There's this local hookah bar that my friends and I like to go to
sometimes. As we were sitting there this past Sunday night, we decided
to bring out the instruments.
He plays the guitar. I play the harmonica. And, I have a couple drums that I got over Christmas.
So, we started off with a song called Your Love is Strong by Jon Foreman.
We felt it. There were about fifteen people sitting around us, all minding their own business, having their own conversations, enjoying their company.
As we sang and played, I looked around and noticed people start glancing at us. Their interest was piqued. So, one guy pulled his chair over. And then a girl. And then some more people. And then, it was on.
I had my drums in the car, so I asked a couple people if they'd like to play them. They said yes.
Before long, we were jamming in unison. Drums, harmonicas, harmonies, guitar, vocals. Mumford and Sons, Adele, Jack Johnson, Ben Harper. It was awesome.
When I was telling my friend about this the next night, he said something that really made sense to me.
He said music is tribal. There's something about it that connects us with the divine. There's a melody that draws us close to each other and to the divine.
And, I noticed another thing while we were sitting at the hookah bar. None of us were that good.
The guitar didn't sound that great without the rhthym of the drum. The harmonicas didn't sound great without the rhythm of the guitar. The vocals didn't sound great without the lead of the guitar.
But, when we put it all together, the unison of the sound overwhelmed our individual musical shortcomings.
It was because of this phenomenon that my friend and I looked at each other afterwards and said, "We just had church."
Every tribe has a melody. Every tribe has a way to connect to the divine through that melody. And on that night, we were a tribe who didn't know each others names or backgrounds, but something drew us together, and that something was a deep and very human and very divine rhythm that beat in the core of our beings. It was tribal. It was church. It was unison.
I left there feeling like I had just had a deep and effective spiritual experience because I did have a deep and effective spiritual experience. We all started out as performers and ended up as audience members, receiving what we couldn't put into words - receiving an outpouring of the divine in unison.
We all need to be part of a tribe. We all need melody. We all need to experience unison, and we all need to experience what God does when we bring our melodies together. It's breathtaking.
He plays the guitar. I play the harmonica. And, I have a couple drums that I got over Christmas.
So, we started off with a song called Your Love is Strong by Jon Foreman.
We felt it. There were about fifteen people sitting around us, all minding their own business, having their own conversations, enjoying their company.
As we sang and played, I looked around and noticed people start glancing at us. Their interest was piqued. So, one guy pulled his chair over. And then a girl. And then some more people. And then, it was on.
I had my drums in the car, so I asked a couple people if they'd like to play them. They said yes.
Before long, we were jamming in unison. Drums, harmonicas, harmonies, guitar, vocals. Mumford and Sons, Adele, Jack Johnson, Ben Harper. It was awesome.
When I was telling my friend about this the next night, he said something that really made sense to me.
He said music is tribal. There's something about it that connects us with the divine. There's a melody that draws us close to each other and to the divine.
And, I noticed another thing while we were sitting at the hookah bar. None of us were that good.
The guitar didn't sound that great without the rhthym of the drum. The harmonicas didn't sound great without the rhythm of the guitar. The vocals didn't sound great without the lead of the guitar.
But, when we put it all together, the unison of the sound overwhelmed our individual musical shortcomings.
It was because of this phenomenon that my friend and I looked at each other afterwards and said, "We just had church."
Every tribe has a melody. Every tribe has a way to connect to the divine through that melody. And on that night, we were a tribe who didn't know each others names or backgrounds, but something drew us together, and that something was a deep and very human and very divine rhythm that beat in the core of our beings. It was tribal. It was church. It was unison.
I left there feeling like I had just had a deep and effective spiritual experience because I did have a deep and effective spiritual experience. We all started out as performers and ended up as audience members, receiving what we couldn't put into words - receiving an outpouring of the divine in unison.
We all need to be part of a tribe. We all need melody. We all need to experience unison, and we all need to experience what God does when we bring our melodies together. It's breathtaking.
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