The song service at worship this Sunday in Searcy was enjoyable. During one of the songs, the worship leader asked the congregation to join in the song one group at at a time. The sopranos would begin, then the altos would join on the next verse, then the tenor, and then the bass. It seemed to be a reasonable request, and idea works well with this hymn. The sopranos were singing the first verse, and it was lovely – nearly. Two hundred female voices in beautiful unison, and one old man across the aisle who decided that they couldn’t sing the song without him. Why did he not honor the instructions of the worship leader? This may not seem like a big deal, but I think that it is a symptom of a larger problem. Why did he not go along with the congregation?
Was he hard of hearing? This was proved to be untrue a few minutes later.
Did he think that it was inappropriate for women to sing without a male voice leading? If this was so, he was usurping the authority of the elders, because the elders had approved the worship leader and the order of worship.
Did he believe that it was wrong for anything less than the entire congregation to sing? Again, he not only single-handedly overruled the elders, but abused the intelligence and authority of the worship leader as well.
Did he think that he had the right to sing for the sake of his own joy regardless of the group’s enjoyment of worship? This question finally gets us closer to the core issue: the asserted rights of the individual versus the desired unity of the community. Much of modern philosophy and American thought has emphasized the existential, the importance of the individual over the community. But such an emphasis is not consistent with biblical thought. Remember the word of Paul that we looked at on Saturday?
For by the grace given to me I say to everyone among you not to think of yourself more highly than you ought to think, but to think with sober judgment, each according to the measure of faith that God has assigned. For as in one body we have many members, and not all the members have the same function, so we, who are many, are one body in Christ, and individually we are members one of another. We have gifts that differ according to the grace given to us: prophecy, in proportion to faith; ministry, in ministering; the teacher, in teaching; the exhorter, in exhortation; the giver, in generosity; the leader, in diligence; the compassionate, in cheerfulness. (Romans 12:3-8 – NRSV)
Somehow being a part of a community carries certain obligations - what are those obligations? What do we do when the desires of the individual conflict with the norms of the community? How do we decide which commitments are more important? What does it mean to be a part of a community? We will be talking about this more through the week, but let me give you a beginning question to think about.
Can you disobey the social norms (or rules) of the community and still be a member?
Think about it.
Blessings,
Ron
