Bring All of Yourself

My friend Rev. Misha shared this poem by Michael Frazier on social media and I share it here with you:

At Church, I Tell My Mom She’s Singing Off-Key and She Says,

I ain’t off-key. I just stepped out the key

so when I return,

you can understand the key a little bit better.

The preacher isn’t the only

teacher. Why hit a note on the head

when I can kill it? You mean to tell me

you come here week after week and want the same old Amazing

Grace? Just cause the Blood will never lose its power

don’t mean a melody won’t.

My ministry may not be song, but I got a song

to sing. I done made it from Sunday

to Sunday. You expect me not to celebrate

and thank God, with my hands raised,

my flats off, my full and open

throat?

As one who loves taking liberties with melodies, I can certainly relate to the idea of singing off-key (except it’s really not off-key to me). I love singing Amazing Grace! And I love to sing it with freedom and passion, embellishing the melody in places; singing louder and softer as the spirit moves me. She is right: when we sing the same song every Sunday, doing something to make it fresh is a good idea.

And I love the sentiment in the poem which says: my voice in this worship service is important.

this hour of worship is important to me and I am going to get the most out of it! and: I bring all of myself to church: all of my passion and all of my personality. As I read the poem, I picture a Black woman in a Black church. The culture and the norms of the Black church make worship more about expression and engagement rather than quietly receiving and reflecting. And that fits for my personality too: I love boisterous singing in worship. I love congregants speaking up with “Amen!” or other comments during the sermon.

And I believe that embodied spirituality is the most powerful. When we sing hymns together, I feel the harmony. When Beth plays a piano solo, I sway to the music. When we pray and when we share our joys and concerns, I breathe into my body and feel it. And outside the walls of the sanctuary, I find the most powerful spirituality in nature (such as walking through crunchy leaves or diving into a cool lake) and in connection (such as hugging my kids).

As the poem says, we’ve all got a song to sing. It is a song of our lived experience, our hopes and dreams and heartbreaks. May we all find the place to sing our song – in whatever key we choose.

PRAYER:

Spirit of Love and Life,

God of all worship and of all Nature,

Bless us every one—as we feel our feelings,

as we live our lives of pain and joy,

and as we find expression for our deepest truths.

May it be so.

Rev. Drew Frantz

October 27, 2026