August 14, 2022
St. John’s United Church of Christ, Union, Illinois
Psalm 96; Ephesians 5:8-20[1]
You know the Genesis story, when God said “Let there be
light.” I wonder, was there any music? Did the light just appear, or was there
some kind of a glorious, cosmic “Ta-Da!”? Did the creation have a soundtrack?
There is another creation story, much more recent, that I love. It comes from
C.S. Lewis in The Magician’s Nephew,
book 6 of the Chronicles of Narnia.
In the darkness something was happening at last. A voice had begun to
sing… Sometimes it seemed to come from all directions at once… Its lower notes
were deep enough to be the voice of the earth herself. There were no words.
There was hardly even a tune. But it was, beyond comparison, the most beautiful
noise he had ever heard. It was so beautiful he could hardly bear it. …
Then two wonders happened at the same moment. One was that the voice was
suddenly joined by other voices; more voices than you could possibly count.
They were in harmony with it, but far higher up the scale: cold, tingling,
silvery voices. The second wonder was that the blackness overhead, all at once,
was blazing with stars. If you had seen and heard it… you would have felt quite
certain that it was the stars themselves who were singing, and that it was the
First Voice, the deep one, which had made them appear and made them sing.[2]
That story may be in a children’s book, but there is such
power and beauty to it that it moves me like a song. Maybe if I heard the
Genesis story sung in Hebrew by a trained cantor, it would have that feel to
it. Music has a potency that words alone cannot convey.
Music is one of the most powerful forces in our lives. It
has the power to shape our emotions, fuse memories into our minds, and express
what cannot be completely put into words. Songs can touch our hearts, as
poetry, images, and symbols take us beyond the boundaries of plain or even
lofty speech.
In April of last year, at the funeral of Prince Philip, Duke
of Edinburgh, a bagpiper played a piece of music. “Flowers of the Forest” is a
Scottish folk melody commemorating the defeat of the army of James the Fourth
in the battle of Flodden in 1513. Due to the reverence in which it is held,
many pipers will practice it in private, performing in public only at funerals
or memorial services. Poet Jean Elliot wrote lyrics for the ancient tune
sometime about 1757. Her refrain is haunting, “The Flooers of the Forest are a’
wede awa’”. Translated from Scots dialect, it means, “The Flowers of the Forest
are all wilted away.” It gives voice to grief in a particularly stirring way.
Music is a key component of the life of faith. Music,
worship, and the transcendent are interwoven in a pattern that makes meaning
and sense out of the chaos of our lives. The spiritual life is a song that
brings light into our hearts. Music even has the power to bring life into our
hearts. Think of the energy and joy you feel when singing “Joy to the World,”
or “Christ the Lord Is Risen Today.”
A radio station in Seattle did a series a few years ago
called “Why Music Matters.” A variety of ordinary and extraordinary people
shared their stories of the impact of music in their lives.
Barbara Dunn, a music therapist, admits she’s a “cheerleader
for the power of music.” Every day she sees how music can elevate and heal
patients suffering from severe pain and grim diagnoses, during her work as the
head of music therapy at Whidbey General Hospital in Seattle. This is her story
about music and a miraculous recovery.
I was asked to play for this woman at the hospital who had just had a
massive stroke. Our staff was thinking that she was not going to pull through.
Her husband had just left for a little while, and when he came back they were
going to talk with him about withdrawing life support. So, I was asked to play
for this woman; and their thinking was, can you please just provide some
comfort for this person who is probably at the end of her life. Can you please
just go and be with her?
She was just lying there, had some life support. She was young, I think
in her forties or fifties. I felt like I saw fear in her eyes, and so I’m
trying to just communicate comfort. I felt like she could hear me. I was there
for her, for this hour. I was playing whatever I thought would bring memories,
what might be a lifeline for her. And then I left, and her husband came back.
And he was, at that point, able to get her to effectively respond. They were
able to communicate with her. They didn’t withdraw life support. And they
actually sent her to a rehab facility.[3]
Have you ever been deeply touched by a song? Of course you
have. You’re probably thinking of one right now. There are songs that make us
cry, or want to dance, or just sing along at the top of our lungs. But in that
hospital room, Barbara gave that woman something more. She gave her a lifeline.
There was a time in my life when I needed a lifeline. The
day-to-day was fine, but I was slowly dying inside. And the main reason was
that I had never really chosen a direction. You know that Robert Frost poem
where two roads diverged in a wood? Well, I just stood there at that crossroads
for a long time. I could feel a pull down one path, but I kept looking at the
other options hoping something would appear that would lead me that way.
Eventually it was a song that gave me the lifeline I needed.
“Hold It Up To the Light”[4]
has this stanza:
It's too late - to be stopped at the crossroads
Each life here - each a possible way
But wait - and they all will be lost roads
Each road's getting shorter the longer I stay.
So, I made my choice. I held it up to the light, asked God
to bless my decision, and I began to move. I began to see the signs leading
forward, and I knew that the choice was good. The traveling music changed, but
that was good too.
As we worship, we express our struggles and joys, our faith
and our doubt through the hymns and songs. We train one another to give voice
to the life and faith of the church. The songs that we sing may touch our
hearts or the hearts of those around us, they may be planted in the souls of
children, or usher us into the great unknown.
The music of God’s creation fills the universe with song. “O
sing to the Lord a new song; sing to the Lord, all the earth.[5]
As you go about your lives, “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.”[6]
Amen.
[1]
The scripture quotations contained herein are from the New Revised Standard
Version Bible, copyright © 1989 by the Division of Christian Education of
the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the U.S.A. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
[2]
C.S. Lewis, The Magician’s Nephew (New York: Collier, 1955), 98-99.
[4]
David Wilcox, “Hold It Up to the Light” on Big Horizon © 1994 A&M
Records.
[5]
Psalm 96:1.
[6]
Ephesians 5:19-20.
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