10/27/2026
We can ALL make a joyful noise to the Lord!
It’s says “noise”- not a perfect, in tune note! We all can do some noise, and each of us can be joyful in our musical praise! We’re praising our God, and our noise is only for God, not the people around you.
Give it a try this coming Sunday!
🎶🎉🎶🎉🎶🎉🎶🎉🎶🎉🎶🎉🎶🎉🎶🎉🎶🎉🎶🎉🎶
A NOTICE TO THOSE WHO DO NOT SING
THE FOLLOWING PICTURE DESCRIPTION IS PROVIDED FOR THOSE WHO USE SCREEN READERS and those who may struggle to read all the text of the poster on a smartphone screen.
Picture description: A cream-coloured parish poster with a decorative burgundy border. In the top-left corner, Lionel P. Hargreaves, an older man of Afro-Caribbean origins with short white hair, a white beard and round spectacles, presses his index fingers into his ears with a pained expression. He wears a tweed jacket, cream waistcoat and burgundy tie. Beside him is the title “A Notice to Those Who Do Not Sing”. The notice appears below in two columns, with numbered burgundy headings. St Faithful’s name, the website address and the strapline “Faithful, not Finished” complete the design. The full text follows.
A NOTICE TO THOSE WHO DO NOT SING
From Lionel P. Hargreaves, D.Mus.
It has come to my attention that several members of the congregation do not sing the hymns because they “cannot sing”.
Kindly allow me to make that assessment. I have qualifications.
If you are waiting until you possess a beautiful voice before joining in, you have misunderstood congregational singing. We should have a very small congregation under those conditions, and certain clergy would be obliged to mime.
Please observe the following:
1. You do not need to audition.
The person beside you has not passed an examination either. Confidence should never be mistaken for certification.
2. Begin approximately when everyone else begins.
If uncertain, listen to the organ introduction. That is what it is for. It is not incidental music provided while you finish discussing your conservatory.
3. A wrong note need not become a permanent commitment.
You are permitted to change your mind halfway through it. Some of our most enthusiastic singers appear to regard this as doctrinal weakness.
4. If the hymn is unfamiliar, listen for a verse.
Then join in. Nobody expects you to know everything before you start. Were that a requirement of church membership, the Rector assures me we should all be outside.
5. Please do not apologise for your voice.
One gentleman recently told me that his late wife had always done the singing for both of them. He now stands silently because he can still hear where she would have come in.
He is welcome to stand silently for as long as he needs.
But if, one morning, he wishes to try the tune himself, I hope the rest of you will be singing sufficiently warmly that he need not feel exposed.
That is one useful function of a congregation.
The Rector has asked whether this means I am relaxing my musical standards.
Certainly not. I am explaining what they are for.
Please turn to the opening hymn.
All of you who can.
Lionel P. Hargreaves, D.Mus.
Organist
stfaithfuls dot com
Faithful, not Finished
