The Voice: God's not like that

BBC's Saturday night entertainment show, The Voice, has met with mixed reviews.  The second series came to its conclusion last Saturday night with the live final, with Andrea Begley beating fellow Northern-Irelander and bookies' favourite Leah McFall to win the crown of The Voice 2013, and with it a lucrative recording contract (the eccentric Will-i-am, Leah's coach on the show, tweeted afterwards that he was "perplexed" by the public vote).  The show has had its critics, but Sue and I have enjoyed watching the series. The four finalists had very different vocal styles, but I felt that they were all worthy of a place in the final.  I wouldn't be surprised if all four go on to make a success of their singing careers.

One of the unique aspects of the show comes with the blind auditions, which is the first stage of the competition.  The four potential coaches (Will-i-am, Jessie J, Tom Jones and Danny O'Donoghue) are seated with their chairs facing away from the stage and contestants.  The contestants stand on the stage (out of view of the coaches) to perform their song.  The idea is that the coaches make their initial judgement based not on a contestant's appearance but purely on their voice.  If one of the coaches likes a contestant's voice, and wants them on their team, they press a button on the chair and the chair turns round to face the contestant.  If more than one chair turns, the contestant is able to select which coach s/he prefers.  Meanwhile, anxious friends and family of the contestant wait and watch, hoping that at least one coach will press the button to indicate that the contestant has gained the approval of the coach, and so will progress to the next round.

It appears that this element of the competition makes particularly popular viewing.  I suppose it's the element of uncertainty: the contestants hoping, but not knowing, that one or more of Will, Jessie, Tom or Danny will want them on their team.  Sometimes the chairs turn, to great joy and relief on the faces of the contestants and their supporters.  On the other hand, there are times when no chair turns, and the contestants face disappointment as their dreams of fame are brought to a crushing end.

It seems to me that many people appear to view God in a similar way to the coaches on The Voice.  In other words, people feel that we have to 'perform' to a certain standard to make God notice us and see that we are worthy of his attention.  If we are good enough, if we do our best to try and live up to God's standards, then maybe God will turn around and see us, and call us into his team.

It is a common perception, but of course it is totally at variance with the message of the Bible.  Anyone reading the Bible will see that God often chooses fallible, weak, ordinary people.  I am encouraged that so many of the great men and women of God we find in the Bible were actually fairly ordinary, and often people who had made big mistakes in their life.  One of my favourite Bible characters is Moses.  God called Moses knowing that Moses was both a murderer and a fugutive.  Even Moses himself didn't think that he had what it took to undertake the task God had called him to: he said to God, 'I am nobody'.  Yet God used that 'nobody' in an amazing way.

I like a tweet I read this week from Richard Parker:  "God doesn't call people who are qualified. He calls people who are willing, and then he qualifies them."  The good news is that, unlike contestants in The Voice, we don't have to earn approval, certainly not from God.  His love is for us, despite our failings.  It truly is about his 'amazing grace.'