Called to Courageous Lustiness
Today, as we recognize those in our congregation who share their musical talents with us in worship, I want to share with you the important role that music plays in our lives and in the Bible. Music holds a very special place in our lives… for you see, music can touch us in ways that nothing else can. It is a gift given to us by God to enhance the quality of our lives. Think for a moment of what our lives would be like without music: no music for a wedding procession … or a graduation march … no marching bands on parade during the holidays…no symphonies … no ballets… no jazz ensembles… no piano concertos… in fact, no piano… no instruments at all… no organs in church… no keyboards or guitars… (Pause) and we couldn’t even whistle or hum our favorite tunes… because there would be no tunes… no top 40 countdown … no music to listen to on the radio… or in the car… no CD’s… no musical soundtracks for the movies we watch… no love songs… no music to dance to…no choirs to sing. It is almost incomprehensible to try to imagine what our lives would be like without music.
Music is the medium through which we express some of our deepest feelings: feelings of joy… feelings of sorrow… feelings of loneliness… of elation… of grief. Music is mentioned many times in the Bible, as well. In the Old Testament, David played on his harp… both when he was joyful and when he was deeply disturbed. King Saul would often command David to play for him… because the music soothed him. In the New Testament, Paul and Silas sang praises to God in the prison at midnight and so captured the attention of the other prisoners that they did not even try to escape when the earthquake broke open the prison doors.
But God did not give us music just to enhance the quality of our lives. As children of God, we have been commanded to use music in the praise of our Creator. More than 550 times, the Bible mentions songs and singing…from verses in the psalms to narrative accounts of how the children of Israel sang praises to their Creator during their historic journey through the wilderness… during the years of the great monarchies… through their exile in Babylon, where they sang of their sorrow by the banks of the river. Our sermon text from 1 Chronicles talks about the importance of music during the time of King David. Listen, will you, as I share with you part of the story of how the Ark of the Covenant was brought to Jerusalem:
14 So the priests and the Levites sanctified themselves to bring up the ark of the Lord, the God of Israel. 15 And the Levites carried the ark of God on their shoulders with the poles, as Moses had commanded according to the word of the Lord. 16 David also commanded the chiefs of the Levites to appoint their kindred as the singers to play on musical instruments, on harps and lyres and cymbals, to raise loud sounds of joy. 17 So the Levites appointed…
and here there is a list of names that might have been common during the time of the first monarchy, but they certainly are not common in the United States of America today. So, I am going to replace those names with names we might encounter today. If you want to read the original list of names, you can find them in 1 Chronicles… but I seriously doubt that you know those people in the same way that the ancient Israelites knew them. Now, back to our text…
so the Levites appointed Stephanie, daughter of Don; and of her kindred Rani, daughter of Trish; and of the sons of Allen, their kindred, Matt, son of Becky; 18 and with them their kindred of the second order, Joe, Russell, Linda, Marilyn, Bruce, Jim, Anita, Maxine, Ellen, Don, Pat, John, Maia, Richard, Andrew, Jane, Julian and Kathy, and the gatekeepers Hugh and Sue. 19 The singers Sue, Don, Russell, Joe, Jim and Trish were to sound bronze cymbals (or maybe today a different instrument, like handbells); 20 Andrew, Don, Matt, and Bruce were to play harps (or maybe today guitars, trombones, or trumpets, who knows?) according to one method; 21 but Jane, Margaret, Leesa, Kathy, and Stephanie were to lead with lyres (or maybe pianos or organs, or keyboards) according to another method. 22 Leesa, leader of the Levites in music, was to direct the music, for she understood it… [and it continues…] 27 David was clothed with a robe of fine linen, as also were all the Levites who were carrying the ark, and the singers, and Leesa the leader of the music of the singers; and David wore a linen ephod. 28 So all Israel brought up the ark of the covenant of the Lord with shouting, to the sound of the horn, trumpets, and cymbals, and made loud music on harps and lyres (or maybe guitars, trombones, and pianos or organs… 16:1 They brought in the ark of God, and set it inside the tent that David had pitched for it; and they offered burnt offerings and offerings of well-being before God…
And the passage goes on to talk about other things that David and the Israelites did on that day, ending in verse 7, which says “Then on that day David first appointed the singing of praises to the Lord by Asaph and his kindred.”
The point of reading this passage is not to know who played what instrument and who sang. The point is that the king himself appointed these musicians to lead the children of Israel in worship. Later in the Old Testament, we learn that these musicians were paid, just as the priests were paid, and fed, as the priests were fed, and that they lived in special housing provided by the king. During King Solomon’s time, in fact, musicians lived in the inner court of the great Temple in Jerusalem. OK, so the status of Temple musicians has slipped a little in the past four or five thousand years. In church today, we usually depend upon mostly volunteers who give their time and talents to rehearse and prepare music for worship. If we’re lucky, the choir director is paid something and the organist gets a little, too, but I have never, ever heard of a provision for housing for either of them, much less for any of the singers.
Now, many individuals get involved in music at a very young age, but then they get distracted somewhere along the way. I remember starting to learn how to play the violin in grade school. My love affair with the violin lasted about six months, I think, during which time, I learned more about how to tighten the bow and put rosin on horsehair than actually playing the instrument itself. When I went off to high school, I tried playing a clarinet. This musical experiment lasted through two years of high school and on into college. Now? Well, I haven’t played the clarinet in maybe 30 years. I am quite sure that I could not even remember how at this point.
My story is not unique. Many people get involved with music at a young age… either playing a musical instrument or singing in a choir…and then drop it later on in life. In fact, my guess is that some version of this story played out in your life. Am I right? How many of you – at some point in your life – either played a musical instrument or sang in a choir? And I am going to ask you to stand. Please stand if, at any time in your life, you played a musical instrument or sang in a choir… even if that time period was very, very brief. Now, take a look around. This is a significant number of people. Now, please remain standing if you still play that musical instrument or sing with a group on a regular basis – meaning at least once a month or so. Thank you. Please have a seat.
What happens to the wonderful music we make as children and young adults? What happens to the talents and gifts we shared in our youth? As I shared with the youth, the psalmist says “Make a joyful noise to the Lord all the earth…Come into his presence with singing.” The texts that we read from Isaiah and Revelation this morning both say that when Christ returns, all the ransomed of the Lord… and I hope you plan to include yourself in that number… and every creature in heaven and on earth will gather around the throne and sing. But how many of us have made singing a forgotten relic that now collects dust on the shelves of our memories? How many of us just don’t use that instrument any more? Maybe, we sing a verse or two of a hymn on Sunday morning, but many of us have chosen not to do that either. Is that OK? Is it OK for us to show up on Sunday morning and just sit and listen? What is the value of singing… or of playing an instrument? Why, for example, should we sing the hymns on Sunday morning?
Did you know that Martin Luther, the Father of the Protestant Reformation, was also credited with bringing congregational singing into Sunday morning worship? I know that it is hard to believe that when our picture of Martin Luther is of an angry young priest nailing his 95 theses to a church door in Wittenburg. But, at the time of the Reformation, the people in the congregation did not sing in church as a rule. It was only the priests who sang… chanted mostly. The leaders of the Protestant Reformation wanted to change that. Do you know why? It wasn’t just to be different from the Roman Catholics. No, it was because people could not read. There were very few books…there was no education for the poor…and yet the basis of the Protestant Reformation was that a person could be saved… solely by faith… solely through grace… solely by reading the Holy Scriptures… without the intervention of a priest.
Well, if people could not read, how could they come to a saving knowledge of God… of Jesus Christ… without the intervention of a priest? Martin Luther and another great leader of the Reformation, John Wesley, believed that it could be done by the singing of hymns… hymns that crystallized the concepts of the gospel in their stanzas. When you look at some of the great hymns that were written by Martin Luther… by Isaac Watts… by John and Charles Wesley, you can see an abridged version of the message of the gospel in the words of the hymn. If people would just learn the hymns and sing them, they could carry the gospel message with them, even if they could not read the scriptures.
Let me give you an example. Take the children’s song that most of us learned in Sunday school: “Jesus Loves Me.” I know that you know it, but when was the last time that you really thought about the words as you sang that little song? Will you sing it with me now? And will you think about the words you are singing as you sing it? “Jesus loves me. This I know for the Bible tells me so. Little ones to him belong. They are weak, but he is strong. Yes, Jesus loves me. Yes, Jesus loves me. Yes, Jesus loves me. The Bible tells me so.”
Here’s another great hymn that you might recognize: “The church’s one foundation: Is Jesus Christ her Lord? She is his new creation by water and the Word. From heaven he came and sought her to be his holy bride. With his own blood he bought her and for her life, he died.” A sermon… in one stanza! I wish I could do that! But how many of us pay attention to the words we sing when we sing hymns on Sunday morning? John Wesley believed that if we learned the hymn and sang it lustily and with good courage, those words would seep into our souls and draw us to the truth of the gospel. So, he laid out some rules for congregational singing: 1. Everyone is to sing. No excuses. 2. We are to sing lustily and with courage. In fact, John Wesley said that we were to sing hymns as enthusiastically as we sing popular songs or secular music. 3. We are to sing modestly… blending our voices with the voices around us. 4. We are to sing in time to the music… not too fast or too slow. And, finally, 5. We are to sing spiritually…aiming to please God with our singing. You see, for John Wesley, congregational singing was not an option… it was the way in which people in his day learned their faith and carried it with them. The role of the choir was not to be better than…or above the congregation, but to lead the congregation by example, teaching them how to sing.
Let me share with you two examples of how John Wesley’s theory of congregational singing has worked in the lives of the people I have met in my work. Before I came to Stephenville, I was a hospice chaplain and I worked with quite a few people who suffered from Alzheimer’s disease. As these individuals lost the capacity to remember anything but the most basic things, I found that they did remember the music that they learned in church… particularly the music that they learned as a child. Even when they no longer remembered me or why I was with them, they still drew a great deal of comfort from hearing those little songs that carry the good news of the gospel in a nutshell. For them, I could sing a song like “Jesus Loves Me,” and it would put a smile on a face that usually looked lost and alone. And, in that one song, I could share the gospel message with them again.
I also spent several months working as a chaplain intern at the State Hospital for the mentally ill in Austin. Since most of the patients could not leave their wards to attend worship services, we brought the worship services to them. During those services, we would sing two or three hymns. But there was one hymn that was always requested by the patients and, as long as I was an intern there, we sang it every week. That hymn was “The Old Rugged Cross.” “On a hill far away stood an old rugged cross, the emblem of suffering and shame. But I love that old cross where the Dearest and Best for a world of lost sinners was slain. Oh, I’ll cherish the old rugged cross ‘til my trophies at last I lay down. I will cling to the old rugged cross and exchange it some day for a crown.” For a group of people who had known nothing but suffering and shame for much of their lives, this hymn spoke directly to them in their pain… and it touched them in ways that even I don’t understand. So, they came back every week and, every week, they sang that hymn and, in those words, they found hope to live another day.
From the beginning of our journey as a people of God, music has been an important part of worship. In ancient times, the king appointed musicians to lead the people in worship. Today, we rely on volunteers. The commitment of these special people goes far beyond the perks that they receive. They don’t show up every Sunday for the glory and the fame… and I know they don’t show up for the pay they receive. So, today, I ask two things of those of you who worship here. First, I ask you to take every opportunity you find to thank the members of this choir, our organist and the other musicians for their commitment to this church… for the talents that they share every week … for their dedication… for the time that they give without compensation, so that this sanctuary can be filled with music. Your first opportunity to do that will be right after the morning worship service today at a reception in their honor during our Fellowship Hour. Will you do that, please? The second thing I ask is that you will make every effort to sing in church when the opportunity presents itself... and to sing lustily and with great courage, as John Wesley encouraged his congregation to do… for the church needs a lot of courageous lustiness. Both Isaiah and Revelation tell us that every creature will sing God’s praise before the throne at the Second Coming. Let’s not wait until then. I believe that we can “make a joyful noise” today! Amen.
1 Chronicles 15:14-22, 27-28; 16:1-7; Psalm 100; Isaiah 35:1-10; Revelation 5:11-13