I’ve been very encouraged by all those who have spoken to me with a measure of relief after the last article I wrote (‘Mediocrity is underrated’, en, October 2019).
To be honest, I thought the article itself lived up to its title very well (or rather, adequately well!), but it seemed to have given comfort to some who have been feeling the pressure to excel in ways that are not prescribed in Scripture.
Servant hearted
One man thought that for him, even reaching mediocrity was ‘too ambitious a goal’! A lady who spoke to me has had to start playing the piano for her church because there are no other musicians able to take the lead in this way. She didn’t feel her skills would be good enough, but she was happy to let the church’s need outweigh her own lack of confidence.
I’m sure this is a common experience, but this is much more encouraging than when someone is unwilling to serve because they don’t want to be associated with anything less than perfection.
Even in my own church family, where there are some ‘excellent’ musicians, sometimes they’re nearly all away on training weekends – this can leave me playing the piano with the right hand, the bass on a keyboard with my left whilst trying to sing the tune. The results I produce are invariably far from excellent! However, the lady I mentioned earlier has been practising hard, working through keyboard coaching blogs from the Internet, and making sure her identity is grounded firmly in Jesus alone.
Keep the main thing the main thing
In October, a friend (Elliot) went home to be with Jesus at the age of 25. He was someone who I had described in my article as a mediocre bass player (just as to many I am described as a mediocre piano player, a pragmatist and all sorts of other things!). But Elliot’s attitude reminded me that Jesus commends godliness and not skillful excellence. If we are church musicians, we are simply (but gloriously) children of a Heavenly Father who loves us and who wants us to remain faithful and obedient to Him till the day we meet Him in all His beauty (Psalm 27). This means that we can be faithful even if we miss the world’s standards of excellence by a long way.
Just hours before he died, Elliot said he didn’t want to waste his cancer. Well, his testimony has been seen by people from all over the world (https://thir.st/blog/25-year-old-elliot-soh-cancer/) and we pray that many who have read it will put their trust in Jesus. But Elliot was also keen for people to know that it doesn’t matter how excellent our gifting is – just so long as our names are written in the Book of Life.
At the same time, I’m thankful to God for all those in our congregations who suffer our attempts to serve as church musicians, and yet who say nothing to discourage us or to disqualify us. I think of all those who didn’t even consider the quality of Elliot’s bass playing, and who were just grateful that a brother was serving graciously, sacrificially and humbly. I think of others who put up with me and the music I produce by treasuring Jesus’ concerns above their own. I think of those whose faces show that they are as passionate for Jesus when singing along to the organ as when the drummer shifts on to cymbals for the chorus. I think of all those who bring guests to our public meetings because their confidence is in the word of God and not in the quality of the music. Of course, all this might mean that they just don’t think about the music as much as we’d like to think they do, but it’s still a big encouragement when our musical inadequacies are quickly forgiven and forgotten.
Christian excellence is...
In this respect, Philippians 1:9-11 is very apt as it describes the type of excellence that Christians should pursue: ‘And it is my prayer that your love may abound more and more, with knowledge and all discernment, so that you approve what is excellent, and so be pure and blameless for the day of Christ, filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ, to the glory and praise of God.’ Amen.
