Flutes,
Lutes, Timbrels & Cymbals
Psalm 150, Ephesians 5:15-20
September 14, 2014
Grace Presbyterian Church
Richard E. Miller
Grace
Orchestra Raise your hand if you play or have
ever played a musical instrument of any kind. Piano? Strings? Reed instruments?
Flutes? Trumpets? Bells? Voice? Percussion? Anyone play the spoons? Harmonica?
Kirk, look at that! You not only have a
superb choir, you just got yourself a genuine Grace Presbyterian orchestra!
Now, for all of you who raised your hand, the first rehearsal will be tomorrow
night at 10 p.m. on the church lawn by the fountain and you will play an anthem
next Sunday. Doesn’t that sound great? No? Well, maybe we ought to wait a bit
on the orchestra. However, as a welcome back tribute to our choir, I’d like to
share some thoughts about the importance of music in worship.
Albert
Schweitzer once said, “There are two means of refuge from the miseries of life: music and
cats.” I suspect that many of you readily agree with Dr. Schweitzer. Now we
know why Candilee and Kirk love cats so much - they go right along with music
as a refuge.
And
throughout the Bible, we can find hundreds who agree with Schweitzer, at least
the part about the music. The first mention of a musical instrument occurs in
Genesis when it says that Jubal was the
father of all who play the harp and flute [Genesis 4:21] From that point
on, all through the Bible, voices and instruments blended their sounds to
express the many moods of the people - from blowing a horn of exaltation to
celebrating a military victory, to praising and thanking God for his bountiful
blessings. From entertaining at family parties and banquets, to the cheering of
heroes. From crowning a king to dirges and laments to express sorrow.
If we assembled an orchestra
in biblical times what instruments do you think we’d play?
Scriptures
list over twenty musical instruments, such as flutes and lutes, timbrels and
cymbals, trumpets, harps, strings and pipes, horns, drums and tambourines. I
suspect that if all of these were played at the same time, it would lead to
some rather noisy worship services.
There
are many examples of times in the Bible when people sang
or played an instrument.
Moses
For instance, after the Israelites crossed the Red Sea and escaped from
the Egyptians, Moses sang a great song of victory: “I will sing to the Lord, for he is highly exalted. The horse and its
rider he has hurled into the sea. The Lord is my strength and my song; he has
become my salvation. He is my God, and I will praise him, my father’s God, and
I will exalt him.” [Exodus 15:1-2].I wonder if he was a tenor or bass?
Miriam
Or how about Miriam and the rest of the women as they responded to
the victory over the Egyptians by dancing with timbrels. [Exodus 15:20].
David
When the Ark of the Covenant was returned to Jerusalem, scripture records
that “David and the whole house of
Israel were celebrating with all their might before the Lord, with songs and
with harps, lyres, tambourines, sistrums and cymbals.” [2 Samuel 6:5]
Paul
and Silas When Paul and Silas were in
prison, they spent their time praying and singing hymns to God. [Acts 16:25]
However, Paul apparently had no use for the loud sounds of noisy gongs and
clanging cymbals, for he likened such sounds to people who did not have the
love of God in their hearts. [1 Corinthians 13:1].
Jesus
and His Disciples
After Jesus had instituted the Sacrament of the Lord’s Supper in the
Upper Room, scriptures states that they sang a hymn and went to the Mount of
Olives. I have often wondered which hymn they sang. No doubt it was one of the
psalms. And I wondered as well if Jesus was a tenor, baritone or bass? I’m guessing baritone.
Ephesians In our
morning scripture, Paul advised the Ephesians to be “filled with the Spirit, addressing one another in psalms and hymns and
spiritual songs, singing and making melody to the Lord with all your heart,
always and for everything giving thanks in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ to
God the Father.” [Ephesians 5:18-20]
Music
Today Music is equally important to worship today. Can you
imagine worshiping without any music at all? In the early 1600s, the Quakers
and the Puritans refused to have music or musical instruments in their worship
service. All hymns were words of the psalms, sung a cappella. In 1956, Gary Cooper
starred in the movie, “Friendly
Persuasion.” He was a Quaker who loved music so much that he hid an organ
in his attic. He had a major fright when he was visited by several elders from
his Quaker congregation and one of his children began playing the attic organ.
However, the elders believed that the sounds they heard during their silent
prayers were strains of music from heaven.
Presbyterians
on the other hand, have always found music to be very uplifting and comforting.
Over the years, music here at Grace has always been inspiring and a wonderful
aid to worship. This morning we are singing three hymns of praise. Our first
hymn, “Come, Christians, Join to Sing”
is based on our New Testament passage from Ephesians. Our second hymn, “Let’s Just Praise the Lord” is based
upon Psalm 134:2, and our concluding hymn “Praise
to the Lord, the Almighty” is derived from the book of Daniel 4:37. Hymns and anthems lift us up, calm us
down, bring us nearer to God and to one another. Music can move us to
repentance or fill us with courage.
Augustine
wrote: “Apart from those moments when
the Scriptures are being read or a sermon is preached, when the bishop is
praying aloud or the deacon is specifying the intentions of the litany of
community prayer, is there any time when the faithful assembled in the church
are not singing? Truly I see nothing better, more useful or more holy that they
could do.” [Jones, Wainwright and Yarnold, “The Study of Liturgy,” p. 441]
The
Psalms The 150 psalms in
our psalter are actually 150 hymns that people sang. Forty of our hymns in our
hymnal are based upon various psalms. In Psalm 150, which we read this morning,
the psalmist wrote: Praise him with trumpet sound; praise him with lute and harp!
Praise him with tambourine and dance; praise him with strings and pipe! Praise
him with clanging cymbals; praise him with loud clashing cymbals!
As
we sing as a congregation, our voices are blended in song, both good ones and
poor voices. Age differences fall away, politics evaporate, and we become one
in the Spirit of the Lord. One of the most effective ways by which missionaries
have taught people about Jesus Christ is by teaching them hymns to sing.
Hymns
Bring back memories
Hymns serve many purposes. When we sing familiar hymns of our childhood,
they can bring back memories of the past. Hymns keep us connected with parents
and grandparents - with our roots. They appeal to our emotions rather than our
reason. A few years ago, I was the pastor at a church that decided to hold a
talent night for the congregation. Anyone and everyone who could sing, dance,
play an instrument, tell jokes, or whatever took turns in performing. It was
immensely successful and entertaining. Another man and I decided to play a
harmonica duet. One of the numbers we chose was “You are my sunshine.” It went
something like this. Sing along if you know it.
As we were playing it, I noticed a woman sitting up front with tears
streaming down her face. After we were finished, she explained. “My father used to play that song when I was
a little girl. Hearing it again brought back many memories.”
New
Hymnal It’s also true that
people can get pretty feisty about hymns. Not too many years ago, the
Methodists were preparing a new hymnal. They proposed eliminating “Onward Christian Soldiers,” saying it
had to much of a military and martial theme to it. The outcry of millions of
Methodists was so loud that it was kept in the hymnal. And yes, we have that
hymn included in our hymnal.
Singing
During the Week
It’s easy to blend our voices in praise and thanksgiving here in the
sanctuary since our Sunday morning worship, is, in effect, choir practice for
all of us. It feels comfortable and safe to sing about our love for God and one
another. We sing songs of praise and thanksgiving, joy and forgiveness
perfectly. After all, we’re all singing to the same God. As a result, we
reinforce the saying that “The secret of
singing is found between the vibration in the singer’s voice and the throb in
the hearer’s heart.”
Songs
Away from Church But once our worship and choir practice
end, we leave to continue singing to the world around us, this question must be
asked: “What songs do we sing when we’re
at home with our family, at school with fellow students, at our place of work,
or at times of leisure? How about when we’re shopping and interacting with
strangers?” Every word we utter and every act we carry out are songs to the
world proclaiming what we believe. Too often, we sing off key and sounds of
discord, dissonance and cacophony are heard. If we want to attract people to
Christ, our words and actions must sing out forgiveness, tolerance, justice,
and love. People who hear us Monday through Saturday must hear sounds that will
make them want to join the congregational choir of Grace Presbyterian. And when
they do, they’ll find they are members of a choir of more than two billion members world wide who do their best
to sing the songs of hope, praise and deliverance to the world around them.
Tuning
the Piano Some years ago, a man came to
our church and tuned the piano. He carefully voiced each string to blend with
the other notes. It was a slow and painstaking task. He would strike a key,
listen, and if it wasn’t right, he would alter the pitch until it was right. He
also carefully regulated the key action, looked for misaligned hammers and
loose pins.
In
a way, there is an analogy between the body of Christ and notes on a piano.
Including sharps and flats, there are seven and one-third octaves in our piano
for a total of 88 keys. There are 36 black keys and 52 white keys.
Each
key is different. In like manner, each of us is unique, bringing into our
fellowship different gifts of time, talent and treasure. Some of us are Middle
C, others F sharp, others G, and still others B Flat. When we allow God to
voice each of us to the right pitch, our various voices and gifts of ministry
can produce a symphony of harmony under the baton of the Holy Spirit. Then we
become a mighty choir of joyous praise
and thanksgiving to God and confirm the observation that our heart becomes
“the instrument that God most earnestly
desires to hear producing grateful melodies.” Amen.
Psalm
150 NRSV
Praise the Lord!
Praise God in his sanctuary;
praise him in his mighty firmament!
Praise him for his mighty deeds;
praise him according to his surpassing
greatness!
Praise him with trumpet sound;
praise him with lute and harp!
Praise him with tambourine and dance;
praise him with strings and pipe!
Praise him with clanging cymbals;
praise him with loud clashing cymbals!
Let everything that breathes praise the Lord!
Praise the Lord!
Ephesians 5:15-20 NRSV
After Paul urges the members of the congregation at Ephesus to
never take part in the unfruitful works of darkness, he says:
Be careful then how you
live, not as unwise people but as wise, making the most of the time, because
the days are evil. So do not be foolish, but understand what the will of the
Lord is. Do not get drunk with wine, for that is debauchery; but be filled with
the Spirit, as you sing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs among yourselves,
singing and making melody to the Lord in your hearts, giving thanks to God the
Father at all times and for everything in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.
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