A good hymn has the power to integrate our childhood with our adulthood, our past with our present, if we have sung it over many years.
Think of "Silent Night" and the candles glowing in the dark church on Christmas Eve. You sang it before you could anticipate that high note, before you understood what "virgin" meant; before you had a theological understanding of the holiness of the infant, you experienced it with your family and neighbors. When you are ninety years old and leaning on your neighbor for support, you will still be singing "Silent Night" and you will have a sense of the vastness and eternity of your life measured through all the Christmases past and all the Christmases to come. It is the Spirit's Christmas gift to you.
Now imagine that you have memorized hundreds of hymns, singing them by yourself and with your neighbors, over those past ninety years. You let them sink in more deeply with every new experience, as you come to understand their words in many new moments and apply them in many new situations, allowing the Holy Spirit to interpret and apply His Scriptures to you through hymns about working, raising children, being lonely, suffering agony, enjoying nature, falling in love, giving up a loved one to God, playing with your pets, planting flowers, surviving a terrorist attack, doubting God's presence.
(For the curious, I can propose off the top of my head: for working, "New Every Morning" by John Keble [KEDRON]; for raising children, "Commit Thou All That Grieves Thee" by Paul Gerhardt [HERZLICH TUT MICH VERLANGEN]; for being lonely, "God Is Love" by Timothy Rees [ABBOT'S LEIGH]; for suffering agony, any hymn about Jesus' cross that has a somber rather than a peppy rhythm; for enjoying nature, "All Creatures of Our God and King" by St. Francis of Assisi [LASST UNS ERFREUEN]; for falling in love, "Morning Has Broken" by Eleanor Farjeon [BUNESSAN]; for giving up a loved one to God, "O God, Our Help in Ages Past" by Isaac Watts [ST. ANNE]; for playing with your pets, "All Things Bright and Beautiful" by Cecil Frances Alexander [ROYAL OAK]; for planting flowers, the same; for surviving a terrorist attack, "By Gracious Powers So Wonderfully Sheltered" by Dietrich Bonhoeffer as adapted by Fred Pratt Green [LE CENACLE]; for doubting God's presence, "When Our Confidence Is Shaken" by Fred Pratt Green [LAUDA ANIMA]. Of course there are dozens, if not hundreds, of hymns for most of these categories. These are simply the first ones that come to my mind in this particular moment.)
Every new moment can become deep and familiar and charged with meaning, a continuation of our story rather than an unmanageable challenge or dull interlude or bewildering experience, through repeating a familiar song that instant.
This is the Spirit's refreshing of our souls, and it can be the beginning of heaven in His redemption of our tired lives and moments.
2 comments:
My entire life has a soundtrack. I hear songs on the radio and I'm instantly transported to middle school or college or childhood... Some of the songs are more commendable than others. Some of them I chose, and others were chosen for me by friends or roommates. :) Many are hymns. But what is interesting to me is that my husband does not have a soundtrack. It's not his fault... it's just how he is. He listens to music, but he doesn't associate music with the phases of his life. This used to frustrate me, until I remembered that each part has its place in the body of Christ, and music/worship does not mean the same thing to everyone. So while what you say about "growing with hymns" is true for me, it's not true for everyone! :)
That's an interesting point, Teri! I wonder how many people do NOT have any songs that tap into memories. I also wonder if in some cases this is due to people's personalities ("each part has its place in the body of Christ") and in other cases to a deficiency in the church music program!
Post a Comment