Thought for Today

Psalm 92:1 <A Psalm. A Song for the Sabbath Day.> It is good to give thanks to the LORD, to sing praises to your name, O Most High; 2 to declare your steadfast love in the morning, and your faithfulness by night, 3 to the music of the lute and the harp, to the melody of the lyre.

Luke 15:25 "Now his elder son was in the field; and when he came and approached the house, he heard music and dancing.

Ephesians 5:18 Do not get drunk with wine, for that is debauchery; but be filled with the Spirit, 19 as you sing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs among yourselves, singing and making melody to the Lord in your hearts,

For some reason, I awoke this morning thinking about music. Maybe because Greta has been listening lately on our smart home assistant to some of the music from our youth? Johnny Mathis, Nat King Cole, romantic tunes from our past. Maybe not, because the music I heard in my mind this morning was not very romantic. I was hearing bagpipes skirl Scotland the Brave and the thundering, heart-stirring blast of “Richard Wagner’s famous orchestral prelude “Ride of the Valkyries,” composed between 1851 and 1856 as part of Act III of his opera Die Walküre in the Ring cycle.” (Copilot Search)

For many of us, music plays an important role in our lives, irrespective of our musical talents, abilities or lack thereof. We listen to music when we are happy, when we are sad, when we seek to soothe our frazzled nerves and when we wish to stir our hearts and infuse them with valor. 

Our language includes favored quotes about music, e.g. "Music hath charms to soothe the savage breast." (William Congreve, 1697, Copilot Search) "Where words fail, music speaks." (Hans Christian Andersen, Copilot Search) "Without music, life would be a mistake." (Friedrich Nietzsche, Copilot Search) "Music gives a soul to the universe, wings to the mind, flight to the imagination and life to everything."(Plato, Copilot Search) "Music is the universal language of mankind." (Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, Copilot Search)

Maybe the most famous saying about music is one many of us heard from our fathers, “The music you kids listen to is just loud noise” or some similar disparagement. Ironically, most of our fathers heard some version of that from their fathers who heard some version of that from their fathers, etc. ad Infinitum. That memory leads me to wonder to what music Jesus and his disciples might have listened. Scripture does attest to music as a part of life and a part of worship throughout the ages. Archaeology has unearthed ancient instruments, written music and even images of musicians playing. “The idea that the Book of Psalms is “God’s hymnbook” is not the result of a single person’s statement, but rather a long‑standing theological and historical view held by many Christian traditions. This concept is rooted in the Psalms’ role as the earliest and most central collection of sacred songs in the Bible.” (Copilot Search)

Did Jesus and the 12 hear the psalms chanted in the Temple or in their synagogues accompanied by “the music of the lute and the harp, to the melody of the lyre?” We’ll probably never know. What we do know, however, is the central role of music and song in most modern Christian worship. Some faith traditions eschew instrumental music and only sing a cappella. Our congregation does not. We incorporate both organ and piano regularly as accompaniment to our singing. On special occasions we invite and incorporate other instruments, notably a professional oboist. Maybe some day we will even rise to incorporating a piper in our service.

Jesus probably never listened to music like my generation’s music from the 1950s. I have no idea whether or not Jesus would have enjoyed hearing Johnny Mathis, Nat King Cole, Buddy Holly, Jerry Lee Lewis or any of my teenage musical heroes. Would he have approved of the Statler Brothers, the Oak Ridge Boys, the Kingston Trio? Would he have found such music as jarring and discordant as did my own father? Maybe.

I do suspect, however, were Jesus to attend worship tomorrow at First Parish Church of Newbury, he would appreciate the songs we sing. Jesus might even join in with our choir, singing joyous praise to our Father in heaven. Was Jesus a bass, tenor, alto? We’ll never know. I do know, irrespective of whether or not he had ever heard the specific hymns we will sing, he would approve of our making “Psalm 98:4 . . . a joyful noise to the LORD.”

Listen to the music, sing songs of praise and thanksgiving, trust God,

Pastor Ray