For my sister Nancy--I can sing a new song!

Sing a new song

I love to sing. However, I have a hard time carrying a tune. People who listen to me may have to suffer. Nevertheless, I have often sung in church choirs. Most churches are happy to have someone volunteer to sing. When I was a young person, my church was eager to hang on to its youth. This church sponsored a special choir for young people. I remember one time the choir director pointed in my direction and announced that someone was singing off key. But I didn’t think it was me since I could not hear any difference between my tune and the tunes of the people surrounding me.

When I moved to San Francisco, I briefly attended a Korean church. On my second visit I was already wearing a choir robe and singing in their choir. I don’t think that they discovered my singing disability. I think we attended that church about a month before we found an American church where our entire family could worship.

A person in my family, who I will not name, jokingly told me that I sing like a “stuck pig”. I imagine the squealing screams of a pig getting stuck in its throat with a knife. With that image I stopped singing and listened myself singing. Sure enough, I sang out of tune.

When Koreans get together, we take turns singing. When my turn comes, I refuse to sing. One time my friends press me more and more to sing. I didn’t want to be a party pooper, so I made up a tune with words in English. They were impressed and thought I was singing a song that they didn’t know. It was a new song for them. It occurred to me that I can carry a tune, but it must be a tune that no one else knows.

I still can’t carry someone else’s tune, but certainly I can carry my own tune. God has given me a new song. I sing for God and for myself. I am convinced that God is delighted in my off tune singing. Just as I am delighted when I watch kids sing off-tune at a Christmas program, I think God is delighted with my new song, even if it sounds like a stuck pig..