Faithworms
I had rehearsed 3 hours for a performance until I knew the music for the worship service. I had the music down so well that it was first nature to me. The concert was a great night and I left feeling good about my performance and God’s faithfulness.
However, for the next two days the lyrics to one song echoed in my brain. Seriously, it was like a scene from Groundhog Day. It would not stop. Over and over again the tune would rule my thoughts. My wife was even humming the same tune. I tried playing a playlist in my office at annoying levels. Nothing worked.
This type of loop in the brain is called an earworm. Tone sequences, words, and smells trigger a thought pattern in our mind. A memory signals our brain and auto control begins as a song emerges from gray matter. The song could be completely out of context. A businessman once explained that the subway chime caused him to sing Somewhere Over The Rainbow. That’s not a subway that I will be on anytime soon. I can see the whole train breaking out into song like a bad Broadway musical.
As frustrating as these earworms can be, it’s great news to a worship pastor like myself. The memories that could be attached to our hymns or praise songs can be caught in the web of our minds and its personal experiences. In a moment we could start singing all day a word of hope, faith and love. The more we saturate our minds with tunes of worship with lyrics of faith, the more we can find the “Faithworm” arising at random times. While the impulses in the brain release a playlist at random, songs of God will always be there ready to be selected when the right trigger hits the play button in our brain.
Speak to each other with psalms, hymns and spiritual songs. Sing and make music in your heart to the Lord. (Ephesians 5:19 NIRV)