01168 – What is the Purpose of a Choir?

What is the purpose of a choir? It’s not to perform difficult music before a silent and intimidated (or irritated) congregation. It’s not there to impress the faithful. It’s there to encourage the faithful to find their voices to praise God in his holiness.

It is there to give the people their voice. It is what we call a ministry: it’s what St. Paul in his letter to the Ephesians means when he says: “I entreat you then…as God has called you, live up to your calling…each of us has been given his gift, the due portion of Christ’s bounty.” (Ephesians 4: 1-11)

The ministry of music is to get the people’s imagination going, to offer God something they perhaps hadn’t realized they had in them. Music can take them out of themselves. It makes some people cry, when they feel overwhelmed by the sheer force of its beauty.

I know it’s true. I confess to being vulnerable to this when a great hymn or its descant’s majesty sweeps me off my feet. …I don’t apologize for it. That’s not cheap emotion. It’s God’s people finding their voice, their response with uplifted hearts.

from What Music Is For

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Gender-inclusive version:

It is there to give the people their voice. It is what we call a ministry: it’s what St. Paul in his letter to the Ephesians means when he says: “I entreat you then…as God has called you, live up to your calling…each of us has been given his or her gift, the due portion of Christ’s bounty.” (Ephesians 4: 1-11)

from What Music Is For

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