Sing for the Sake of the World
Paul’s letter to the church in Ephesus continues on from where we left it last week with more advice on what it looks like to live out this Christian life in practice. Practical thinking about the real stuff that happens on a day to day basis.
Paul’s comment about “the days are evil” makes me laugh. He’s not wrong; there are plenty of opportunities out there every single day to make choices that are not to anyone’s benefit. Avoiding debauchery is a pretty good plan for anyone, anywhere. But that line about evil days is also a common saying from the time of Paul, and I think just about every generation has had their version of it. Most of us can remember a time when things seemed a little easier, a little clearer, a little less dangerous, a little less “evil”. Almost two thousand years later, some things haven’t changed at all.
Today, I’m especially interested in Paul’s proposed alternative to debauchery: Engage in Spirit-filled music making together, rather than drinking too much wine and behaving in unwise ways. Music is important in our church communities and I’d like to spend some time this morning thinking about why psalms and hymns and spiritual songs figure so large in our worship.
Different groups of Christians have different opinions on what kinds of music and which instruments are appropriate in worship. But, among the Christians who include music in worship, we all agree that singing is good. Some Christians sing just about everything in the liturgy. At one point in history, there was even a group of Christians who expected the sermon to be sung. St Ephrem was famous for not only singing his sermons, but writing them as really lovely Syriac poetry.
There are a few musicological theories about why we think of singing as especially appropriate in religious ceremonies. True of many religions, not just Christians. One is the practical reality that, if you’re trying to address a big group of people, it’s easier to communicate if you combine the words with a melody. Singing carries well and comprehension is better especially if the melody is some indication of what you’re saying. Similar to how we voice questions with a rising tone, even in speech. There’s also the idea that singing is an elevated form of speech. It’s more beautiful and requires more work, so it’s appropriate for important things. We don’t want to talk to God in the same way that we talk about the laundry or feeding the pigs.
It’s also much, much easier to remember words that have melodies attached to them. We store those memories differently than spoken or written words. If I ask you which letter follows H in the alphabet, at least some of you will start singing the song in your heads to find it. And that’s not a bad thing! It’s why we use that song in teaching the alphabet. The ways our memories attach to song also gives rise to the frustrating phenomenon of earworms.
Following Paul’s advice, we have made singing together an important part of our tradition. We sing psalms and hymns and blessings and canticles and all sorts of texts together. Like many shared activities, singing together is community-building, encourages sharing, and something that humans enjoy doing. But in the context of Christian worship, I think singing has another important function as well. It’s an opportunity for us to be like Christ for one another and help each other to see something of God in our midst.
Hans Urs von Balthasar, a theologian of the last century, said that the reason we find things beautiful is that we recognize something in them that reminds us of God. There’s something in that sunset, that poem, that person, that song that reminds us of our deep, fundamental connection to the God who made us. So, when we hear beautiful singing of beautiful lyrics, we are experiencing a glimpse of God.
Hearing live music is never exactly the same twice. There are so many factors that change the way something sounds and the way we hear. The temperature, the air pressure, the speed might be a little different, the dynamic range might be different one day to the next, if we invoke an electronic sound system there are a million possibilities for how the music might change. And, of course, there is how we come to the experience with all of our own physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual stuff in tow. Even the most familiar of songs, that we’ve heard and sung a thousand times, is never exactly the same twice.
This is a good thing because it means that the glimpse of God we get in experiencing that singing is always fresh and new. We have the chance to see and learn something new about God every time we sing together. We create something beautiful for one another and, in doing so, we give each other the chance to experience something of God. And here is where we are like Christ to and for each other.
To sing is to create something beautiful by giving up something of our lives. Nowhere near the same scale as making God known to people by dying on a cross, but a small imitation of it. Our breath is the thing we need most to live. We can survive without food or water for days, but without breath it’s only minutes. The breath of God is the thing that changes us from clay and dust into humanity in the creation stories. It’s the way the Church has often described how we can physically see and feel the Holy Spirit moving among us: in our breath. It’s something that is deep in our bodies, it’s personal and intimate, and it is something that we all share.
When we sing, we make a choice to interrupt the natural rhythm of that breath, the rhythm of the Spirit in us. We take the breath that animates us and we stop its rhythm for a moment, placing it in our body and then pouring it out in a way that we hope and pray will make a moment of beauty for those who hear it that they might, for just a second, be reminded of God. We empty ourselves of that life-giving Spirit, just for a moment, for the sake of others that they might know God in a new way.And when we sing together, we hear our siblings and neighbours emptying themselves for our sake as we do the same. Each of us contributes to the possibility of a moment of revelation for our neighbours even as they do the same for us. Together we imitate Christ’s pouring out of blood and water in our outpouring of Spirit, not for our own sake, but for the sake of the world.
Paul’s call to sing Spirit-filled songs together is not just a good alternative to drunken debauchery. It is a holy calling which draws us together, gives voice to our joy and thanksgiving, celebrates the glory of God’s creation, and may just be the beauty that saves someone’s world
