In serving God, the more highly skilled are not more important to Him

I was in church choirs for the bulk of my life since I was 10, save for a gap of some

years when my children were still young. Perhaps when I was younger I was not mature

in life yet and so was unable to perceive certain things that were happening. Perhaps it was my mind renewed by the Holy Spirit in my adulthood that enabled me to observe a general phenomenon in church choirs.

I realized that there is a very thin line between serving God and serving for self-glory, when we serve in church choirs. It is easy to cross that line when we do not walk close to Jesus by keeping to His teachings in the bible. It is possible that this thin line exists more predominantly in church choirs than in other ministries such as catechesis or canteen helpers, as choirs sing and play music, which some members may perceive as performing to an audience.

And indeed, I have heard members make a Freudian slip in using the term ‘audience’ instead of ‘congregation’. In light of this, the congregation should not applaud after the choir sings, so as not to promote self-glory among the choir members. The basic function of a church choir is to help the congregation join in the singing so that they can sing prayerfully, and consequently get closer to God. However, if the choir perceives themselves as ‘performing’, this perception can lead to certain consequences as they do not have congregation participation as the main objective.

The first is that the choir may make certain decisions that will leave the congregation unable to join in and only able to listen to the ‘performance’. In their aim to give a good ‘performance’, they may sing certain parts of a familiar hymn in different or new styles, leaving the congregation unable to join in and sing prayerfully.

A choir may also have the misperception that their top priority should be to reach the highest standard of singing or music possible, as they feel that they must give their best to God. Giving our best to God is certainly not wrong, but it should not be at the expense of treating one another with love. I have seen situations where such a goal leads to the leader and members treating members unfairly or unkindly, distinguishing between those who are more talented and those who are less skilled. Although I have not read every single page of the bible yet, I am fully convinced, upon reading the New Testament, that the above goal should not be more important than how we treat one another.

In fact, we are reminded that God has given each of us different talents. They are not of our own creation. It is God’s choice to make somebody more talented than someone else, but that does not mean that God values the service of the talented more than that of the less skilled. God loves us equally, regardless of what talents he has given each of us. The angels’ singing and music in heaven must be so amazing and inimitable; I doubt God is watching to see how wonderful our singing and music are. I believe what He wants to see is how we love one another. There are at least a few verses that tell us that we should not see ourselves as more important or more valuable in the choir just because we are more talented:

Romans 12:3-6 – “In the light of the grace I have received I want to urge each one among you not to exaggerate his real importance … all of us, in union with Christ, form one body, and as parts of it we belong to each other. Our gifts differ according to the grace given us.”
1 Corinthians 4:6-7 – “It is not for you, so full of your own importance, to go taking sides for one man against another. In any case, brother, has anybody given you some special right? What do you have that was not given to you? And if it was given, how can you boast as though it were not?”
James 4:6 – “God opposes the proud, but he gives generously to the humble.”
Philippians 2:3-4 – “There must be no competition among you, no conceit; but everybody is to be self-effacing. Always consider the other person to be better than yourself, so that nobody thinks of his own interests first but everybody thinks of other people’s interests instead.”

It is also emphasized in Deuteronomy 10:12-13, “What does Yahweh your God ask of you? Only this: to fear Yahweh your God, to follow all his ways, to love him, to serve Yahweh your God with all your heart and all your soul, to keep the commandments and laws of Yahweh.” I believe that nowhere in the bible does God tell us that we must give him the highest quality of singing or music, and disregard how we treat one another in the process. Love is more important to God than how talented we are – “If I have all the eloquence of men or of angels, but speak without love, I am simply a gong booming or a cymbal clashing” (1 Corinthians 13:1).

So let’s put loving one another as our top priority in whatever we do, in whatever capacity we are serving God. What God wants most of all is love – “The whole of the Law is summarized in a single command: Love your neighbour as yourself” (Galatians 5:14).