2013 11 24 – Songs New and Old from John Knox Kirk on Vimeo.
A sermon preached at John Knox Kirk of Kansas City, Missouri, on November 24, 2013.
Tuesday this week, I did something
that, as far as I can figure, is seldom done anymore these days
particularly with the rise of
speakerphones and skype and teleconferencing:
On Tuesday I got up bright and early to fly to Minneapolis
for a six-hour meeting at Westminster Presbyterian Church
and then got on another plane and flew home that night.
I needed to be there in person.
I am helping to plan a conference there in April
and I needed to see the space and size it up
so I can get a sense of where the 500 people
can register and eat and have workshops and get coffee.
That sort of thing.
So their associate pastor, Meghan Gage-Finn,
gave me the tour.
The Sanctuary…an old, beautiful, mahogany festooned sanctuary
The grand hall, the office complex, the Christian education wing
What you might expect from a thriving, downtown church.
The last stop before heading off for various other meetings
was the choir loft, which was impressive
and then the “kids choir” room next door.
I walked in and Meghan flicked on the lights
and on a rack to the left as we walked in
were the kids choir robes:
a maroon red with a white lacy upper portion.
And I immediately smiled.
See, they reminded me instantly of the robes they used to dress us in
when I was 7 or 8 at Atlantic Presbyterian Church in Atlantic, Iowa.
And it was like I was transported, for an instant
back to that sanctuary, with the piano playing and
the other kids singing with me:
It only takes a spark, to get a fire going
And soon all those around, can warm up in its glowing;
That’s how it is with God’s love,
Once you’ve experienced it,
You spread God’s love, to every one
You want to pass it on….
Not to mention Jesus Loves Me, This I Know,
For the Bible Tells me So…
Or This little light of Mine, I’m gonna let it shine…
Or Give me Oil for my lamp, keep it burning…
Funny what a piece of clothing hanging in a locked room
way up on the third floor can do.
* * *
Making and enjoying music is something that unites us as a species,
one of those characteristics that makes human beings human
even if there isn’t a single type or definition or structure
to the music human beings make.
Whole fields of anthropology and ethnomusicology
have emerged to study the music of the world and its history.
Experts can reveal a lot about composition theory
Improvisational method
or Music Psychology;
You can go on youtube and literally spend years
exploring entire genres
from Opera to Rhythm and Blues to Folk to Zydeco.
A short jingle or the right tune,
and we can instantly conjure up an advertisement
or a movie which that music helped define.
For most of our culture,
making and listening to music is deeply interwoven
with what it means to be human.
* * *
I was pondering all of this on my flight back home from Minneapolis.
This flooding back of memories from my childhood church
made me think about other key moments of my life
and how music was in one way or another
present through them all.
O Love, that wilt not let me go,
I rest my weary soul in Thee;
I give Thee back the life I owe,
That in Thine ocean depths its flow
May Richer, Fuller be…
We sang that at my Grandmother’s funeral.
Early morning, April 4
shot ring out, in the Memphis Sky
Free at Last! They took your life
They could not take your pride
In the name of Love!
What more in the name of love?
In the name of Love!
What more in the name of love?
That song, by the Irish band U2,
brought me to tears when I was reading about
Martin Luther King, Junior
as a 7th grader in Civics class.
Lord let me be your instrument,
spreading Sunshine in the land
Let people see your works in me,
help me live the best I can
Fill my cup, let it overflow
Fill my cup, let it overflow
Fill my cup, let it overflow
Let it overflow with love.
That’s the hymn Fill my Cup that was sung
so beautifully by an African-American Tenor
in my urban Saint Louis church
when I was studying that same unit
on Martin Luther King Junior.
I can name so many more:
Your Love is better than Ice Cream
is the first line of the Sarah McLaughlin song
that was playing over and over again
on my first date with Brook.
Mira que Buena, que Buena es!
Mira que Buena, que Buena es!
Mira que Buena es el pan en la mesa…
A prayer of blessing over our meal together
when I travelled with other
Presbyterians to Central America
as a teenager.
Come Sing O Church in Joy! Come Join O Church in Song
the song we sang this morning,
which was commissioned for the 1989
national meeting of our church in Saint Louis
where I sang it from the base section during opening worship.
or I sing a Song of the Saints of God, patient and brave and true
the song we sang together when I preached here
candidating to be your pastor.
It really is amazing the memories and the meaning
that music can bear in our lives.
Close your eyes for a moment and ponder the key songs from your life,
the important melodies, the tunes of your heart.
The significance of music for your life, your faith,
your hope, your vision for the future….
* * *
If this is true,
that music is central to the human experience of life
then it should be no surprise how important music is
in experiencing God, in talking about God
and in worshipping God together.
For the community of faith, music plays an important role
in our life together.
Our tradition has always recognized the function of music
in our human lives and in the life of the church:
Our constitution puts it this way in the Book of Order:
Song is a response which engages the whole self in prayer.
Song unites the faithful in common prayer wherever
they gather for worship, whether in church, home,
or other special place.
The covenant people have always used the gift of song
to offer prayer,
[and] congregations are encouraged to use …
diverse musical forms for prayer
as well as those which arise out of the musical life
of their own cultures. (W-2.1003)
* * *
Not only does our church Constitution encourage us
to a diverse and robust music life.
The holy scriptures, also, demonstrate the diverse way
that the people of God engaged God through song.
This prayer from Zechariah, for instance,
was likely sung before it was written down and became part of Luke.
We see something similar in the Canticle of Mary in the same chapter
this song we call the Magnificat: My Soul Magnifies the Lord…
There are songs woven throughout Paul’s writings,
each of them hints to how the early church gathered for worship.
And then there are, of course, the psalms,
beautiful lyrics to melodies long since forgotten
that express the full measure of human emotion
to the God of Steadfast Love.
Today’s psalm is no different:
O sing to the Lord a new song,
for God has done marvelous things…
Make a joyful noise to the Lord all the earth;
break forth into joyous songs and sing praises.
For God, the psalmist will continue
God is coming to judge the earth with righteousness and equity
God, whom the very creation sings to,
engages our hearts and our minds and our hearts
through songs old and new….
* * *
When you think about the diversity of the human population
the wide array of musical styles and tastes and sensibilities
it can almost be stunning, and perhaps a bit daunting.
This might explain why, at least at church,
we have a tendency to choose one type of music we like
and to stick with it.
There’s nothing wrong with that, really,
choosing a particular way to worship and a music to complement it
so long as we don’t get stuck thinking that this
is THE right way to do it
or we get SO comfortable with OUR way
that we forget its not always comfortable for others.
We like what we like.
And our experiences with music and solidify those feelings.
I will never have a problem singing a hymn with an organ or piano
given my childhood choir experience with those goofy robes.
Even as I know that most people my age
don’t get them, don’t feel like I do,
don’t have the same positive memories
with those particular songs and that particular style.
That’s ok. There are so many ways we can explore God through song.
Sometimes the challenge is to open my own heart
to the way music moves others, so that we can find a way
to worship God together.
Sometimes I have to open my heart to something NEW.
* * *
Today we dedicate our new hymnals.
If God encourages us through the Psalms to Sing a New Song,
we now have some new material to do it,
whether you hold it in your hands while we sing
or engage through the lyrics on our screens.
This hymnal combines the best of the former hymnal,
with a host of good, theologically sound material.
It has many old standards, beloved by many of us.
It has songs sung by Christians all over the world
but which may be new to us
It has lyrics that will comfort sometimes
and that will challenge in others.
I judge all of that to be a good thing.
For this hymnal will both encourage us to worship
in a way that is authentic and true for us
while also expanding our hearts to go deeper and broader
as we come to God through song.
My prayer is that we commit ourselves anew to the wide range of ways
we can sing Glory to God through song
that the music we sing
creates memories and moments that are blessed forever
that the hymns we offer move us to deeper faith
and sincere acts of love for our neighbor.
that the melodies we encounter feed our souls
all the days of our lives.
May it be so.
Amen.
(Image: the 1958 Children’s Choir of St. Paul Lutheran Church of Ames, Iowa. My choir robes were not quite like this, but I remember a similar big bow tie adorning them)
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