I Am Compelled
Our audio coach, Tony Guyer, brings us this Fertilizer.
For the love of Christ compels us, because we judge thus: that if One died for all, then all died; and He died for all, that those who live should live no longer for themselves, but for Him who died for them and rose again. 2 Corinthians 5:14-15 (NKJV)
While training audio teams, I often interact with what I have come to call Sound Janitors. A Sound Janitor shows up before the musicians and flips the switch. They power on the system and make sure the volume knob is still at the Sharpie mark. Then they get their donut and coffee.
Now there is nothing necessarily wrong with being a Sound Janitor. I started my career in sound operation as a Sound Janitor. It was fine when we only had a pastor’s mic and the organ, but as we added acoustic and electric instruments, the need for appropriate balancing became more apparent.
I am faced with how to encourage your average sound curmudgeon to move beyond being a Sound Janitor to serve purposefully. So as I am approaching this, I can’t help but ask myself, why? Why would I move beyond being the Sound Janitor? Why should I care? Why did I care?
As I reflected on these questions, the word that came to my mind was compelled. I am compelled to solve problems, to serve the listeners, the lovers of music, and the worshippers. And dare I be so bold as to say I am compelled to bring an offering to the God who made the nose of an elephant and the mystifying magic of Spanish moss, the God who created the science of sound waves, pitch, and timbre I so love to wrestle with.
Merriam-Webster defines compel as _to drive or force irresistibly._ The Bible speaks of the love of Christ compelling us, not in the dictatorial sense of forced servitude, but in an overwhelming sense of, “What else could I do but do this?”
I am drawn to love and serve. Like a powerful magnet, I am pulled into caring and into losing sleep over how to solve audio problems or how to make music sound like the music that has affected me and caused the hairs on my arm to stand up. I lose sleep because of who God is and how He loves us. I lose sleep because of who God is and how he created breathtaking art all around us.
A synonym for “compel” is “constrain.” This reminds me of one of my daughter’s favorite hymns, “Come Thou Fount.” In the fourth verse, you will find these words:
Oh, to grace, how great a debtor
Daily I’m constrained to be
Let Thy goodness, like a fetter,
Bind my wandering heart to Thee
Prone to wander, Lord, I feel it
Prone to leave the God I love
Here’s my heart, LORD, take and seal it,
Seal it for Thy courts above.
Because of God’s grace, I’m constrained. I’m compelled. Constrained to what?
Constrained to complain?
Constrained to demand that the other sound operators do things my way?
I love how the hymn writer says, Let THY goodness - God’s goodness - like a rope, tie my wandering heart to God. He knew he was prone to wander. He knew he was given to have his feelings hurt when someone didn’t agree with him or criticized him. He cries out to God to seal his heart for a higher purpose than he would usually choose.
So what compels you? Why do you wake up early on a Sunday? Why do you go to a rehearsal after a long stressful workday? Why do you put up with music you don’t prefer?
Why do you never stop trying to balance sounds and make them sound like music?
What compels YOU?
-Dave Helmuth
(purchase my book, "Worship Fertilizer: (the first hundred)" HERE)
I Am Compelled (Nº 235)
