By Sister Doreen, SSJD
The Anglican Church Calendar quote for October is from Ephesians 5:19. “Speak to one another with psalms, hymns, and songs from the Spirit. Sing and make music from you heart to the Lord.” A paraphrase of this verse in the Message translation: “Drink the Spirit of God, huge drafts of God. Sing songs from your heart to God. Sing praises over everything, any excuse for a song to God …”
The one who sings well prays twice!
For much of history, this expression has been attributed to St. Augustine of Hippo who himself was greatly inspired by liturgical hymns and music. The expression is believed to have been derived from St. Augustine’s quote in Latin “Qui bene cantat bis orat”, or literally, “He who sings well prays twice”. It is an often-repeated theme in scripture emphasizing music as a part of faith; with the book of Psalms repeatedly saying to “sing to the Lord”, and in Ephesians 5:19, the chosen calendar quote for October, to “speak one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody to the Lord.”
A singing heart … as I thought about a singing heart, I wondered what do we see and feel and meet as we ponder a singing heart? What spiritual insights do we discover as we ponder a singing heart? As I began to consider this scripture passage and pondered a singing heart, I began to remember in my own journey through life, how music turned and always seemed to turn whatever season of life I was or am in, what ever joy or sorrow or perplexity that I was experiencing, into a deep spiritual experience – a release and a freedom, opening a new opportunity and a new potential for new life, a new understanding of myself, and the community and world I live in. My song may have been one of praise and thanksgiving, one of searching and longing, one of sorrow and bewilderment, one of deep lament. Surrounded by a world that seems to have lost its values and tries to surround us with a season of very dark days, we live in a broken world, all of us have different needs, hopes, joys, and sorrows. Music has the potential I believe to not only reach and express these emotions, but also to dig deep down underneath them and to also rise above them. Perhaps this is something that you too have experienced. Somehow, we were born to sing. Throughout history, our life … it is song: music, that has expressed the heights and depths of our souls and the soul of the world around us.
Somehow the reality of God, of creation, of the cosmos – of life, of death, of mercy and forgiveness, of love – of God and God’s presence amongst us wherever we are, of God’s tenacious and unconditional love for us – are simply too great for mere words. We need to feel with the kind and depth and intensity of emotion that raises us up into the majesty and mystery of being held by God, in life and for life giving.
Music ties the head (understanding) and the heart (emotions) together. We know that there are depths and heights and intensities and kinds of emotions that need to go from words, from poetry, and be stretched into song. It is by reading, meditating, and staying close to God that words break into the spirit filled music, sometimes without words … just a kind of inner tune … that we really mean and feel. It can, as said earlier, be passionate, longing, remorseful, sadness. Singing also can help us take more time to reflect on the meaning of words, and also to take time for life by becoming clearer about priorities, about the truths we stand for – music combines our beliefs, our faith, our understanding, our actions and outreach – our minds and our hearts – and often in my own experience breaks through apathy and hardness of heart helping to really engage with the Word. It is an expression that our only hope for what we need is in God. We need to be ‘okay’ when our heart is not as passionate as our first love, not a zealous at it once was or ought to be. Whatever music is real for right now is held in the loving hands of God who sits with a smile of welcome and a twinkle in the eye!
Throughout scripture we are encouraged to sing – we worship a God who sings, and God who has made a home in us, wants us to sing also! A singing heart is also a communal heart – we are to sing to God and we are to sing to each other: spirit-driven, heartfelt, and God-centered. There is a way to see in all things the hand of God moving amongst us, and to be together singing we quietly bear the burdens of each other and our world – quietly leading all things to the all-sufficient God who is working for all and through it all. Singing together and singing to each other deepens our emotions, our love for God and for each other, shares our witness to God, and brings us closer to each other. We can sing together and support each other in refusing to be beaten by the cruelty of life around us and find beauty – encouragement – in the darkest of days. Singing together – imagine, let all the world sing – what a demonstration and expression of our unity. Our singing tends to bind us together – something that perhaps we do not acknowledge enough in this world, and our communities we live in. Singing together and to each other is a time when we are spending time singing the same thoughts, the same passions, the same intentions. At the same time, our songs are joined to God’s song, such amazing grace!
Anglican Church of Canada, Common Praise #357 – words by George Herbert:
Let all the world in every corner sing, my God and King!
The heavens are not too high, his praise may thither fly;
The earth is not too low, his praises there may grow.
Let all the world in every corner sing, my God and King!
Let all the world in every corner sing, my God and King!
The Church with psalms must shout; no door can keep them out;
But above all, the heart must bear the longest part.
Let all the world in every corner sing, my God and King!
Yes! Yes! “Arise shine for your light has come, and the glory of the Lord is risen upon you.” Isaiah 60:1.