"It has been on your mind for some time that the emerging worship service-related talent in the church needs to be identified and developed. To this end, you arrange for a morning at the church where, for half an hour at a time, you talk to and enjoy the presentations of each of the prospective worship team members. It proves to be a wonderful experience as you discover instrumental gifts and gifts of singing, poetry, drama, dance (and some gifts you're not even sure how to describe). It is clear that for some, further experimentation about their area of giftedness will be necessary but for the most part, God has undoubtedly given to your church wonderful fresh expressions of worship to honor him with. By placing yourself in this environment and opening your heart and mind, you have not been disappointed.
The second last person you spend time with is Angel, a new Christian at your church whose journey you find out has taken her – as they say – to hell and back, at the hands of other people. Moved by her powerful story of God's grace, you ask Angel to sing for you. What follows is one of the most heartfelt performances you've seen and heard - not just today, but ever! The song is one of Angel's own compositions. It is a declaration of intent to discover God's work in one's life regardless of circumstance and to make him Lord over the rest of it. It is all the more powerful because you are hearing it as a summary in song of her life story. All you can do at the end of the song is sit and smile as you feel tears come to your eyes. You respectfully ask Angel if she would be prepared to tell her story in one of the worship services in the coming weeks. With graceful humility, she agrees.
Part way through the sermon on Angel's big week, you feel a sense of uneasiness as Pastor Steve lays down another sobering point about the wrath of God and His definitive judgement over the earth. You find yourself understanding the sermon and the gravity of its message but at the same time wondering if this was perhaps the best week to present Angel's story and song after all. Pastor Steve finishes with the stories of Jesus clearing the Temple with a whip and calling the Pharisees a brood of vipers and then Angel uncomfortably moves to the stage. While a little disoriented as they mentally try to relate Angel's story to the sermon, a number of the congregation members appear to be quite moved by what they hear (presumably by either somehow connecting the sermon and the story or by ignoring the sermon and focusing on the story). Angel then asks the congregation to join with her in singing her beautiful song. It begins well and the congregation heartily join in but when the first chorus is reached, Angel is visibly put off. There are strange shrieking sounds coming from the congregation and some members even look as if they are in physical pain… Then it dawns on you, that while Angel and yourself have particularly high vocal range, her beautiful song is nowhere near the manageable range of any normal congregation. Captured by the words and motivated by the story of God's work in Angel's life, the congregation tries harder and harder to sing this beautiful but extremely high song. Angel's heartfelt countenance of the audition day has now turned to frequent looks in your direction with eyes that say 'help me!' At the end of the song, you watch in agony as Angel walks off the stage and sits down at her seat with her head down. You reflect, I should have known better than to put her through that.”