"The Spirituality of Christian Music"
Paul writes in today's Epistle lesson from Galatians that we should be loving, joyous, peaceful, patient, kind, generous, faithful, gentle and in self-control. It's quite a list! We all know that we aren't quite there yet, don't we. So the question for we, fellow travelers on this great spiritual journey is "How do we get there?"
Music helps. And Christian music presents us with both something that can inspire us along the way as well as provide us with an inspiring record of our heritage. Much of Christian music is an inheritance that tells us a great deal about those who traveled spiritual paths before us. We can draw inspiration from them. Christian music invites us to learn intellectually about the past. More importantly, we are invited to participate in the journeys of the composers by listening and singing along. Those who do so often find that their lives are changed.
Spiritual growth is fostered by music in many ways. For those gifted with the music gene and creativity, it can be in the very act of creating music for the worship of God. Some contemporary historians would have you believe that great Christian music, such as that which is performed here this morning, owes its nature to the patronage of the Christian church. But mere patronage seldom produces soulful, spiritual music. A careful reading of historical sources shows that Bach (who wrote both this morning's Prelude as well as the second hymn performed by the choirs, "O Jesus Christ, My Life and Light") was a spiritual man whose church music flowed from the core of his soul. His Mass in G minor is one of the greatest musical compositions - even strict secularists say this -- ever written.
I love faithful courage expressed in tough times. A good example of that is an organ work by Herbert Howells, who also composed "O pray for the peace of Jersualem," performed a few minutes ago. Howells wrote an organ piece known as his Psalm Prelude #23 which is both haunting and majestic. He wrote it during WWI after a dear friend of his died. The piece begins with music that expresses Howell's great pain. But it somehow makes transition - one can feel it more than describe it - from pain to hope in Christ. For us, almost 90 years later, listening to Psalm Prelude #23 is an invitation to join Howells as he traverses the Valley of the Shadow of Death and emerges into the light of God in the company of the Good Shepherd.
Singing hymns in church is the way that most of us who are not in choirs participate with the composers of hymns in their spiritual journey.
Hymns are something of a record of the spiritual journeys taken by those who have walked with God before us. Hymns can be simple or complex. They can tell a story, challenge us to action, or encourage us to make a commitment to Christ. When set to a good tune, they become something that we carry with us throughout the week, a reminder, a "foretaste of Glory Divine."
The most compelling hymns are ones that have words that express praise of God during times of distress as expressed in that ancient religious hymn, Psalm 77 (a very old hymn,) our Call to Worship this morning. It is an _expression of faith in times of trouble. I appreciate the spirit expressed in these hymns that seem to come from the individual voices of the composers. I use my imagination and knowledge of history to return the words to their original settings. Many hymns are grouped together such as "Providence" or "The Glory of the Triune God." They are transformed into inspiring testaments of faith when returned to their historical settings,.
We sing familiar Wesleyan hymns in church almost every Sunday. But we forget what life was like when they were written. Established Christianity pandered to the rich. The rich controlled government. And government money as well as individual donations from wealthy patrons built the cathedrals. The poor correctly felt that they were not welcome in church. They, after all, had not paid for the cathedrals. The poor were dirty, smelly, and coughed a lot. It was common for the rich to have nice cushioned places to sit - up front where they could see and hear what was going on. The poor were relegated to standing room - often, believe it or not, behind a screen where they couldn't see anything, and, more importantly, where the rich wouldn't have to look at them.
Into this setting came John Wesley who preached outside the cathedrals, who came to the sometimes riotous places where the poor lived. He let the poor know that they had souls and that the Good Shepherd wanted to walk them through their "Valleys of the Shadow of Death." The poor flocked to Wesley, sometimes in the tens of thousands. This is how Methodism came to be such a large movement.
Into this setting also came John Wesley's brother, Charles, who wrote words to hymns which spoke to the poor and set them to scandalous music that was often (with much different words) sung in taverns. Imagine a solitary poor man standing on a street corner in London in the 1600's. The thick dusty air has cleared for the moment and you see him standing there in dirty rags. He's lost most of his children to the pox or diphtheria. His wife died earlier that year. He is missing several fingers from work. But he is employed, so he has something to eat each day - although he can't remember a time when he was finished eating and wasn't still hungry. All his life he has watched fine carriages bring the rich people to church. He knows that they don't even see him standing on his corner. The rich don't think that he has a soul, or if he does, not one worth saving.
But if the wealthy took the time to really look at him, they would see a light in his eyes, one not extinguished by hunger and deprivation. Sometime in the past year or so he has heard the message of John Wesley that a loving God was his shepherd. He has heard people like himself sing new hymns set to tunes that he already knew, hymns that helped him see a larger perspective. In our imaginations his cracked lips smile as he sings,
"Come, thou long - expected Jesus. Born to set thy people free;
From our fears and sins release us; Let us find our rest in thee.
Israel's strength and consolation, Hope of all the earth thou art;
Dear desire of every nation, Joy of every longing heart."
"Born thy people to deliver. Born a child and
yet a King, Born to reign in us forever,
New thy gracious kingdom bring. By thine own eternal spir - it
Rule in all our hearts a-lone; By thine all sufficient merit,
Raise us to thy glorious throne."
Powerful words. Listen to these words from 1675. You can find them in hymn 126 in your hymnal. Imagine that these are sung by a poor woman, dressed in rags, who is struggling to feed her children and has no doubt buried more than one.
"The Lord is never far away,
but through all grief distressing,
an ever present help and stay,
our peace and joy and blessing.
As with a mother's tender hand,
God gently leads the chosen band:
To God all praise and glory.
3.Thus all my toilsome way along,
I sing aloud thy praises,
that earth may hear the grateful song
my voice unwearied raises.
Be joyful in the Lord, my heart,
both soul and body bear your part:
To God all praise and glory."
This was not opium for the masses, but rather a revolution. The same poor people who became convinced by Methodists that they had souls, eventually brought democratic revolution to England and the American colonies.
Expressions of faith and courage of the urban poor in England came with them to the New World. They brought their courage and hymns with them over rough seas only to find new slums, tough frontiers and slavery in their midst. John Newton, a convert to Christianity, a man who had been a slave trader, famously repented of his sins in 1789 when he wrote these words which he is said to have set to an old African tune:
"4. The Lord has promised good to me, his word my hope secures; he will my shield and portion be, as long as life endures. 5. Yea, when this flesh and heart shall fail, and mortal life shall cease, I shall possess, within the veil, a life of joy and peace. Through many dangers, toils, and snares, I have already come; 'tis grace hath brought me safe thus far, and grace will lead me home."
He did not write the word "wretch" that's usually in the first stanza of our hymnal. The original words went,
"Amazing grace! How sweet the sound that saved a worm like me! I once was lost, but now am found; was blind, but now I see."
These courageous words have been whispered by countless defiant dying men and women. They have been on the lips of soldiers facing battle, women facing childbirth and alcoholics struggling for recovery. They express a triumph of the spirit made possible by the grace of God.
No one anticipated the horrors of the Civil War until the first battle was fought at Bull Run, near the nation's capitol. Julia Ward Howe soon afterwards wrote the Battle Hymn of the Republic. In the 20th century the hymn was often sung almost as a glorification of war. But in its original setting, it served the purpose of transforming horror into hope. God's love is seen despite the presence of hundreds of circling armed camps where "the grapes of wrath are" stored.
In the 20th century we wrote and sang hymns that helped bring hope, comfort and courage to a world ravaged by two world wars. The third, undeclared, Cold War, was the setting for these words from hymn #178, published by Georgia Harkness in 1954 under the threat of nuclear annihilation.
"Hope of the world, thou Christ of great compassion, speak to our fearful hearts by conflict rent. Save us, thy people, from consuming passion, who by our own false hopes and aims are spent.
The third verse especially spoke to Georgia Harkness who felt that we all were walking in the Valley of the Shadow of death.
Hope of the world, afoot on dusty highways, showing to wandering souls the path of light, walk thou beside us lest the tempting byways lure us away from thee to endless night.
These beautiful hymns can help us on our journey to answer life's most fundamental questions:
Who am I?
I would be loving, joyous, peaceful, patient, kind, generous, faithful, gentle and in self-control. But I'm not. I am someone who accepts what John Wesley taught my forebears. I have a soul, despite what the powers of this world may say. God's Son, Jesus, is the Good Shepherd. He is looking for me.
Who is God?
I can't know all of God, but I know this. God doesn't care if I can carry a tune as long as there is a song, honest and true, in my heart.
Where is the church?
My church teaches me that we are all equal in the eyes of God. And I am humbled to know that no one else is less important than me.
Where does God want me to be?
On my spiritual journey, singing despite the sound of my voice or the darkness of the valley I am in.