When all else fails: sing
Sometimes it's hard to find the words. Singing helps us connect beyond them.
(click above to sing along with me!)
On the terrible day of September 11, 2001, I was at church.
It was where I worked, and I was in a staff meeting when I heard the news.
Pretty soon, people started streaming into the church. We gathered together and prayed. We used the Book of Common Prayer, we prayed the psalms, we prayed spontaneously from our hearts.
And then, it seemed, we ran out of words.
We needed to be together - and we needed to be together in God’s presence - but the fear and the grief and the enormity of the tragedy seemed so far beyond what we could articulate.
We needed to get closer to God.
So we started singing…
And so the yearning strong,
with which the soul will long,
shall far outpass the power of human telling;
for none can guess its grace,
till Love create a place
wherein the Holy Spirit makes a dwelling.
A mighty Fortress is our God,
A Bulwark never failing;
Our Helper He amid the flood
Of mortal ills prevailing:
For still our ancient foe
Doth seek to work us woe;
His craft and power are great,
And, armed with cruel hate,
On earth is not his equal.
Our Father’s God! To thee
Author of liberty.
To thee we sing.
Long may our land be bright
With freedom’s holy light;
Protect us by thy might,
Great God, our King!
And the one I still can’t sing without bursting into tears:
Human pride and earthly glory,
sword and crown betray his trust;
what with care and toil he buildeth,
tower and temple, fall to dust.
But God’s power,
hour by hour,
is my temple and my tower.
Singing is worship.
It’s about our orientation to God. It’s how we understand ourselves in relationship with God.
And it is beyond even words.
We often sing together, especially in church. In fact, I think church may be the only place left where we all sing together.
Singing transcends our differences and our individual voices, and creates something deeply and uniquely human.
It also connects us with God.
I’ve always loved choral singing - how it takes me outside of myself, as I participate in something greater than just me.
Once, in college, our choir director took us to the corner of an old building, with soaring ceilings.
She had us sing a particular high note, adding our voices one by one. The goal was to make the music as pure as possible - that there would be no difference in our individual voices, but that together we would be singing one perfect note.
When we were finally able to get it, something extraordinary happened: another note - an octave above where we were singing - suddenly appeared. We literally heard a note we were not producing with our own voices.
This is one of the clearest signs of the Holy Spirit I have ever personally witnessed.
Singing is connecting our souls to God directly. It is a place to be with God - and each other - that provides comfort when we are grieving.
It also provides expression of our joy that is beyond words (think of celebrations when sports team win big, how people spontaneously start singing…).
It is a simple and basic form of worship we can participate in everywhere, at any time.
Hearts up!
This old choir director applauds your musical sentiments. Just as an aside, get a copy of the current Methodist hymnal. It has a very rich musical foundation, and at least 25 of the hymn texts alone are sermons in themselves. Here’s to great music!