POWER

I had a new experience recently.  Having been asked to lead singing for a Christmas party at an assisted living center, one of the party requested O Holy Night.  I led out in singing the first verse, and many people joined me, but when I started the second verse, most people dropped out.  That was not the surprising part of my evening.  After I had sung that song, there was a break in the singing while Santa delivered gifts to the gathered people.  At that time, the event organizer came to me and said "Go ahead and lead a few more songs, but try to stay away from the Christian stuff."  

Though I am not any kind of advocate for proselytizing, I have to admit that this really threw me.  Clearly, there are lots of Christmas songs that aren't Christian-Frosty the Snowman, Gramma Got Run Over by a Reindeer, and I'll Be Home for Christmas, to name a few, but I was unsure what he actually meant by "Christian stuff."   Did he mean Silent Night, Holy Night, or Away in the Manger?  What about The First Noel and Joy to the World?  I have never been asked to lead singing for a Christmas Party where I wasn't supposed to lead Christmas songs.

After reflecting, I believe that something happened during the singing of O Holy Night that stirred in the organizer.  I believe that something about that performance said something to the audience about belief.  Perhaps the party-goers were suddenly being asked for something they weren't quite ready to give.  Maybe they heard something that worried them at a deep level, and rather than look at that thing, they asked me to stop singing about it.  What I mean is this: I sang with conviction.  I sang from a place of belief.  I sang words, that for me, have an important meaning, and that meaning, carried on breath imbued with conviction had power. 

Power vibrates through systems-it thrums down the threads that connect us.  We can feel the foundations of the world tottering and trembling when something with power shifts within a space.  The singer has access to that power.  The singer can resonate with that power.  The singer can channel that power.  Empowered, the singer becomes an agent of enlightenment, exposing the real world that lies below the surfaces of our conventions.