Some years ago, the military chapel community I served was blessed with a wonderful volunteer with a lovely voice who also played flute like an angel. (And you never saw anyone practice so diligently!) When her husband was transferred out of the area, she and I lost track of one another and just recently got back in touch. She wrote:

The choir was a refuge for a Navy wife like me with four small children and a husband who was always gone. I have come to realize how important the music ministry is to the faith of the members, not just to the people that they minister to. Thank you so much for helping me out during that time.

Oddly enough, I had no idea I was helping her out; I was just so grateful to her for sharing her talents in spite of (or perhaps because of) her busy life. Turns out we were ministering to one another.

Ministering to the ministers—I think the concept is crucial to what we do. All of us involved in music ministry—as director, as singer, as instrumentalist or accompanist, as cantor and, not least, as assembly member—are called to minister to one another.

There’s more to this than shared responsibility or cheerful fellowship. There’s more to it than appropriate music selection or successful recruiting. We are called not only to deepen our own faith but to strengthen one another’s faith. We are called to be Christ to one another not only through the talents we share but through the way we use them.

In the next few weeks, we’ll take some time to expand on this concept of ministering to the ministers.