Happy Songs Sometimes Make Me Mad

smiley Singing cheerful songs to a person with a heavy heart
is like taking someone’s coat in cold weather or pouring vinegar in a wound. – Proverbs 25:20

We sing cheerful songs. We celebrate the things that God has done. God is good all the time, and we sing about that. But, what about the guy whose wife just left him? What about the woman who just found out she had a lump. What about the kid who is living with struggles to fit in? What about that person who carries a heart of pain? By how I lead, do I sometimes say “Just sing a happy song and it will all be OK.”

Sunday night a guy I knew from high school showed up at church. His life was crashing. His wife and he were separated and he was incredibly lonely. He was broken. He knew he had made a mess of things. His heart was heavy. Anybody could see that. He had no use for happy-clappy songs. We talked for a bit after the worship gathering. He is not ready to make a commitment to Christ. More than anything I wanted to sweep him into a community that would connect and love him and show him Christ. At a critical life-changing moment, he came to the church. He is looking for connection and answers. Will we be able to offer what he needs? My hope is that we will. My fear is that we will not.

But we do have some great happy songs.

photo by: darren copley

This post has 2 comments

  1. Aye. Most definitely. Too much \”happiness all the time.\” No wonder Christians can seem so plastic. =(

    One of the things I think I loved so much about the worship at MCC was that I usually WAS down… but the way God helped you to lead the music, you drew me out of that in the first few songs to the point where I COULD praise God with a jubilant song by the end, because I had given him my burdens in the first few songs which created an atmosphere for giving it God.

    God bless,
    ~Scott

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