Tr And The Celestial Choir

Tr and the Celestial Choir

Be filled with the Holy Spirit, singing . . . and making music to the Lord in your hearts.

Ephesians 5:18-19

One of the great joys in my life is singing. I came by my ability naturally because my dad was a singer with a big bass voice that he used to glorify God. So I love to hear great basses sing. They get to sing a lot of what I call the “good parts”—runs, leads, and sometimes solos.

The bass notes anchor the song and often are the notes upon which the chords of a song—the foundation—are built. Without the bass line, songs just don’t feel tethered, at least not to me.

The fable is told that former president Theodore Roosevelt died and ascended to heaven. There he bustled about and made himself quite a nuisance by insisting that he be entrusted with some major responsibility. After all, he had run a huge country, so surely he should be in charge of something significant in heaven.

At last, weary of his insistence, the heavenly powers instructed Peter to authorize TR to organize and train a celestial choir to replace the old one, which they felt had gone to seed. So Peter gave TR the good news.

TR continued to be a nuisance, though, by the fierce persistence with which he pressed his requisitions for the new choir.

“I must have ten thousand sopranos,” he told the bewildered and weary Peter. “And I need ten thousand contraltos, and ten thousand tenors. And hurry. Hurry! Everything is waiting on you.”

“Yes, yes, all right,” said Peter, “and how about basses?”

Roosevelt fixed Peter with a scornful glare and bellowed, “I’ll sing bass!”

Perhaps TR could hold down the bass section alone, but if my dad is around, I predict TR will be sitting second chair.

Thank you for music, Father! It is a source of such beauty and contentment for me. I will sing your praises as long as I have voice. Amen.