The Music of Faith

I have this great memory of my friend Herb Meza when he was preaching for me one Sunday. We were both up in the chancel together and I noticed he wasn’t singing. He didn’t even have a hymnal, so I walked over to share mine. He said, “Joe, I can’t sing. My voice…” A few minutes later, he turned back to me and said, “And you can’t sing either!”

It’s true. But I love to do it anyway… especially in the shower when no one can hear me or in the car…

What is it about music that hits so close to the soul?

Some of you may remember in the CS Lewis series, Chronicles of Narnia, Aslan, the Lion, sings creation into being. We don’t know whether Christ really sang creation into being – but it is a beautiful thought.

Of course, music and singing are foundational to our faith. Saint Augustine is reported to have said, “When you sing, you pray twice!” In the Bible, we do get this image of King David Dancing with all his might before the Ark of the Covenant. Even in the wilderness, Miriam sings a song of praise. Moses sings a song of praise.

The book of Psalms itself has long been considered a hymnal. In the gospel of Luke, he barely gets through the second chapter without bursting into song four times. Mary sings. Zechariah sings. Simeon sings, and the Angels – all sing! Then at the end of the last supper, Jesus and his disciples sing – before going out into the night.

“Sing Psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs to God,” Paul writes.

Music has a way of touching the soul that words never can.

When I think about music as a spiritual practice, I think about singing in worship. But it can be more than that. Outside of worship, I also use music to shift my mood, and even to shift my heart and mind into more of a prayerful mode of being.

My prayer today is that you would come to see music as yet another means by which you might draw closer to the source of life, to the One who gives life. May music for you, be an instrument of prayer. And, may you find yourself singing in tune with the music of creation, the music of love, the music of hope, the music of God’s heart.

Let us pray: Sing a song of faith and hope in our hearts, O God, even as we sing to you. And may the music of your love resound through our lives, by the way that we live and love; in Christ’s name. Amen.