SINGING THE FAITH - Psalm 98 Revelation 5: 5-14
‘The hills are alive with the sound of music’ - So sang Julie Andrews some forty years ago. Even if the nun who later sang ‘Climb every Mountain’ put me off somewhat, those words still ring true.
Music has about it a number of unique qualities. It can calm us when we are stressed. It can invigorate us. And yes, it can stimulate us into both thought and action.
Next weekend, Live 8 will show that music has a power to influence opinions and possibly events. This is hardly new. In the 1960s the radicalism of the time, benefited enormously from the music of people such as Bob Dylan and Joan Baez. By 1984 the horror of events in Ethiopia brought about an articulation of rage by pop stars such as Bob Geldhof and Midge Ure which led to the best selling record ever, ‘Do they know it’s Christmas’ followed by the spectacular Live Aid Concerts at Wembley and New York. Other notable events and causes since have led to similar responses albeit on a smaller scale. The message is that music has a capacity to influence life and our world.
It is not that people always understand what they are singing. Back in the 1980s there was a great record by a singer called Eddie Grant. It was called, ‘I don’t wanna dance.’ It always filled the disco floors. And in a perverse way, I rather enjoyed watching people dance as they sang, ‘I don’t wanna dance.’
A flippant example - yes! For music often challenges our perspectives. Joan Baez singing, ‘Where have all the flowers gone’ always makes me think about issues of peace and war. And hymns have their moments when despite the familiarity of many of them, they make me think about my faith. For hymns have been a part of the life of communities of faith for a very long time.
The idea of singing in worship of God is hardly new.
We find it so often in the Scriptures going back to that moment of triumph when the people of Israel sang their praises to God following their freedom from slavery in Egypt, in the Exodus. And in the Psalms which were as a Hebrew hymn book, time and again we find the singing of praise to God. And songs go on with Mary’s ‘Magnificat’ when told the disturbing news that she is to have a child and when the child , Jesus, is born, even the angels sing to the astonishment of the shepherds. And then as our Scriptures come to a mighty climax with the Revelation of St John, exiled for his faith on the rocky Island of Patmos, which was in those times a brutal labour camp, what does John envisage? He sees the battered faithful singing songs of worship to the Lamb that is Christ and in doing so, receiving their own healing.
Perhaps, in that we can glimpse the importance of singing. If you go to a football match, it is commonplace for the fans of a side that has just gone into the lead, to taunt the opposing fans with a refrain of;
Sing when you’re winning;
You only sing when you’re winning.
But in Scripture, singing is not only for the moments when winning. Singing takes place in Psalms of Lament when the author is feeling totally wretched. I nearly chose for this service to have Psalm 13 read, a Psalm which includes lines such as;
How long, O Lord? Will you forget me forever?
How long will you hide your face from me?
How long must I bear pain in my soul,
And have sorrow in my heart all day long?
How long shall me enemies be exalted over me?
You see, in singing we are able to bring our whole understanding and experience of life to God. We don’t just have to bring our nice thoughts for God is big enough to take all that we are. But often, it happens that as we sing of our pain, God brings hope. The same Psalm ends with a change of mood for having sang to God of pain, the Psalmist has drawn closer to God and so is able to conclude;
But I trust in your steadfast love;
My heart shall rejoice in your salvation.
I will sing to the Lord,
Because he has dealt bountifully with me.
And ever since its beginnings, the Church has sang. It has sang its praises in wonder and in awe. It is as Fred Pratt Green puts it in one of his hymns;
When in our music God is glorified
And adoration leaves no room for pride,
It is as though the whole creation cried
Alleluia.
Indeed it seems that hymns appear at the very moments when people focus most on God. Whilst there have been those who opposed other than the singing of metrical hymns, movements of God have repeatedly been accompanied by explosions of hymns writing. This can be seen in the history that gave the Church those profound Gregorian chants in the Middle Ages, the hymns of Martin Luther at the Reformation and in our Methodist history in the hymns of Charles Wesley.
I think I understand the reasons why our history stresses brother John who was after all the great inspirer and organiser of the Methodist movement. But I can’t help but feel that more people both at the time and indeed today, have come to understand the importance of the Gospel and our evangelical doctrines through Charles Wesley’s hymns than John Wesley’s sermons. Why? Well, apart form the fact that the sermons are to put it mildly difficult, I have a feeling that it is that which we sing again, again and again, that becomes a part of us. And the fact that Charles Wesley’s hymns were set to popular tunes only served to add to their popularity, a lasting popularity which led to Bernard Manning, the Congregationalist scholar rather than the Mancunian comedian, describing them as Methodism’s ‘incomparably greatest contribution to the common heritage of Christendom.’
None of this is to deny that John Wesley had something to contribute for contribute he jolly well did. When the 1770, hymn-book came out, John offered his rather fastidious instructions as to how we should sing. Here goes!
Sing all. See that you join with the congregation as frequently as you can. Let not a slight degree of weakness or weariness hinder you. If it be a cross to you, take it up, and it will be a blessing.
Sing lustily with a good courage. Beware if singing as if you were half - dead, or half - asleep; but lift your voice with strength. Be not afraid of your voice now, nor more ashamed of its being heard, than when you sang the songs of Satan.
Sing modestly. Do not bawl, so as to be heard above or distinct from the rest of the congregation, that you may not destroy the harmony; but survive to unite your voices together, so as to make one clear harmonious sound.
Sing in time. Whatever time is sung be sure to keep with it. Do not run before nor stay behind it; but attend close to the leading voices, and move therewith as exactly as you can; and take care not to sing too slow. This drawling way naturally steals on all who are lazy; and it is high time to drive it out from us, and sing all our tunes just as quick as we did at first.
Above all sing spiritually. Have an eye to God in every word you sing. Aim at pleasing him more than yourself, or any other creature. In order to do this attend strictly to the sense of what you sing, and see that your heart is not carried away with the sound but offered to God continually; so shall your singing be such as the Lord will approve here, and reward you when he cometh in the clouds of heaven.
Mmmm. There’s some sense there although I think that with such a fussy approach, John Wesley would not have ranked as one of the great formers of choirs.
But here we are today. Over the years, a lot of hymns have been written and sung. They are means by which we praise God, seek harmony with God and attempt to live as Christian people today. And speak to us they do still.
When we question why we have life, a choir sings;
Praise to the Lord, the Almighty, the King of creation!
O my soul praise him for he is thy health and salvation!
And if this is remote to us another choir sings the refrain;
It is a thing most wonderful
Almost too wonderful to be,
That God’s own Son should come from heaven,
And die to save a child like me.
And then when we wonder how we can live for this God, once more we here the choral sound;
Still, with creative power,
God’s Spirit gives to men
A pattern of new life -
And worlds begin again.
But come the moments when we put limits on the extent of God’s love, and a mighty choir sings forth;
In Christ there is no east or west,
In him no south or north,
But one great fellowship of love
Throughout the whole wide earth.
And then when we sink to despair in the face of evil, we hear once more the sound of singing;
Hark! We hear a distant music, and it comes with fuller swell;
‘This the triumph - song of Jesus, of our King, Immanuel:
Zion, go ye forth to meet him; and, my soul, be swift to bring
All thy finest and thy noblest for the triumph of our King!
Do you get it? Time and again, singing the faith takes us closer to God. For never should we undervalue the gift of singing or the spiritual riches to be found within our hymn books.
Oh, the hills might be alive with the sound of music. But so to are God’s people! A people born in song! A people with a God to sing praises to! A people with a lively faith which is for singing and expressed in singing.
AMEN
This non lectionary sermon was preached in Bideford on Sunday June 26th at a service to mark Choir Sunday
Music has about it a number of unique qualities. It can calm us when we are stressed. It can invigorate us. And yes, it can stimulate us into both thought and action.
Next weekend, Live 8 will show that music has a power to influence opinions and possibly events. This is hardly new. In the 1960s the radicalism of the time, benefited enormously from the music of people such as Bob Dylan and Joan Baez. By 1984 the horror of events in Ethiopia brought about an articulation of rage by pop stars such as Bob Geldhof and Midge Ure which led to the best selling record ever, ‘Do they know it’s Christmas’ followed by the spectacular Live Aid Concerts at Wembley and New York. Other notable events and causes since have led to similar responses albeit on a smaller scale. The message is that music has a capacity to influence life and our world.
It is not that people always understand what they are singing. Back in the 1980s there was a great record by a singer called Eddie Grant. It was called, ‘I don’t wanna dance.’ It always filled the disco floors. And in a perverse way, I rather enjoyed watching people dance as they sang, ‘I don’t wanna dance.’
A flippant example - yes! For music often challenges our perspectives. Joan Baez singing, ‘Where have all the flowers gone’ always makes me think about issues of peace and war. And hymns have their moments when despite the familiarity of many of them, they make me think about my faith. For hymns have been a part of the life of communities of faith for a very long time.
The idea of singing in worship of God is hardly new.
We find it so often in the Scriptures going back to that moment of triumph when the people of Israel sang their praises to God following their freedom from slavery in Egypt, in the Exodus. And in the Psalms which were as a Hebrew hymn book, time and again we find the singing of praise to God. And songs go on with Mary’s ‘Magnificat’ when told the disturbing news that she is to have a child and when the child , Jesus, is born, even the angels sing to the astonishment of the shepherds. And then as our Scriptures come to a mighty climax with the Revelation of St John, exiled for his faith on the rocky Island of Patmos, which was in those times a brutal labour camp, what does John envisage? He sees the battered faithful singing songs of worship to the Lamb that is Christ and in doing so, receiving their own healing.
Perhaps, in that we can glimpse the importance of singing. If you go to a football match, it is commonplace for the fans of a side that has just gone into the lead, to taunt the opposing fans with a refrain of;
Sing when you’re winning;
You only sing when you’re winning.
But in Scripture, singing is not only for the moments when winning. Singing takes place in Psalms of Lament when the author is feeling totally wretched. I nearly chose for this service to have Psalm 13 read, a Psalm which includes lines such as;
How long, O Lord? Will you forget me forever?
How long will you hide your face from me?
How long must I bear pain in my soul,
And have sorrow in my heart all day long?
How long shall me enemies be exalted over me?
You see, in singing we are able to bring our whole understanding and experience of life to God. We don’t just have to bring our nice thoughts for God is big enough to take all that we are. But often, it happens that as we sing of our pain, God brings hope. The same Psalm ends with a change of mood for having sang to God of pain, the Psalmist has drawn closer to God and so is able to conclude;
But I trust in your steadfast love;
My heart shall rejoice in your salvation.
I will sing to the Lord,
Because he has dealt bountifully with me.
And ever since its beginnings, the Church has sang. It has sang its praises in wonder and in awe. It is as Fred Pratt Green puts it in one of his hymns;
When in our music God is glorified
And adoration leaves no room for pride,
It is as though the whole creation cried
Alleluia.
Indeed it seems that hymns appear at the very moments when people focus most on God. Whilst there have been those who opposed other than the singing of metrical hymns, movements of God have repeatedly been accompanied by explosions of hymns writing. This can be seen in the history that gave the Church those profound Gregorian chants in the Middle Ages, the hymns of Martin Luther at the Reformation and in our Methodist history in the hymns of Charles Wesley.
I think I understand the reasons why our history stresses brother John who was after all the great inspirer and organiser of the Methodist movement. But I can’t help but feel that more people both at the time and indeed today, have come to understand the importance of the Gospel and our evangelical doctrines through Charles Wesley’s hymns than John Wesley’s sermons. Why? Well, apart form the fact that the sermons are to put it mildly difficult, I have a feeling that it is that which we sing again, again and again, that becomes a part of us. And the fact that Charles Wesley’s hymns were set to popular tunes only served to add to their popularity, a lasting popularity which led to Bernard Manning, the Congregationalist scholar rather than the Mancunian comedian, describing them as Methodism’s ‘incomparably greatest contribution to the common heritage of Christendom.’
None of this is to deny that John Wesley had something to contribute for contribute he jolly well did. When the 1770, hymn-book came out, John offered his rather fastidious instructions as to how we should sing. Here goes!
Sing all. See that you join with the congregation as frequently as you can. Let not a slight degree of weakness or weariness hinder you. If it be a cross to you, take it up, and it will be a blessing.
Sing lustily with a good courage. Beware if singing as if you were half - dead, or half - asleep; but lift your voice with strength. Be not afraid of your voice now, nor more ashamed of its being heard, than when you sang the songs of Satan.
Sing modestly. Do not bawl, so as to be heard above or distinct from the rest of the congregation, that you may not destroy the harmony; but survive to unite your voices together, so as to make one clear harmonious sound.
Sing in time. Whatever time is sung be sure to keep with it. Do not run before nor stay behind it; but attend close to the leading voices, and move therewith as exactly as you can; and take care not to sing too slow. This drawling way naturally steals on all who are lazy; and it is high time to drive it out from us, and sing all our tunes just as quick as we did at first.
Above all sing spiritually. Have an eye to God in every word you sing. Aim at pleasing him more than yourself, or any other creature. In order to do this attend strictly to the sense of what you sing, and see that your heart is not carried away with the sound but offered to God continually; so shall your singing be such as the Lord will approve here, and reward you when he cometh in the clouds of heaven.
Mmmm. There’s some sense there although I think that with such a fussy approach, John Wesley would not have ranked as one of the great formers of choirs.
But here we are today. Over the years, a lot of hymns have been written and sung. They are means by which we praise God, seek harmony with God and attempt to live as Christian people today. And speak to us they do still.
When we question why we have life, a choir sings;
Praise to the Lord, the Almighty, the King of creation!
O my soul praise him for he is thy health and salvation!
And if this is remote to us another choir sings the refrain;
It is a thing most wonderful
Almost too wonderful to be,
That God’s own Son should come from heaven,
And die to save a child like me.
And then when we wonder how we can live for this God, once more we here the choral sound;
Still, with creative power,
God’s Spirit gives to men
A pattern of new life -
And worlds begin again.
But come the moments when we put limits on the extent of God’s love, and a mighty choir sings forth;
In Christ there is no east or west,
In him no south or north,
But one great fellowship of love
Throughout the whole wide earth.
And then when we sink to despair in the face of evil, we hear once more the sound of singing;
Hark! We hear a distant music, and it comes with fuller swell;
‘This the triumph - song of Jesus, of our King, Immanuel:
Zion, go ye forth to meet him; and, my soul, be swift to bring
All thy finest and thy noblest for the triumph of our King!
Do you get it? Time and again, singing the faith takes us closer to God. For never should we undervalue the gift of singing or the spiritual riches to be found within our hymn books.
Oh, the hills might be alive with the sound of music. But so to are God’s people! A people born in song! A people with a God to sing praises to! A people with a lively faith which is for singing and expressed in singing.
AMEN
This non lectionary sermon was preached in Bideford on Sunday June 26th at a service to mark Choir Sunday
posted by Rev Paul Martin at 7:49 AM
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