Can We Really Sing It That Way?

Here's one way it works:
     Just sit right back and you'll hear a tale, a tale of a fateful trip.
     I once was lost but now am found, was blind but now I see.

Gilligan's Island and Amazing Grace can be sung to each other's tunes because they are both written using the same musical meter.

In 5th grade I took the music aptitude tests with the only thought of playing drums. The results came back and the band director told my mom something like this, "Well, Mrs. Williams, maybe with some lessons he might be able to learn to play the drums." I still remember lessons in flams, paradiddles and five-stroke rolls at Mr. Banning's home studio throughout 6th grade. I returned to drum set lessons in my late 40's for about a year. Even now a nice donated drum set is in the parsonage basement.

But my greater music education has come through marriage and the Church. I married well. Beverly, my wife, has a wonderful singing voice. As a congregation we have been blessed through the years by good musical leadership, and celebrate the current vocal/instrumental gifts of Bob Lightner, Jenna Johnson, Pete Laman, Mikha Sitorus, Tammy Kling, Beverly Williams and many special music vocalists.

Often times we sing along with the special music songs in worship. Finding ways of connecting through music deepens our experience of grace. It's even more fun to discover relationships among songs themselves.

Common meter is a 4-line poetic stanza with alternating lines of 8 and 6 syllables (86.86 in our United Methodist Hymnal). Amazing Grace; O, For a Thousand Tongues to Sing; All Hail the Power of Jesus' Name; Gilligan's Island; and House of the Rising Sun all use common meter.

I appreciate learning the many ways we sing the Lord's songs in our congregation and the many ways we find to share our gifts for ministry.

Appreciating the relational power of common meter also can work theologically. As United Methodists these are the major beliefs and affirmations we hold in common with other Christians:

• Belief in the Triune God (Father, Son and Holy Spirit);
• Faith in the mystery of salvation in and through Jesus Christ;
• Belief that the reign of God is both a present and future reality;
• Belief in the authority of Scripture in matters of faith;
• Confession that our justification as sinners is by grace through faith;
• The sober realization that the church is in need of continual reformation and renewal;
• And affirmation of the general ministry of all baptized Christians who share responsibility for building up the church and reaching out in mission and service to the world.

"Nourished by common roots of this shared Christian heritage, the branches of Christ’s church have developed diverse traditions that enlarge our store of shared understandings" (Book of Discipline 2008, Paragraph 101, Section 1).

I hope 2013 is a year of singing and serving in new and inspiring ways. May we be open to the power of common, connecting gifts of God in our midst.