Dash of Thought October 2026

“If you want people to sing along to your songs, you have to use melodies they know.” I learned that the great Methodist hymn writer Charles Wesley had said this when I visited the house in Bristol where he had lived with his family. We visited it in early October as part of this year’s meeting of the European Methodist Council. Alongside his brother John, Charles was one of the most important founding fathers of Methodism in the 18th century. I will return to his statement later.
For my morning devotional, I had chosen the description of the life of the Jerusalem church from Acts 2:42ff. Meeting regularly, learning together and eating together, celebrating worship and the Lord’s Supper, praying together, and sharing with those in need – that is how Luke describes it. “Making use of the means of grace,” as we summarize it in our tradition. 
Groups of followers of Jesus who lived out their faith together and gave it visible form – what a radiant influence they had on society! 
Celebrating, praying, learning, and sharing together – it is just as important today for the life of the Christian faith as it was back then. Yet the form – that is, how we shape it – has changed and will have to keep changing. Because times change. Because people differ depending on the cultural environment in which they live and the milieu that shapes them. 
Therefore: If we want people to sing along, we have to use melodies they know. We have to choose forms that are familiar to the people around us. And we find these when we are with them where they live – where we look and listen with care and appreciation.
The early church in Jerusalem had an incredible impact. It had found the right melodies that touched people’s hearts! What do the melodies of our local churches sound like? Do we, too, find melodies that deeply touch others, move them, and inspire them to join in? 
The search for such melodies is grounded in a great promise: God prepares people’s hearts, and in His own time – through our melodies, as well – He will call people and lead them into community with Jesus Christ and His followers. I trust in this! 
 
Bishop Stefan Zürcher
 
 
 
Photo: Pixabay