Loading...Last Sunday, before the service began, Daniel whispered to me that he wanted to say something about the music for the day. In my welcome, I mentioned to the congregation that I thought he wanted to say that some of you might not be familiar with some of the hymn choices for the day.
Instead, Daniel stepped up to invite everyone, even if you don’t intend to sing along, to open your hymnals and at least read along as the rest of us sing. Because the words of the hymns are important to our worship service. Then, he said a few other things.
First, he hopes that when you pay attention to the words of the hymns we sing, you might notice that often, the words fit the theme of the lessons we are reading that day. And especially in August, when the Gospels focus on bread, you might notice many of the hymns mention bread.
Next, when he plays the organ at the beginning of the service, we just might hear that same tune in one of the hymns we sing that day. He is setting us up for what is coming.
He also reminded us that when we sing, we pray twice.
When he finished sharing these things I heard people say thank you to him.
Creating meaningful liturgy is very important to us. We are very thankful for the many resources available to us that help us match music and prayers with the lessons assigned for any given worship service. We pour over these resources, seeking ways to ensure the messages are presented in ways that are memorable and sharable.
Music is a great way for us to remember.
Think back to when you were a kid. What was one of the first songs your Sunday school teacher taught you?
Yep. Jesus Loves Me. Sing it with me!
Singing helps us remember. Teachers use it: ABCDEFG… Advertising agencies count on it: My bologna has a first name, it’s O-S-C-A-R…
Throughout our worship we break out into songs that mark specific moments in our liturgy. We just did it with the Gloria and the Gospel procession, we’ll continue that practice later in the service when we sing the Sanctus and the Fraction Anthem. We celebrate and honor, praise and thank, with songs that become embedded in who we are.
For the past couple of months, I have had the Sanctus stuck in my head. Mind you, the tunes we have been using for our service music all summer are new to me, so I don’t have the deep memory like I might with Jesus Loves Me or the Oscar Mayer theme. So having the Sanctus running in my head, with such familiarity is surprising to me. And yet, the tunes are the backdrop to remembering the words, and the words are often prayers.
When we sing, we pray twice…
I can’t even begin to explain why when I read the canticles in a Morning Prayer service, I sing them instead of read them, either aloud or in my head! Those tunes were a part of my childhood, when we only had communion once a month. How do I remember them after so many years?
Church music, like secular music, can be a part of our identities. We come to expect certain pieces to be sung for specific worship services. We may complain when we don’t sing a beloved hymn at Christmas or hear a special hymn during a funeral or wedding. There is familiarity and comfort in the music of the church.
In the letter to the Ephesians today, the writer reminds us to “be filled with the Spirit, as you sing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs among yourselves, singing and making melody to the Lord in your hearts, giving thanks to God the Father at all times and for everything in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.” (5:19-20)
When we sing, our bodies transform. Our breath deepens. Our volume may increase, or decrease. The rhythm may slow down or speed up, reflecting the words, the story, the impact, the message. Setting words to music helps us to remember.
I sang with the Twin Cities Women’s Choir for oh, about eight years. We sang a variety of music styles. I found that when the music was the most complex, when our four-part harmonies became six or eight parts, when the rhythms seemed to compete with one another, I was the most intrigued. Maybe it is because I played flute in school bands for over ten years and learned to hear how many parts can make a whole, but I found that if I was patient enough with the learning process, I could begin to hear what the composer was trying to do. Sometimes that was illicit an emotion or to send a message. Often it was to create a sound that could impact some kind of visceral response from not only the audience, but the musician.
I think that’s why I have mentioned a few times that if you haven’t, you should come up and watch Daniel play the organ. Watching how his hands and feet work together to create a wall of sound is mesmerizing. I am truly amazed at how each extremity can play something different, all coming from the same body.
It might also be why I encourage you to sing, even if you don’t think you sing well. When we stop listening to ourselves and instead begin to listen to the music all around us, when we become a wall of sound together, the foundation shakes. Maybe literally, maybe figuratively, but when we sing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, making music together, in tune, or not, we have the opportunity to feel the presence of God differently.
I mean, if a group of children stood in front of you right now and sang Jesus Loves Me, would you not feel joy, even if one of those kids was singing really loud and off key and another is sitting on the floor picking at their shoe, not singing a note?
Music can change your life. Listening to it, singing with it, hearing and learning the stories behind it—both the lyrics and the score, immersing mind, body and soul in it.
It can truly change you.
Your mood, your countenance, your behavior, your motivation, your desire. Sometimes it can even turn your life into something new.
It was during one of our Twin Cities Women’s Choir concerts that I knew it was time for me to say yes to God and begin the discernment process. The walls shook, the audience waved their phones with flashlights on, and the power of the Holy Spirit was with us as we sang. So often our songs were prayers, a plea, a call for justice, or offerings of joy. That night, that song was a call to me to serve God in a new way.
Composer Bruce Henry sang the verses of “A New Song,” and the choir backed him up with these words: “Sing with me a new song. Watch the walls of the city shake. Praising all that is with every single -- every living -- breath we take.”
I cannot even explain this God-moment in my life anymore than to say that I was flooded with joy as I felt in this moment the push I needed to act on something that had been nudging me for so long.
That is the kind of thing I hope singing hymns can be for you. Prayer. Plea. Joy. Opportunities to be changed and challenged by God, or to secure you in the love and knowledge of the God you find comfortable. Calls to serve in new ways or reminders that the ways you serve are just what is needed now.
You may be interested in some of the verses of this song Bruce Henry wrote. These words, the words that pushed me into this life are, in many ways, a prayer, a plea, a desire to follow God.
I suffered in silence for so very long
frightened by my own reasoning
silenced by my own tongue.
I was too afraid to sing
too embarrassed to dance
lacking the courage
too fearful to take a chance.
I was living so small
in a world in need of giants
now I know I was wrong
Mother Earth, she needs my tone.
Sing with me a new song
watch the walls of the city shake
praising all that is with every single
every living breath we take.
Meaningful, isn’t it?
When we sing, we join with the angels and archangels and all the company of heaven, praising all that is, because deep in our souls, God has given us the song of divine, ever living love. Amen.
