“Why do we sing?”

This question has been the foundation of the David Crowder*Band Fantastical Church Music Conference (CFCMC for short) that just wrapped up a few hours ago.  I couldn’t think of a better reason to gather, discuss, and learn than over a question as vast or profound as this one.

Wrestling with this question for the last few days has been an interesting exercise.  I grew up in a musical tradition where our theology came from what we sang.  I didn’t know non-song expressions of faith to the same extent.  As much as I disliked it from time to time, I didn’t care for the ancient.  Hymns were annoying to me as a youth.  I wanted new.  I wanted to see what was coming.  I wanted change.  To get away from all of our broken pasts.  I wanted to look to eternity not just look at where/why it’s all here and we are the way we are.

My tradition was musical and expressive.
My parents were musical.
My bent was artistic.
The trifecta, if you will.

So, I sing because I always have been.

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In one of the most astounding explanations of why we should sing, I heard Louie Giglio say, “I sing because I’m in God’s universe and I’m part of the cosmological symphony that’s been in motion since before there was time… and on top of that we’re divinely pursued.”

Let that vibrate in your head for a minute.  The One that watches the orchestral arrangements of constellations and the minutest details of chemical interactions to keep everything in our existence in balance still cares that we’re singing “How Great Is Our God” again.  It thrills Him to see us attempt to break free, for even just a moment, for our feet to lift off the ground in excitement that from wherever we are, we’re attempting to connect to Him, the Life Source, the Reckoner.

Why should He even care?  There are things way more magnificent than my feeble attempts at a dotted 1/8 note delay stacked on top a 1/4 note ping pong vibrato filling gaps and holes in music to create something spectacular.

BUT.
HE.
DOES.

He recognizes me for me.  Not some guy He’s seen before, but for me.  PJ.  Broken, messed up, and confused.  And, He says, “You’re good.”  How can you not sing for something like that?

So, I sing because He cares.

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Every time I pick Isaac up, and he drops his head on my shoulder in complete release, or he whispers “hi” into the phone when I’m away from he and Angie (which happened for the first time yesterday), or how he motions blowing a kiss when we tell him we love him… these are moments where I think I can start to get a the tiniest, most miniscule glimpse of what God must be thinking when I sing.  They’re not major gestures, but they are gestures.  And, done with the purest intentions from this tiny little being that calls me “dad.”  Isaac doesn’t do this stuff to just anyone.  He has to be in relationship with someone to blow them a kiss… most of the time, at least.  He doesn’t just cuddle up with complete release to anyone.  But, at a year and a half old, he recognizes protection.  He recognizes love.  He recognizes relationship.

And, our parental story is different because of adoption.  We chose to bring him into our home.  He’s a Towle because we said so.  Not because of genetics.  But, that doesn’t make me love him less.  It makes me love him more.  There’s rescue involved in adoption.  There’s relationship in adoption.  And, Isaac’s story is my story.  I’m God’s because He says I am.  He could turn his back on me.  But, He doesn’t.  I’m adopted.

So, I sing because I’ve been rescued for relationship.

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We forget, don’t we?  People are stupid.  In the Bible, Paul says that he’s a “chief of all sinners… a fool.”  The updated PJ translation of that… I’m not that smart.  I do stupid things.  I forget what I’ve been rescued from and I find myself leaning back into my same old shit without even thinking about it.  And, singing keeps me connected.  It reminds me that I’m cosmologically insignificant but Divinely pursued.” It reminds me that I’m adopted.  It reminds me that I’ve always been singing.  But, I still forget.  And, when I do forget, I find that I’m choosing not to sing.  But, how could I not?

I’m cosmologically insignificant.
I’m Divinely pursued.
I’m adopted.

These are things that melt me.  I get shattered when I think about these things.  I’m not sure how to not forget, but I’m working on it.  Singing brings me back here nearly every time.  I said, I have an artistic bent.  I see colors, I hear music in my head.  I am constantly looking for beautiful things.  I want to create beautiful things.  It’s how my brain works.

So, I sing because I don’t know what else to do.

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And bringing it back to the top… I want change.  I want movement.  I want the future.  I’ve always been a big sci-fi nut.  I love space.  Thinking about the thought that someday, Isaac might get to go to space, gives me chills of excitement!  That his kids, could possibly live in space or maybe see the age where humans do… this is the crazy stuff I think about.  Looking at pictures of other galaxies or knowing that “Globular Cluster 47 Tuc” (image above) has 24 rotating pulsars that vibrate to the point to make an audible sound that we can pick up with equipment from something like 200 billion times 1,000 miles away is AWESOME!

LISTEN TO 47 TUC

But, none of it compares to the glory we will experience in an eternity of God’s presence.  The 47 Tuc thing won’t hold a candle to that.  I can’t even begin to think about that!  47 Tuc blows my mind!  So, put that on your back burner… how much more will your mind get blown then?

So, I sing for eternity.

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I sing because I always have been.
I sing because He cares about me.
I sing because I’ve been rescued for relationship.
I sing because I don’t know what else to do.
I sing for eternity.

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So, do you sing?  Why?

+PJT