Pat told me that this is a story that I must share with you. If you know my husband, and his sense of humor, you know that I did something incredibly not smart or I put my foot in my mouth. In this case, it was both.
First, let me say that I love all our music ministers. They are fabulous. Their songs minister to my heart. They are talented people and I appreciate them very much. There are several people involved, but in this story I will only mention Pastor Mike, Eric, and Dan.
A few weeks ago, as we were leaving church, I stopped to talk to Eric about a song that I thought would be a great church song. The song is by Ellie Holcomb and is called Anchor of Hope. It is linked below.
And because it is always more run to be humiliated in front of several people, Pastor Mike and Dan were also present - so half of our church's worship team.
“What kind of song is it, Donna?” Eric asked.
“Well, it has great lyrics and I think it would be good for church.” Realizing that my description was remarkably unspecific, I continued with complete sincerity, ”Eric, I love when you sing. When you sing, you make everyone else sound better.” Everyone, but Captain Obvious here, laughed.
Did my husband leave my statement alone? No! He jumped in and stirred the pot. “Wow, Eric, I think she just said that you must be pretty bad if when you sing you make everyone else sound better.” The guys roared, and always the fast thinker, I realized that my statement could possibly be taken as an insult, which it completely was not in my mind.
I desperately tried to explain myself. “No, Eric, it’s just that your voice is so good that it helps to make even someone like me sound better.” Yup, I was digging the hole deeper. While everyone else was laughing at the great compliment I had given Eric, I quickly told him that I would email him a link to the song and hurried off, hoping that Eric had understood. Of course, he didn’t. Eric went home and asked his lovely wife, Katie, “I know Donna meant it to be nice, but exactly how could that be a good thing?”
I have the privilege of working in the same school as Eric, so on Monday morning, I found Eric in his classroom. The poor man is never safe from me.
I apologized and tried again to explain. So here is what I meant and I hope it isn’t insulting again. Eric has a beautiful voice that is easy to listen to and easy to follow. There are lots of musicians that I enjoy listening to, but I would never attempt to sing with them, like Pavorati. Eric’s voice fills in the squeaks and squeals of even my singing. I think that Eric’s voice holds the group together somehow and compliments it. His voice is like grace poured out.
Katie explained to me that Eric sings tenor. So...my unmusical self looked that up on Wikepedia - so you know that it has to be true. “The name "tenor" derives from the Latin word tenere, which means "to hold". The tenor is the structurally fundamental (or 'holding') vocal. All other voices are normally calculated in relation to the tenor...”
Which goes to prove my point...Eric does have a voice that makes everyone else sound better.
“The LORD your God is with you,
he is mighty to save.
He will take great delight in you,
he will quiet you with his love,
he will rejoice over you with singing." Zeph.3:17 (NIV)
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