| "The ancient psalmists say: "O sing to the Lord a new song.… Declare God's glory among the nations.… Break forth into joyous song and sing praises.…" (Psalm 96:1a, 3a; 98:4b) The Rutgers Church has a rich tradition of singing to the Lord, of declaring God's glory by breaking forth into joyous song, and today we celebrate the climax of the ministry of the one who for the past 35 years has led us in making the music by which we have offered God love and glory and nourished our souls. The 18th-century English poet Alexander Pope once observed that "…some to church repair, not for doctrine, but the music there…" (Essay on Criticism, pt. 2, l. 142) And I know for sure that some of us, perhaps many of us, do prefer anthems and postludes to prayers and sermons- well, maybe even most of us! Indeed, many of you probably want to say to me right now, "OK, Pastor. Stop talking about music, and let Marshall do music." But today is a day for celebrating Marshall, not for making him work a whole lot harder-I mean, we've already added to the service a fourth hymn and a third anthem. Still, in just a few minutes, I will try to accommodate your desire for even more music.o:p> Now, how does it happen that music has such great power to help us express love and glory to God and to help us uplift, refresh, transform, and re-create our human hearts and souls? Well, part of the reason is this: hearing is the most basic of all our five senses. You see, for most of us, sound marks the boundaries of our existence, the beginning and the end of our life on earth. For sound is both our primal experience and our final experience. At the beginning of life, there is sound. And at the end of life, sound! And at the end of life, after a lingering illness in which we have slipped into deep unconsciousness, hearing is, for most of us, our very last resource for retaining contact with the world around us. Hearing is, for most of us, the last of our five senses to remain in active communication with our brain. And for those of us able to hear, sound in general, and music in particular, possesses the amazing ability to strengthen and uplift us. Therefore, many of the hospices caring for people in their final days have on their staff a music therapist. I remember well the young woman who ministered to my mother during the last, comatose days of her life, playing musical tapes and singing songs. Yes, in the beginning of life, sound. And at the end of life, sound. And not only is this a phenomenon associated with our individual lives, but it is also a phenomenon that the Bible associates with the existence of the cosmos itself. The Bible says of the whole cosmos: in the beginning, sound, and at the end, sound! In the very first chapter of Genesis, the first book of the Bible, God is described as creating everything that is through the spoken word, through vibrations of sound: "And God said, 'Let there be …,' and there was …" (1:3, 6f, 9, 14f, 20, 24, 26) Then, in the fourth chapter (vv. 20-22), Genesis describes the primordial ancestors who pioneered certain of the skills that are fundamental to human existence-Tubal-Cain, the first maker of metal tools, Jabal, the first breeder of livestock, and Jubal, the first player of music. Then, in the very last book of the Bible, Revelation, John the Elder describes his vision of history's conclusion: "And I saw what appeared to be a sea of glass mixed with fire, and [I also saw] those who had conquered the beast and its image and the number of its name, standing beside the sea of glass with harps of God in their hands. And they sing the song of Moses, the servant of God, and the song of the Lamb: "Great and amazing are Your deeds, Lord God Almighty! Just and true are Your ways, Monarch of the nations! Lord, who will not fear and glorify Your name? For You alone are holy…" (Rev. 15:2-4) At the beginning of time, the voice of God and the creation of music. And at the end of time, the voices of the redeemed and songs of praise! Now, the most exquisite forms of sound-those best able both to offer God praise and to nurture, heal, and transform us- the most exquisite forms of sound are those we call music. So when King David founded Israel's first shrine to God in Jerusalem, he also established guilds of musicians to serve as choir and orchestra in a professional ministry of music under the leadership of directors named Asaph, Jeduthun, and Heman. (1 Chron. 25:1-8) And according to a tradition found in Judaism's Talmud (Hullin 24b), the musical training for each of the professional singers in the Jerusalem temple lasted a full five years. The psalms are a sample of the texts sung by those temple singers. Sadly, we have no idea of the musical score accompanying them, but rubrics imbedded in the psalms offer examples of instructions furnished to the choirmasters about the style, tone, instrumentation, cues, and tunes to be used. Now it is not only Jews who are born singing, but Christians as well. Christian liturgy has at all times and in almost all places sung, and the chief musician and director of singing occupies a central place in the Christian ministry of worship. You see, the making of music both awakens in us worshipers deeper meanings and induces in us worshipers stronger feelings. Music is at once both cerebral and somatic. Singing awakens deeper meaning in a text by requiring us to focus in a more concentrated fashion on the words and by offering us the interpretive media of rhythm and melody. And singing induces stronger feelings within us by leading us to experience in our bodies the resonance of music at levels deeper and more physical than the levels of consciousness and will. I invite you to explore with me now, for example, how music can awaken deeper meaning in the text of Psalm 150, and how music can induce in us a stronger sense of the central emotion of this psalm-praise. Listen first to my reading of a portion of Psalm 150 (vss. 1a, 3-4a): "Praise the Lord! … Praise God with trumpet sound and with lute and harp. Praise God with tambourine and dance." Well, reading it is certainly OK. You get the idea from it. But now experience how both the text and our emotions come alive when we add in the music and instruments spoken of in the text. Please stand, and let us sing together Hymn #258, #258. We will do the refrain, the first verse, and the refrain again. Let us stand and sing parts of Psalm 150, Hymn #258. This setting of Psalm 150 by a renowned African- American musician unveils for us a deeper level of meaning in the psalm and also leads us to a fuller, more visceral experience of praise. Now, take as another example, a hymn text that is not about music itself, but is about something altogether different. Take, for example, a famous hymn based on Psalm 145, verse 10. Let me first read that verse for you: "All Your works shall give thanks to You, O Lord, and all Your faithful shall bless You." In 1907, a Presbyterian minister named Henry van Dyke was conducting a preaching mission at Williams College, nestled in the midst of Massachusetts' magnificent Berkshire Mountains. He was staying with the president of that college, and early one morning, inspired both by a re-reading of Psalm 145 and by a view of the green and flowered landscape of the glorious Berkshires, van Dyke composed a hymn text. When he came down to breakfast, he said to his host, "Here is a hymn for you. Your mountains were my inspiration. It must be sung to the music of Beethoven's Hymn to Joy." Van Dyke's words richly expand the meaning of the psalm verse, and Beethoven's music moves us to far greater depths of thanks and joy. Please stand, and let us sing together the first two verses of Hymn #464, "Joyful, Joyful, We Adore Thee," Hymn #464. You see how eloquently van Dyke's text expands the reference in Psalm 145:10 to the works of creation that give thanks to God, and you feel how magnificently Beethoven's music leads us to a fuller, more visceral experience of joy. The early Christian theologian Augustine once argued that to sing is to pray twice. I take him to have meant by that that to sing is to communicate with God twice as fully. And Augustine is correct. For music enables us to worship God and to express our love for God with more of ourselves-with our whole heart and soul and strength, as well as our mind. Music is a gift from God that leads to fuller communion with God. Music has the power to unloose and emancipate energies from deep within us so that we may soar into the realm of transcendence where earthly sorrow and grief are transfigured. Music is a gift to us of joy and delight, a gift with which God graces creation from the beginning of time to its ending. Thanks be to God! And thanks be to Marshall for sharing with us these past 35 years the gift of God's music and for leading us in offering our own songs of love and praise to God. In this morning's First Lesson, Jesus says to his disciples, "Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me; for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls." (Matt. 11:29) This day of both joy and sadness, the day of Marshall Williamson's retirement, is a day when we want to pay high tribute to our beloved maestro-this man of such deep faith, this truly steadfast disciple of Christ. And it is our First Lesson that has suggested to me just the image and words I think we need. Marshall, in your following of Jesus, in your imitating of Christ, you have, in a most unassuming way, modeled for us the role of which Jesus speaks in our First Lesson. For you have offered us your yoke of making beautiful music to God, and we, the choir and congregation, have gladly taken up that easy yoke. And over these years, we have learned so very much from you-you who, like our Savior, are so gentle, so humble in heart. Yes, dear Marshall, humble disciple of Christ, in making music with you, we have indeed found rest for our souls. Now, good old Augustine had at least one other important thing to say about music, and it was this. He said: "Sing with the voice, sing with the heart, sing with the mouth, but [most of all] sing with your whole life." Marshall, you have done that. You have sung to God with your whole life, and in the music of your life, God has been glorified. Well done, good and faithful servant of Christ! Rest now from this particular labor of yours, assured that your ministry among us has been "a total triumph"! Amen |
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