USA cable network once ran a marathon of It Takes a Choir one afternoon. I knew nothing about the series, but I needed a break and figured I’d watch for a few minutes and get back to what I needed to do. But I was mesmerized by the unassuming British choir director Gareth Malone, who came into one small U.S. town after another and managed to inspire people into singing in a choir, performing for their friends and neighbors—in a week! In one episode, he walked into a neighborhood gathering place where people looked at strangers with stony suspicion. Malone opened his mouth and started singing—which broke the ice. In the course of his recruiting, he got lots of turndowns, of course. Be because he was willing to take a chance on them, they were willing to take a chance with him.

What was his aim? To develop a fancy choir singing high-end music? Nope. Bottom line, it was community-building at its best. Think about it: a gathering of unrelated folks—housewives and watermen, firefighters and teenagers, none of them professional singers—able to learn something about music and sing it together for their friends and neighbors. Hard work, but the result was worth it. And if all worked out well, they’d find a way to continue that community even after the charismatic leader had left.

In the same way, Jesus recruited a motley group of followers—fishermen, a tax collector, you name it—and spent three years building that community. The gospels don’t mention much about those who said “No, thanks” to his invitation; but we are the spiritual descendants of those who said yes.

As Sunday’s psalm says, “If today you hear his voice, harden not your hearts.”