... just kidding!). ;)

  The logical way to handle a full load of music would be to prioritize.  Figure out what’s most important and what can wait… right?

  For me personally, my priorities were obviously competition and performance related.  It wasn’t like I could just show up and play a piece by memory without practice, after all!  But when I identified this priority, I started to seriously slack off on church music preparation, until I was convicted about some things.

  Keith and Kristen Getty state in their book Sing! : “We must prepare thoroughly to play well for God’s people – it should never be done to anything less than our best…If you commit to playing, commit to loving the people in your church enough to prepare well.”

  WOW.  It was definitely revolutionary!  I had always just viewed my lack of preparation as no big deal; I could sight read hymns for Wednesday night congregational accompaniment pretty well, so that’s what I had started to do.

  The New Testament makes multiple positive references to things of excellence.  1 Corinthians 10:31 says to do all things to God’s glory.  It is clear in Scripture that Christ wants us to do our very best and do all things with excellence.  It is also more than clear that love is extremely vital; just read 1 Corinthians 13 or 1 John 3-4!  The theme of love ripples through the pages of Scripture.

  Without openly acknowledging it, I had settled for second-rate excellence in my church music.

  The truth is, preparing well for serving others is a form of politeness, kindness, and ultimately, love.  We show our love to others when we care enough to prepare effectively for ministry.  When we seek to do things with excellence, we are communicating to others that we take our service to them seriously; we want to love them the best we can.

  Our church has a ladies’ meal ministry, where groups of ladies are assigned to make meals for those in the church that are ill, are going through a tough time, have a new baby, etc.  If there’s a need for a meal, our ladies hop on it!  It is always beautiful to watch my mother thoughtfully prepare a delicious meal when it is her turn, painstakingly making sure everything is cooked to perfection, packed up and transported in the proper dishes, and pleasing to all the senses.  She even includes disposable paper products so the recipients don’t have to do dishes.  She is showing others love by taking such care in preparing and providing a delicious meal.  Does she always enjoy the process?  No.  In fact, she doesn’t even particularly enjoy cooking!  But she loves others well enough to graciously serve them in this way.

  No matter what ministry you have, make sure you prepare well so you can love others well.  Strive to do all things with excellence.  Do your best.

  And a little side note: I used to think that doing my best meant I would be #1 in whatever I’m doing; I’d be the best pianist my age, the best Bible quizzer, the best you-name-it.  After all, if someone is beating me, I can do better, right?  NO.  That is not the answer.  Your best will look different than another persons’ best, and that’s perfectly normal.  The goal is not to be #1.  The goal is to glorify God.  If you are truly trying your best and preparing well for God’s glory, He will take care of the results.  Ward against the tendency to view doing your best as a competition.

A word concerning priorities…

  Sometimes life DOES get busy and we simply don’t have the time to dedicate to preparation.  That’s OK.  But in general, keep this in mind: you’re usually never too busy to do what is most important to you.  If you struggle with priorities and feel like you don’t have enough time, I would encourage you to make a list of each priority you have and how many minutes that takes you a day. For example: getting ready – 30 minutes, school – 4 hours, piano – 1 hour, meals – 1 hour, errands – 3 hours, etc.  Obviously this list will differ for each person and each situation.  But this will help you see how much time you have and how much time your priorities actually take.

  For those cases in which you are genuinely too busy: after searching your heart and evaluating your time management, make any changes you can.  If you are so busy that you can’t devote the needed time to something, perhaps you’re too busy in general.  If it’s just a busy season that is hindering your preparation, just do what you can, prepare in prayer, and trust God. 

Some questions to ask yourself…

What is my heart motive behind giving my best?

Is my ministry to others preceded by thoughtful preparation?

Is there any area of my life where I am giving less than my best?  If so, why?

How can I better manage my time to allow for proper preparation?

Next week we will discuss the vitality of preparing specifically through prayer.