God Bless The Peacocks

Over the weekend I got to see peacocks on a trip to Carroll county with my dad. Peacocks are relatively ignoble birds, that have been much publicized in our culture through NBC a seemingly ignoble network. They're greatest popularity was probably in a time when there was no Home Depot with hundreds of color choices in their paint department. In the world that was plain the colorful feathers that peacocks provided were used as decoration. Now I think the peacock is taken for granted and rarely thought of at all. But not by the peacock itself. The male peacocks strut for females and it seems for anyone else. They extend their feathers to full erect bloom and walk about inviting all on-lookers to enjoy the beauty on display. Peacocks are often associated with pride, probably unfair, because in reality they are beautiful birds.

I'm going to share something that will one day get me into trouble. Forty years from now this statement will likely come back to bite me. Sooner I would think.

I think musicians in the body of Christ are like peacocks. Let me try to keep this brief and suffice to say that I am thankful for the ministry of musically inclined friends who work vocationally in the ministry of music. Music is beautiful, God created, and beneficial to the human expression of worship. Now having said that I believe often worship leaders get caught up in the beautiful art of music as though it is the most important thing in the world. And let's be honest, many of them strut in front of the crowd. For the peacock it is the biggest favor he can do the world to rise to full bloom and display God's gift to the world through him.

Recently a question arose about one of the songs we sing at SRC, "You dance over me while I am unaware." Where in the Bible does it say that God dances over us? Well, the answer is: nowhere. Musicians, artists, writers will tell you that according to Zephaniah 3:17 God's delight and rejoicing could be translated dance. That is a really weak argument. Their better argument would be: we're musicians, artists and writers. God's gift of literary devices in poetry like metaphor is beautiful enough. The Psalms are filled with exaggerations and expressions that shouldn't be taken literally, but when understood figuratively give us a great appreciation for God.

I'm saying let the peacocks be the peacocks. When I attend worship events and the leaders are obviously strutting their stuff, I can sometimes have the tendency to think "showoff". Over the last couple years I've come to realize that they are probably just trying their best to be the best they can be, and I believe God receives glory from it. When I encounter them I say, "God bless the peacocks." Otherwise we would be missing the color and animation of God's creation.

--Ben