Sing praise to the Lord

So last week I was asked to help the Spanish Branch create a choir for their Ward Conference in two weeks *gulp. I of course said yes, as I always do but I did wonder how I would be able to pull this all off since my choir is singing in two weeks as well *double gulp! I haven't had time for friends or other things and here I was committing myself to another responsibility that would take time.
Well an amazing thing happened from saying yes. I went home from church on Sunday and fed my daughter lunch, feeling kind of rushed. We dashed over to the Spanish Branch only to find that they were still in the middle of service. I was pretty much forced to slow down, and pay attention as my daughter asked me to translate what was being said. A friend that I have been wanting to see, but neither of our schedules have made that possible, was there and I got to spend some time with him. I saw people that I love very much but haven't seen in a while were happy to see me and our friendship is just as strong as if we were never apart. As the choir practice started I had to move people around so that they were in the right group for their voices, most of them didn't know what part they sang and listening to the voices I was able to see that some people that thought they were basses were tenors, sopranos were actually altos. As we were singing one of the songs I noticed that some of them were not singing the proper notes and one of the guys was very tense. I asked him if he was nervous and he said that he was because he didn't know the song, so learning new notes and the words was hard for him. I took what I thought would be a brief moment to reassure him. What happened next was truly amazing and I take no credit for it.
As I started to talk about the service they were performing a sweet spirit came into the room and a hush fell over the choir. I spoke of how the Lord magnifies the talents of choirs when they are singing praise to the Lord. I told them that honestly it didn't matter if they were perfect, if they hit the right notes and said the right words. I explained that the thing that mattered was that they were singing because they love God and their fellow church members. The words kept coming as I told them they would be blessed for their time and talents and that if they sang from their hearts the Lord would be pleased and that the congregation would feel their love. It was so amazing to be able to testify that the Lord loved them and that He appreciated their time and talents.
I know that is true, I have heard choirs, very talented choirs, I have even sung in a few, that were technically perfect. The music was beautiful, the harmonies amazing, but there was no heart. And I have heard choirs that messed up and yet the feeling from the song was so much more powerful than the perfect choirs. A young man played piano at church Sunday. It was pretty, he got frustrated because he messed up right at the very end of the song, but I felt such a tender sweetness as he played. It invited the spirit into the room and everyone felt it.

Psalms 98:4   

Make a joyful noise unto the Lord, all the earth: make a loud noise and rejoice, and sing praise.

Psalms 95:1

O come, let us sing unto the Lord: let us make a joyful noise to the rock of our salvation.

If you will notice, it does not say "sing only if you are classically trained, only if you have perfect pitch". It says make a joyful NOISE!! It doesn't matter what our training is, what our voice sounds like, what matters is that we rejoice and sing praise. What matters is that we sing from our hearts in gratitude and love!