A Place to Reside Forever

Kin Hubbard was an American cartoonist at the turn of the 20th Century. He
created a hillbilly character named Abe Martin. Some of his wisecracks include,
“If you haven’t seen your wife smile at a traffic cop, you haven’t seen her smile
her prettiest,” “Of all the home remedies, a good wife is best,” and “The worst
feature of a new baby is its mother singing.”

Funny as it is, that last one isn’t true. Children, regardless of how terrible
their mother’s ability to match pitch is, love to hear her sing. A study released last
year found that in more than a dozen clinical trials with babies born premature in
the NICU, their mother singing to them stabilized their breathing rate. In studies
of full-term infants, the cognitive scores of babies while their mothers are singing
are high, suggesting that the infant is engaged by the song. University of Miami
professor Shannon de l’Etoile studies the importance of song for infants and
mothers. She writes, “Mothers around the world sing to their infants in remarkably
similar ways, and infants prefer these specialized songs. The tempo and key
certainly don’t need to be perfect or professional for mothers and infants to interact
through song. In fact, infants may be drawn to the personalized tempo and pitch of
their mother…”

When my children were little, I read the book “I Love You Forever” to
them. And when the story had the words to the song that the mother and then the
son sing, I sang it – only I used the tune of my favorite hymn. “I love you forever,
I like you always. As long as I’m living, my baby you’ll be. I’ll love you forever,
I’ll like you always. As long as I’m living, my baby you’ll be.” I knew the power
of song to connect, and I wanted my children, when they thought of being rocked
as I sang a lullaby, to hear words of love, and the melody of “Immortal, Invisible
God Only Wise.”

Even thousands of years ago, philosophers understood the power of music.
Aristotle wrote, “Music directly imitates the passions or states of the soul…when
one listens to music that imitates a certain passion, he becomes imbued with the
same passion.” If you listen to melancholy music, your mood will grow somber
and gloomy. Conversely, if you listen to joyful music, your mood will brighten.
Plato said of the importance of music that, “Musical training is more potent
instrument than any other, because rhythm and harmony find their way into the
inward places of the soul.” Music is able to penetrate and transform our mood, our
attitude, and even our soul.

And so, in worship we sing. The Presbyterian Handbook gives helpful
advice on hymn singing. “Music is an important part of the Presbyterian
tradition,” it reads, “and an enjoyable way to build community. Hymn singing can be done without demonstrable emotion, but many otherwise stoic Presbyterians
appropriately channel emotion into their hymn singing and are therefore loud.”
First, it instructs locate hymns in advance and familiarize yourself with them.
Look at the notes at the bottom of the page, learn who wrote the hymn and when,
then pay attention to the category of hymn – is it a gathering hymn, a hymn about
the Life of Christ, – those notes are at the top of the page in small caps. When it is
time to sing, assist nearby visitors and children. Help them find a hymnbook rather
than a Bible. If it is a child who is just learning to read, run your finger under the
words as we sing to help them keep their place. Stand with your hymnbook at
chest level, with your chin up, and then begin singing. Perhaps the best advice is
here, “If the hymn is unfamiliar, sing the melody for the first verse. If you do read
music, explore the written harmony parts during the remaining verses. Loud singing
neighbors may or may not be in tune, so follow them with caution.” Take
that back, this is the best advice, “Focus on the hymn’s content… And “avoid
dreariness…. Sing with energy and feeling.”

Melissa Kircher, an artist and author, wrote an article titled, “Why Art
Should Matter to Christians.” “Imagine a world without poetry, dance, song,
comedy, film, architecture, painting, stories, symphonies, theater or sculpture,” she
writes. “Such a world would be bland. Art brings vibrance and beauty to our lives.
Creativity is both a fully human and fully divine experience. It is an
acknowledgement that something eternal and full of truth lies behind the temporal
world in which we live. It focuses our eyes on the pain around us, the injustice in
front of us, the joy abounding within us, and the pull we feel towards meaning and
significance. Music moves us. Poetry connects us. Paintings shout at us. Dance
energizes us. Art draws us back into the fold of humanity when we wander out full
of pain, discouragement, and bitterness. It whispers, ‘You are not alone.’”

This was the Word of God received by the people of God at the culmination
of the dedication of the Temple. Remember King Solomon, King David’s son and
successor, built the first Temple for the worship of God. And the passage we read
this morning was about the dedication of that Temple. Before they had the Temple
as the place to worship God, the Israelites had the Ark of the Covenant – a box –
that they carried around with them. Because they were primarily nomadic people
for generations, this was practical. They didn’t worship the ark, they didn’t believe
it had any magical power. It was a symbol for them of God’s law and covenant
and a reminder of God’s presence with them throughout their wilderness
wanderings and as they came into the promised land. So, in the dedication of the
Temple, the pinnacle moment is the placement of the ark in the Temple.

Rev. Dr.Steven Tuell, an Old Testament Professor at Pittsburg Theological, one of our
Presbyterian seminaries, writes about the role of music at that pinnacle moment,
“That the climax of the ark’s procession, the placement of the ark in the most holy place, should be accompanied by music shows the vital role that music played in
worship….David’s musicians were called prophets…God communicates through
music, which tells us something important, not only about music, but about God.
The deepest truths about God and life are not rational – as important as reason is to
faith. As Isaiah 55:8-9 affirms: “For my thoughts are not your thoughts, nor are
your ways my ways, says the Lord. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so
are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.” If it is
to be in any way adequate to our experience of the incomprehensible God, worship
must speak on a level deeper than reason. Art, poetry, and music are not added
frills. They are indispensable means of expressing and evoking the full range of
our encounter with the divine.”

Each Sunday, our music allows us to come closer to God. Some music we
sing every Sunday, the Kyrie, the Gloria Patri, the Doxology. Some music we sing
for a season, like the gathering hymn and the sending forth hymn. We repeat the
same songs so that they can become known to us, so that our focus isn’t on reading
the words or finding the right notes, but we are able to focus on what the words
mean for us spiritually. Sometimes, our middle hymn remains the same for a
series of sermons because it complements the Scripture for the whole series. As
you prepare for worship, begin to notice that each Sunday as we Assemble in
God’s Name our first hymn is a Hymn of Praise, usually chosen to correlate with
the particular season of the church year. The middle hymn moves us into the
section of worship proclaiming God’s Word and so correlates with the Scripture of
the day. And the closing hymn correlates with the theme of the sermon and is a
hymn of dedication, responding to God. The words and the melody are chosen to
allow the message of God’s Word that day to permeate into our souls and resonate
in our thoughts.

Just as the lullabies mothers sing as they rock their infants communicate, “I
love you forever, I like you always,” when the song is raised in praise to the Lord,
the glory of the Lord fills the house…whether it is an ark, or a Temple, a
Sanctuary, or a heart…and builds a place for God to dwell forever.