The Language Of The Heart
Stories
Lectionary Tales for the Pulpit
Series VI, Cycle B
"Sing to the Lord a new song, for he has done marvelous things ... make music to the Lord with the harp, with the harp and the sound of singing, with trumpets and the blast of the ram's horn -- shout for joy before the Lord, the King" (vv. 1, 5-6). Music, music, music. In the words of Carlyle, "Music is well said to be the speech of angels," or if not that, the speech of those of us who would serenade the angels.
Public school music teachers compiled some answers that youngsters gave to test questions.1
* Refrain means don't do it. A refrain in music is the part you better not try to sing.
* A virtuoso is a musician with real high morals.
* Handel was half German, half Italian, and half English. He was rather large.
* Beethoven wrote music even though he was deaf. He was so deaf he wrote loud music ... Beethoven expired in 1827 and later died from this.
* Music sung by two people at the same time is called a duet. I know what a sextet is but I had rather not say.
* When electric currents go through them, guitars start making sounds. So would anybody.
Indeed. Of course, worship has involved music from the beginning. The book of Psalms we have in our Old Testament has been called the "Hymnal of the Second Temple."
To be sure, for a while we were not sure what to sing. In the years immediately after the Reformation, Protestant churches were divided on the question of music for worship. Lutherans and Moravians immediately began to develop a rich tradition of hymns in the language of the people. Most of those in the Calvinist tradition, on the other hand, maintained that God already had provided us with a set of inspired hymns in scripture, chiefly in the book of psalms, and that it was not for us to say it was incomplete or inadequate and set about to write our own. Accordingly, they wrote verse translations of the psalms and sang these instead of hymns. In fact, even today there are still some churches that will not use any music except that which is derived from the psalms.
Admittedly, we do what we do (however we do it) with varying levels of skill. C. S. Lewis recounts that when he first started going to church he disliked the hymns, which he considered to be fifth-rate poems set to sixth-rate music. But as he continued, he said, "I realized that the hymns were, nevertheless, being sung with devotion and benefit by an old saint in elastic-side boots in the opposite pew, and then you realize that you aren't fit to clean those boots. It gets you out of your solitary conceit."2
Russian composer Igor Stravinsky: "The church knew what the psalmist knew: Music praises God. Music is well or better able to praise [God] than the building of the church and all its decoration; it is the church's greatest ornament."3
Music is the language beyond words. It is the language of the heart. In the American church, we hear it most vividly voiced in the songs of slaves in the South. The spirituals reflected an unconquerable faith even in the midst of a horrible life. They grew out of a deep yearning to pass beyond the harshness of today to reach a better tomorrow. "Swing Low, Sweet Chariot, comin' for to carry me home...." That faith in the ultimate triumph of justice is with us still: "We shall overcome, we shall overcome, we shall overcome someday." The language of the heart.
For a number of years, my wife has been very involved in the worldwide ministries of the Presbyterian church as leader of annual mission trips around the globe. Several trips went to the city of Villahermosa, Mexico, to help with construction of a badly needed, new Presbyterian seminary, which is now open and serving a very fast-growing church in a region desperately in need of trained pastoral leadership. In addition to her tasks as worker recruiter, travel organizer, equipment arranger, language translator, and mother to each and all, Christie was also involved with trips to the countryside for ministry and worship with Christian brothers and sisters in more isolated areas.
Had we been with her for Sunday worship, we would have heard the same music in Mexico as we might hear in our own sanctuaries: "Holy, holy, holy, Lord God almighty. All the earth shall praise thy name in earth and sky and sea!" But with Christie, we would have heard three different languages -- English, Spanish, and Chol (the dialect of a remote Indian tribe descended from the ancient Mayans). Actually four languages: English, Spanish, Chol, and music, the language of the heart. Despite the fact that the worshipers did not speak the same language, they did communicate wonderfully, and deep spoke to deep. Christie says it was incredibly moving to see, at the end of the service, big burly men and little tiny women, all with tears streaming down their cheeks, reaching out with hugs all around. Despite all the other differences, they did share that language of the heart.
In 1722, the town council of Leipzig was looking for a new cantor in the School of Saint Thomas and organist for the church of Saint Thomas. The council searched for this new person, and selected one who, three weeks later, turned them down. They then contacted their second pick, and he, too, turned them down. They decided, as one member of the council subsequently wrote, that "since the best man could not be obtained, a mediocre one would have to be accepted." This third choice they hired, the "mediocre" candidate, was Johann Sebastian Bach.4 Bach, whose music has come to be called the "Fifth Gospel," would later say, "All music should have no other end and aim than the glory of God and the soul's refreshment; where this is not remembered there is no real music but only a devilish hubbub." He headed his compositions with the letters, "J. J." Jesu Juva which means "Jesus, help me." He ended them, "S. D. G." Soli Dei Gratia which means "To God alone be the glory."
Thanks be to God for the gift of music, the language of the heart.
____________
1. "Missouri School Music Newsletter," collected by Harold Dunn.
2. Paul Brand, Fearfully and Wonderfully Made quoted by James S. Hewett, Illustrations Unlimited (Wheaton, Illinois: Tyndale House Publishers, Inc, 1988), p. 295.
3. Quoted by Robert Craft, Conversations with Igor Stravinsky, American Biography Service, p. 59.
4. http://www.homileticsonline.com/Installments/aug1494.htm.
Public school music teachers compiled some answers that youngsters gave to test questions.1
* Refrain means don't do it. A refrain in music is the part you better not try to sing.
* A virtuoso is a musician with real high morals.
* Handel was half German, half Italian, and half English. He was rather large.
* Beethoven wrote music even though he was deaf. He was so deaf he wrote loud music ... Beethoven expired in 1827 and later died from this.
* Music sung by two people at the same time is called a duet. I know what a sextet is but I had rather not say.
* When electric currents go through them, guitars start making sounds. So would anybody.
Indeed. Of course, worship has involved music from the beginning. The book of Psalms we have in our Old Testament has been called the "Hymnal of the Second Temple."
To be sure, for a while we were not sure what to sing. In the years immediately after the Reformation, Protestant churches were divided on the question of music for worship. Lutherans and Moravians immediately began to develop a rich tradition of hymns in the language of the people. Most of those in the Calvinist tradition, on the other hand, maintained that God already had provided us with a set of inspired hymns in scripture, chiefly in the book of psalms, and that it was not for us to say it was incomplete or inadequate and set about to write our own. Accordingly, they wrote verse translations of the psalms and sang these instead of hymns. In fact, even today there are still some churches that will not use any music except that which is derived from the psalms.
Admittedly, we do what we do (however we do it) with varying levels of skill. C. S. Lewis recounts that when he first started going to church he disliked the hymns, which he considered to be fifth-rate poems set to sixth-rate music. But as he continued, he said, "I realized that the hymns were, nevertheless, being sung with devotion and benefit by an old saint in elastic-side boots in the opposite pew, and then you realize that you aren't fit to clean those boots. It gets you out of your solitary conceit."2
Russian composer Igor Stravinsky: "The church knew what the psalmist knew: Music praises God. Music is well or better able to praise [God] than the building of the church and all its decoration; it is the church's greatest ornament."3
Music is the language beyond words. It is the language of the heart. In the American church, we hear it most vividly voiced in the songs of slaves in the South. The spirituals reflected an unconquerable faith even in the midst of a horrible life. They grew out of a deep yearning to pass beyond the harshness of today to reach a better tomorrow. "Swing Low, Sweet Chariot, comin' for to carry me home...." That faith in the ultimate triumph of justice is with us still: "We shall overcome, we shall overcome, we shall overcome someday." The language of the heart.
For a number of years, my wife has been very involved in the worldwide ministries of the Presbyterian church as leader of annual mission trips around the globe. Several trips went to the city of Villahermosa, Mexico, to help with construction of a badly needed, new Presbyterian seminary, which is now open and serving a very fast-growing church in a region desperately in need of trained pastoral leadership. In addition to her tasks as worker recruiter, travel organizer, equipment arranger, language translator, and mother to each and all, Christie was also involved with trips to the countryside for ministry and worship with Christian brothers and sisters in more isolated areas.
Had we been with her for Sunday worship, we would have heard the same music in Mexico as we might hear in our own sanctuaries: "Holy, holy, holy, Lord God almighty. All the earth shall praise thy name in earth and sky and sea!" But with Christie, we would have heard three different languages -- English, Spanish, and Chol (the dialect of a remote Indian tribe descended from the ancient Mayans). Actually four languages: English, Spanish, Chol, and music, the language of the heart. Despite the fact that the worshipers did not speak the same language, they did communicate wonderfully, and deep spoke to deep. Christie says it was incredibly moving to see, at the end of the service, big burly men and little tiny women, all with tears streaming down their cheeks, reaching out with hugs all around. Despite all the other differences, they did share that language of the heart.
In 1722, the town council of Leipzig was looking for a new cantor in the School of Saint Thomas and organist for the church of Saint Thomas. The council searched for this new person, and selected one who, three weeks later, turned them down. They then contacted their second pick, and he, too, turned them down. They decided, as one member of the council subsequently wrote, that "since the best man could not be obtained, a mediocre one would have to be accepted." This third choice they hired, the "mediocre" candidate, was Johann Sebastian Bach.4 Bach, whose music has come to be called the "Fifth Gospel," would later say, "All music should have no other end and aim than the glory of God and the soul's refreshment; where this is not remembered there is no real music but only a devilish hubbub." He headed his compositions with the letters, "J. J." Jesu Juva which means "Jesus, help me." He ended them, "S. D. G." Soli Dei Gratia which means "To God alone be the glory."
Thanks be to God for the gift of music, the language of the heart.
____________
1. "Missouri School Music Newsletter," collected by Harold Dunn.
2. Paul Brand, Fearfully and Wonderfully Made quoted by James S. Hewett, Illustrations Unlimited (Wheaton, Illinois: Tyndale House Publishers, Inc, 1988), p. 295.
3. Quoted by Robert Craft, Conversations with Igor Stravinsky, American Biography Service, p. 59.
4. http://www.homileticsonline.com/Installments/aug1494.htm.
