Community Church Sermons
Year B
October 28, 2012
Twenty- Second
Sunday After Pentecost
Singing Lessons
Colossians
3:5-17
Rev. Rhonda A. Blevins
Associate
Pastor
Let’s have some fun!
Do you remember a game show that was
popular about five years ago called, “Don’t Forget the Lyrics?” It was simple;
they would play part of a song and the contestants had to sing the lyrics that
followed. The commercial for the game show said, “"You don't have to sing it well; you just have to sing
it right." I’m going to invite you to play our own little Community
Church version of the game. Remember, "You
don't have to sing it well; you just have to sing it right." Ready?
·
“You Ain’t Nothin’ But a Hound Dog” (Cryin’
All the Time)
·
“Hey Jude, Don’t Make it Bad, Take a Sad Song”
(And Make it Better)
·
“You Light Up My
Life, You Give Me Hope” (To Carry On)
·
“C’Mon Baby” (Let’s Do the Twist)
·
“Country Roads
Take Me Home” (To the Place I Belong)
I think you took me literally when I
said, “You don’t have to sing it well; you just have to sing it right.”
Our scripture text today includes a
lesson in how to “sing it right.” The passage is taken from the book of
Colossians, which was a letter written to the young church at Colossae,
presumably by the Apostle Paul. Paul is writing to them from prison in order to
encourage them to hold fast to the faith and to help them understand how to
live together in community. As a part of that, he offers them singing lessons: “with
gratitude in your hearts sing psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs to God.”
Over
the past three weeks, we’ve enjoyed music from all three of these musical
styles. Last week we sang some psalms accompanied by keyboard, drums, bass
guitar, and they even let me play guitar! The contemporary style connected with
some of our younger members, and others who are simply young at heart. The week
before that, we enjoyed classical music and traditional hymns. Our amazing pipe
organ was the featured instrument of the week. The musical purists in the group
enjoyed the traditional style and the rich connection to the faith of our
forebears. We’ve had psalms and hymns, and this week we’ve enjoyed spiritual
songs in the bluegrass style with guitar, sting bass, mandolin, and banjo. With
this highly accessible genre, we connect in to the folk genre of our specific
geography here in the foothills of the Appalachian Mountains. What diversity
we’ve enjoyed! We must be a church as inclusive as the love of God!
With all this variety, let us not fail
to miss the point: it’s not the form of
the music that matters—it’s the focus of your heart. Last week Pastor Tim
offered an inspiring message based on the story told in the gospel of John in
which Jesus teaches the woman at the well that the location of worship is
inconsequential—rather, what matters is that worship happens in spirit and in
truth. Jesus could care less where worship happens, so long as the soul and the mind of the worshiper are engaged. In the scripture passage today,
Paul draws attention to worship from the heart—the
seedbed of our emotions. What is that emotional expression from the heart?
Listen again to that key verse: “With gratitude in your hearts sing
psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs to God.” Gratitude! “You don’t have to sing it well,” Paul
seems to be saying. “You just have to sing it right.” And the right way to sing
it is to sing it with gratitude. It’s not
the form of the music that matters—it’s the focus of your heart.
Think about the genre of music we’ve
enjoyed today—bluegrass—born in Appalachia about 125 years ago. I have a deep
love for this music and rootedness in the style. A daughter of Appalachia, I
remember hearing stories about my great-great grandfather playing bluegrass
guitar on the front porch every Friday with some other men. They didn’t have
television or cars or many of the distractions we have today. But they had
fiddles and banjos and mandolins and guitars—and they had each other. And when
they would play, my grandmother, then just a girl, would buck dance with the
other girls. Even into her old age, when the song was just right, my
Grandmother would hop up and show us how it was done—joy filling the room.
The songs my grandfather played were
songs of life and death—songs of good times and hard living. You might notice
that when bluegrass meets gospel—spiritual songs—the theme tends to turn
heavenward. I imagine that life was so hard in the hills that hope was hard to
find. So they found hope in the thought of life in the great beyond. Think
about it: “Some GLAD morning when this
life is o’er,” (I’ll fly away.) We didn’t sing the verses to “Will the
Circle be Unbroken,” but it’s a song about grief: “I was standing by my window, On a cold and cloudy day, When I saw the hearse come rollin’, For to take my mother away.” Even though many
of these songs point heavenward, the underlying theme is gratitude for the hope
found in life everlasting.
Why do we sing? We sing to express our
deepest prayers 1 We can somehow sing
when we cannot find words to express the deep longing of our souls. We sing to
celebrate or to cheer on a favorite team: “Wish
that I was on ole’ Rocky Top,” (Down in the Tennessee hills.) We also sing
to give voice to our mourning. If you think back to the funeral to that very
special loved one, I doubt you remember the preacher’s sermon, but I’ll bet you
remember that special song. I have no idea what the preacher said at my dad’s
funeral, but I surely remember singing, “When
peace like a river attendeth my way,” (When sorrows
like sea billows roll.) We sing to express our deepest prayers.
We also sing to help us remember.
Music is stored at some deep place inside us, evidenced by the fact that people
with even very late stages of Alzheimer’s can often sing along to a favorite
hymn long after the ability to hold a conversation fades. Wise teachers use
music as a tool to help children memorize. “A-B-C-D,”
(E-F-G). Music forms our thoughts. Plato once said, “Let me make the songs
of a nation and I care not who makes the laws.” Why? It’s the songs people
remember. The songs we sing in church form our faith. We sing to grow in faith.
We sing to remember.
We also sing to build community. I
read a story about a woman who went to church one day, and one of the hymns for
the day happened to be a hymn she detested. She shrugged her shoulders, and
sang with gusto anyway. After the service a woman she did not know who sat near
her pulled her aside and said, “Your singing inspired me today. Hearing you
singing with such joy lifted my spirits. Thank you.” Our singing encourages
others. It’s a powerful act of community when a corporate song fills the air.
There’s not a more powerful act of worship than when the songs of the people
are raised up to the heavens. We sing to build community. “Blest be the tie that binds,” (Our hearts in Christian love.)
So if you’re not convinced by these lofty,
ethereal ideas of songs expressing deep prayer or forming faith or building
community, then sing because it’s good for your health! It’s actually a form of
aerobic exercise. Singing increases heart health, decreases stress hormones,
and releases endorphins, like what happens when a runner experiences a “runners
high.” “I sing because I’m happy,” (I
sing because I’m free). They say the converse is true: we’re happy because
we sing!
Here’s
the point. Sing! Psalms, hymns, spiritual songs, it doesn’t matter. Just sing.
Or dance. Or make beautiful works of art.
It’s not the form of the music
that matters—it’s the focus of your heart. “Whatever you do,” the Apostle
Paul writes, “WHATEVER you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name
of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.” Paul’s singing lesson to the church at
Colossae and to the church at Tellico Village is that simple: whatever you do, do it as an expression of GRATITUDE. That’s how you sing it
right. And remember, “You don’t have to
sing it well; you just have to sing it right.”
___________________________________
1 The inspiration for this part of the
message was discovered in an article by Carolyn Winfrey Gillette, “Why We
Sing,” The Center for Christian Ethics, 2006, online: http://www.baylor.edu/christianethics/SingingOurLivesArticleGillette.pdf
(accessed 29 October 2012).
This week I had the honor of visiting
with the family of Judy Kryter after her long battle
with cancer ended on Monday. They shared with me that in Judy’s final hours,
they gathered around her and sang her home to heaven; when she died, she had
the most beautiful expression on her face. Did they sing to express their
deepest prayer? Did they sing in order to remember? Did they sing to build
community? Did they sing because it was good for them? I don’t really know
their reasons. They sang: “I’ll fly away,” an old bluegrass song. They sang
“Amazing Grace,” the beloved hymn of so many. They even sang an old Negro
spiritual . . . a prayer asking the Lord to be present with them in that
moment. I don’t know if they sang it well, but I’m pretty certain they sang it
right. It went something like this:
Kum
ba yah my Lord, kum ba yah.
Kum ba yah my Lord, kum ba yah.
Kum ba yah my Lord, kum ba yah.
O Lord, kum ba yah.