I was struck by something Dr. Tim Mulder said in his wonderful sermon on Sunday, November 4th. While conventional wisdom says that we think ourselves into new ways of behaving, the reality in life is often just the opposite: we actually behave our ways into new ways of thinking. Or put in a musical and spiritual context, we sing ourselves into new ways of believing.

It’s been said many times that the theology we remember is that which we sing. People often cite “Jesus Loves Me” as an example of a song they learned as a child that made an indelible impression on their spiritual life. Many could also cite songs that left a spiritual scar, perhaps tapping into a reservoir of shame or causing them to feel they will never be fully accepted by God and the church just as they are. Why does music have such power to shape our spiritual journey for better or worse?

One reason is that when we sing we directly engage not only the body and mind but the heart. The instrument upon which we are playing is our very own self, the breath we use is the breath of God which gives us life, the words are shaped with our own lips and the ideas are framed by our own experience. As Victoria Sirota says in her book Preaching to the Choir, “If the Spirit of God resides in the breath, then music, which allows us to breathe together as one body, is a manifestation of that spirit.”  I believe music is the highway from head to heart, and it is in the fertile soil of the heart where faith can spread its roots deeply in our life. Singing is one way to physicalize our beliefs – moving them from concept to reality, from private conviction to public proclamation.

The summer before I came to New York to attend Juilliard I was a student at the Aspen Music Festival. I became involved in a Friday evening bible study which was dynamic. There was a lot of singing—often we went late into the night. One evening someone suggested we go out on the mall in downtown Aspen and sing there as a form of witnessing to the nightlife and passersby. That’s where I drew the line. I had been enjoying the singing immensely but I was not ready to publicly declare my faith.  However, that became a “defining moment” in my life, as Dr. Mulder called it on Sunday. Here was a group of incredible musicians, many of whom would go on to have renowned careers, but what truly inspired me was their “interior singing”, the evidence of the Spirit at work in these on-fire Christians.  That evening I entered into a personal relationship with Jesus for the first time, and I experienced a spiritual awakening, a rebirth that has shaped my life forever.

Make no mistake—since then I’ve experienced scorching dry spells, massive doubts, personal struggles, countless turnings in the pathway of my faith, but I forever see my life through the lens of what happened that night.

The 12-step program has a powerful saying: “Act as if.” It’s a reminder to those struggling with addiction that you can’t think your way into sobriety. And it is equally improbable that we will think our way into faith.

The next time you come to a worship service I invite you to consider singing your way into a new way of believing. Those great defining moments of change in our life are rare. But the little awakenings and mini epiphanies that come to us through our singing are numerous and we must learn to recognize and cherish them. Taken together they help shape us into the men and women God is calling us to be.