Today I find myself sitting in a Methodist Church in downtown Salt Lake. I'm here for my youngest child's violin recital. Stained glass windows and handcarved wooden benches with amazing acoustics. I picked up the hymnal and began thimbing through its pages. I saw hymns I've known my entire intermingled with hymns I've never heard. It's this shared music that has my mind turning.
My faith journey has always been partially connected through music. Roughly 10 years ago I began listening to a Christian pop station on the radio. I felt the divine move through me in such a new way by listening to this music. One song that deeply inpacted me is by a group called Kutless and entitled "That's What Faith Can Do".
It was during this time that I attended Granger Christian Church. In some ways I still view it as my home. The music director made music an integral part of each service. He asked what peoples favorite hymns werr and spent the next few weeks highlighting those and letting all know who had chosen that hymn. I spent many sundays looking through the hymnal. I found new songs to enjoy and set aside many of my childhood for ones that lifted my changing faith.
When I returned to the LDS church I realized how much I missed the music. It had become a footnote of worship rather than a way to praise the Divine. I was warned about the untruths in mainstream Christian music. Somehow it felt disingenuous. I was even cautioned at one point about watching Christian movies because they were not church created. This was such a struggle for me because I felt the Divine more in these non-LDS created movies and music.
When I quit attending my ward and started to search in earnest on my own is when I found the Divine exists in so many different ways and places. It was the music that first time atttending Community of Christ which brought the Divine into my experience. While some weeks there isn't as much in the way of music. It is still a musically charged atmosphere. Songs are always played through once before the congregation joins in. I've learned to hear the music in the laughter and tears. I've learned to hear the music which resides in the hearts of each person if you but listen.
So today I listen not just to the youthful students who play their Suzuki music. But to quietly listen to the songs which sing in each persons heart. It is why I can sit within a few feet of my ex-husband and his wife. It is at these moments in which the songs of our hearts align with the love of our child.
Music connects each of us in a way nothing else can. Just take the time and you can find the music within you.
