Music Minister news...

The book of Psalms in the Bible is a collection of songs.  It is the hymnal of ancient Israel and all her descendents and the songs are meant to be sung.  David (of David and Goliath, ultimately a king of Israel) probably wrote some of them and many come from other sources.  Psalms often reiterate God’s wondrous power and celebrate what God has done/is doing for us.   Others remind us just how well God knows her people!  There are praise psalms, lament psalms, psalms of joy and gratitude, psalms of despair and psalms of hope.  Our ancestors sang out to God in all kinds of circumstances and places.  Such singing is central to the rich legacy of our Judeo-Christian tradition and one of the main reasons we‘re still singing today here at Mt. Sinai UCC.

     Most of you can probably tell that it is not only my job but also my passion to help us sing and make music together.  It’s not just because I’m a music geek either, tho’ that may also be true!  It’s because over sixty years of making music with others have taught me a couple of valuable things. 

     In the first place, singing together strengthens both individual singers and the whole community.  We don’t all have to be singing the same note or even notes that belong to the same chord to be making ‘harmony’ with one another.  That harmony begins to materialize simply because we are breathing and sounding together.  We also get that same benefit from praying prayers in unison (as one voice) or reading our part in a call to worship, for example.  Nothing so quickly transforms a conglomerate of disparate and unlikely harmonizers into a congregation, a unified body, the body of Christ we are called, as does inhaling and exhaling at the same time.  In effect, we are syncing ourselves with God and with each other.

    The second thing is that when we sing, we are not only breathing together, we are sounding together.  Sound waves stimulate and change the arrangement of matter.  They even break up gall stones.  Imagine that!  Makes a good case, doesn’t it, for exercising discretion about the kinds of sounds to which we subject ourselves;  because whether you’re singing or listening, sound waves literally rearrange each one of us and the congregation. 

     Finally, a significant thing I’ve come to know is that music that touches hearts changes lives.  Change is frightening for many of us, but in spite of our resistance, God’s presence keeps breaking into our lives.  And that, Church, is what God is doing all the time, even when we resist.  At every moment God comes to life in our breaths and sounds, we are forever changed.  We may as well sing and assist the Holy Spirit, because its presence and effects are inevitable.

     Some of you might feel like that promise is bad news; but there is some good news, too:  it’s much less scary if we do it together.  That’s the reason I encourage everyone to sing, sing, sing in worship!  Even if you’ve never sung – especially if you think you can’t sing, consider this an invitation.  Risk hearing your own voice.  Dare to hum a note or two.  Make vibrations for peace and justice.  Give the Great Composer the raw material S/HE needs to create a symphony, and then marvel at the power and beauty of the composition.  Let the words and the sounds move you, touch your heart.  From the pews, the choir loft, the handbell tables, in youth group (Yes! Even there!!) in church school, at rehearsals and in worship – throw self-consciousness to the wind and make a joyful noise to the Lord for the sake of Love Incarnate and each other’s precious necks! 

 

Blessings on your breathing and sounding and changing in this fresh, new year.

Peace, Rev. Elaine