I am tempted to refer to our song ‘Grace’ as ‘a simple song of praise’…
… But actually when we spend time praising God, there’s nothing simple at all about the interplay that happens between us and our Lord.

So many of us learn from those that are supposed to love and encourage us that we can’t sing. We learn that nobody wants to have our voices inflicted on them – and that list of people who we learn not to sing to includes our loving Father in Heaven.

It all starts in junior school. Everyone has heard them, the nativity play is progressing nicely until the first carol is being sung – little Johnny or little Suzie are singing their hearts out in the back row and they’re kind of ‘standing out’. They are, actually, delightful; their enthusiastic tunelessness makes the whole nativity play thing all the more enjoyable. But that doesn’t reduce the pain that the stifled laughter causes them.

We love our children for all their foibles, and our conviction that any of them can’t sing is just another of their endearing qualities. We tell them that they have other talents, we give them a hug, we laugh about it with our friends.
And little Johnny or Suzie grows up and never forgets. As the years go by it’s reinforced, by siblings, school mates, teachers (I’m sad to say), and anyone else who thinks a jibe is just good natured humour.

Actually, when Johnny and Suzie gave their first performance that confirmed for the world their supposed inabilities to sing, all that was going on was that they were growing so fast that their muscular strength and vocal chords couldn’t keep up, in sports we would call the same problem ’baby giraffe syndrome’, it causes weakness and a lack of physical fluency. Given the chance to grow, they learn to run, to jump, to become the athletes they were designed to be, but tell them they can’t do any of those things and they will be scarred for life – never to sing again.

But God loves to hear us singing, the Bible is packed with references that suggest how our
relationship with Him is enhanced when we praise Him with singing, He loves a close, intimate relationship with us and He knows that when we sing to Him it lifts our spirits into closer communion. Which can only be good.

So, when you listen to The song ‘Grace’ I’m going to ask you to sing those bass vocal ‘ohmmm-ah’s that carry on all the way through the song. And as you sing, close your eyes, extend your hands, palms uppermost as though offering up to your loving Father all those things that you want to talk to Him about – your joys, your fears, your pain and even the things that you’re angry about - you don’t need to put them into words, you just need to open your heart for a two way exchange.

And let The Holy Spirit do the rest.

- Out of the Ashes