The Beauty of Singing Songs You Don't Like
Why Music in Church Will Never Please Everyone
One of the hardest parts of doing church is finding music everyone loves. Truthfully, it’s not going to happen. Trying to make everyone happy with song choices is a fool’s errand. But maybe that’s part of the beauty. Because coming together at church is never just about our preferences. Sometimes it’s even about singing what you’re not into.
Singing as Bond, Teacher, and Healer
Singing bonds us. It teaches us. It heals us. And perhaps surprisingly, everything modern evolutionary psychology says about why humans sing has been there all along in scripture, inviting us to at least try.
Now, maybe you hear that and think, "Fine, but I still don’t like the songs on Sunday morning." Fair enough. Music is deeply personal. Your tastes matter. If your heart belongs to Frozen on repeat, don’t let anyone talk you out of it.
The Power of Shared Melodies
But here’s the thing: on a Sunday morning with a thousand people from a thousand stories, expecting songs to resonate equally with everyone is fantasy. And yet, that’s part of the magic.
Because while your personal connection to music should remain uniquely yours, the shared act of gathering—singing songs we didn’t choose, offering words that aren’t ours, carrying melodies that might not be for us but for the person beside us—that’s where something holy happens.
Even standing in a room, singing about things you want to believe but can’t quite yet, leaning on the melody around you when you don’t have your own—this is where singing becomes far more than just sound.
More Than Music
It bonds us to the stories and people around us. It holds ideas our intellect struggles to keep. It heals wounds too deep for words, even in prayer.
Because it’s not just the song. It’s the practice of singing together that changes us—sometimes more than a sermon or creed ever could.
Singing is primitive, in the best sense. It reaches places our intellect can’t, reminding us of truths we sometimes forget.
