Sing for Joy!

December 29, 2002

The Rev. Dr. Anthony J. Godlefski, Pastor

Montgomery United Methodist Church

Isaiah 61:10-62:3 

Galatians 4:4-7 

Luke 2:22-40

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, good morning! I wonder what Christmas day was like for you. We had a most unusual weather report coming through, and it may have changed some of your plans, as it did mine. My tradition is to go to my sister’s house and have a wonderful dinner and time with the family, but she decided to postpone that one night. Maybe some of your plans were postponed.

But that postponement gave me the opportunity to do something different. I went to visit a friend, someone I had known since I was a child. He was a neighbor. He now lives in a nursing home over in Linden, New Jersey. I was able to talk with him and be with him and to sing with him that Christmas night.

It struck me, dear friends, that there was something absolutely wonderful that happened when we sang together. This gentleman is nearly eighty years old now. Hearing his voice and blending my own with his, something sacramental, something very beautiful, was in the air.

What I’d like to lift up for you, friends, is this one simple thought: Music is a holy thing. Music is sacramental. It is a great gift of God. I hope that you will partake of it richly, because through it God has a special channel to our hearts.

On that very first Christmas, we are told that the angels sang in the heavens to proclaim the birth of Christ. Whenever God wants to speak to us in a very rich and direct and powerful way, He uses music. It’s no coincidence that at the great holidays – Christmas, Easter – the talking gets very small and the music gets very big. Well it should. Dear friends, it is a great gift of God, and I urge you to sing for joy.

What is music, after all? What is it? Is it a physical thing? Is it something that can be seen or measured? Well, if you are a scientist, you’ll say that music is no more than vibrating air, set in vibration by a voice or by a bell or by a vibrating string. That much can be seen and measured. But is that music?

Oh no, I think music is something much deeper and richer. It’s something that speaks right to our souls. The great preacher Eric Butterworth put it this way: “The next time you hear a piece of music that stirs you to the soul, applaud. Applaud for the musicians. Applaud for the composer. But applaud for yourself, because you are stirred in soul, and your pet hears only noise.”

I would also say applaud for God, because God put this wonderful, direct channel to our hearts within us. Music is a holy, holy thing.

Music does three things for us, dear friends; music brings three great gifts of God. First, music lifts us up. Music connects us together. And music brings us closer to God.

First of all, music really does lift us up. The Starlite Chorale, the singing group I travel around with, loves to perform for people who cannot get out to hear live music otherwise. We were singing recently at McCauley Hall in Watchung, a home for senior folks. Afterwards, one of the dear ladies came up and said, “Oh, please come back! I haven’t sung in so long, but I was singing today. It makes me feel alive again. Please come back.” Well, it’s God that makes us feel alive again, but He uses this extraordinary sacramental gift called music to do it.

I know the story of a young man, a musician, who was going through a time of enormous grief, such grief that one night he found himself lying on his living room floor, face down, unable to move for the sense of grief. A member of the family called his best friend, who came over at 4 that morning. He stayed with him and talked with him, and said to him, “I will not leave until I hear you play the piano.” And that best friend did stay, until the young man got up off the floor and was able to make music again and be connected to God again. Music lifts us up.

I had a wonderful moment here in the sanctuary. We had an Advent Christmas wreath ceremony on the first Sunday of Advent. We had a hymn sing around the piano, and after that I played some improvisations, and one of the children was dancing to the music, here in the sanctuary before the Lord. The child had a wonderful streamer of ribbon, and he was dancing with the ribbon. The joy of the Lord was just coming from his heart. Music lifts us up.

The second thing that music does is bring us together. When you and I sing together in the sanctuary, we make vibrations on the same level, and we are connected in a clear and wonderful holy way, one to another, in the spirit of Christ. Music brings us together in that way.

The other night, I was able to visit with my uncle Jules. He is in his eighties now. And I was able to meet some cousins I hadn’t seen in a long time. We had our meal together, and then we gathered around the piano and sang. And there was a bond of closer that happened that was a great gift of God. We sang Christmas carols; we sang the old Polish carols which we had to dust off from many years back in memory. Music brings us together in a beautiful and holy way.

And third, dear friends, music is a great gift that brings us closer to God. I can’t think of a better example of that than when you and I make music together here in the sanctuary, or when the choir makes music on all our behalf. It brings us closer to the Lord and makes us feel more in touch with Him. I can’t think of a more beautiful picture of that than Christmas Eve. Many of you were here. That moment when the lights go down, and the candles are lit and I can see the candlelight reflected in your faces, and we sing together, “Silent Night, Holy Night.” The sparkle of the candle is reflected in the windows and in the skylight. What a moment to be connected to each other! And what a moment to be connected to the Lord!

Dear friends, this is a great gift of God, a great gift that should be treasured with reverence and joy and acceptance. And so I urge you, sing! Sing for joy! If you are blessed with a voice to sing, sing out. If you don’t think you can sing, try anyway. If you need to practice, practice. Sing, because it is God’s great gift to you. And if you are sure that you cannot sing and you are sure you cannot play, then be an encouraging listener. Lift up the people around you who sing on your behalf.

Music is a great gift. It is God’s blessing. It is a source of great joy for us all. May it be yours. Sing for joy. God loves you. I do, too. Amen.