Thought for Today
1 Chronicles 15:22 Chenaniah, leader of the Levites in music, was to direct the music, for he understood it.
Psalm 92:1 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.
Colossians 3:16 Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly; teach and admonish one another in all wisdom; and with gratitude in your hearts sing psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs to God.
Revelation 14:2 . . . the voice I heard was like the sound of harpists playing on their harps, 3 and they sing a new song before the throne . . .
Yesterday, the 2nd Annual Interfaith Choir Concert in our area was hosted by Annunciation Greek Orthodox Church in Newburyport, MA. Once again, our choir at First Parish Church joined with the choir from Belleville Church to participate. Once again, Greta and I attended the event and had a truly wonderful time. Fr. Costin Popescu and the congregation and choir of the Annunciation Church made everyone feel welcomed and were wonderful hosts. There were choirs participating from Central Congregational Church, Unity on the River, our combined choirs, Immaculate Conception Catholic Church (last year’s host congregation) and, of course, Annunciation Church.
As we enjoyed the event yesterday, two thoughts ran through my mind. First, I remembered one of the most impactful ideas I encountered in seminary. My first professor of church history, the Rev. Dr. Ellen Babinsky, loved to worship with different faith traditions. She often mentioned the ‘wonderful rainbow of various ways we all worship the same God.’ That wonderful rainbow was well represented in yesterday’s music. Choirs from the Catholic tradition, the Orthodox tradition, the Reformed tradition and an evangelical choir all sharing their traditions. They also sang together as a Combined Choir twice, beginning the event singing We Gather Together, described as a “Netherland Folk Song” in one of the hymnals we use in our own congregation. That Combined Choir closed the event singing Paraklesis to the Virgin Mary, described in the program as “Traditional Byzantine.”
Yesterday truly was a beautiful musical rainbow of the different traditions we use to worship the same Creator God. Different, but united in our common faith, in the commonality of our belief in Jesus, the Christ. Music with its roots in the area of Paul’s missionary efforts, music from the 19th century, the 20th century and even the 21st century. Different types of music. All of it music celebrating our common God and the life and ministry of Jesus, God’s Son.
The second thing I thought of yesterday during this very enjoyable event is the centrality of music in Christian worship. I am not familiar with Chenaniah, the name only appears 3 times in the Bible, all in 1 Chronicles. But the words ‘music,’ ‘song’ and songs appear often. Given my own musical ‘talents,’ I also include the phrase ‘joyful noise’ in my thinking about the centrality of music in our faith. It appears in a dozen psalms.
There are those times for all Christians when the realization of the magnitude of the gospel message is so overwhelming, so magnificent that one’s only recourse is to break out in song, to make music, to make that ‘joyful noise.’ Our own faith tradition incorporates songs and music into our regular worship service. So too do most Christian faith traditions of which I am aware.
The Belleville Congregational and First Parish Church choirs sang one of my favorite contemporary hymns, How Can I Keep From Singing, by Greg Gilpin. We sang that recently in a worship service oriented around music. I believe that song title expresses in itself the reality of our Christian faith. How, indeed, can we keep from singing? It seems impossible to me that anyone could read, for example, John 3:16-17 and not feel like singing?
I’m already looking forward to next year’s Annual Interfaith Choir Concert, to next year’s opportunity to join in another beautiful, musical rainbow of our common faith in God and in God’s Son, Jesus, the Christ.
Stay safe, sing joyously, trust God,
Pastor Ray