Amy and Music Ministry Shapes Believing
Music Ministry Shapes Believing
“Sing to the Lord a new song, for he has done marvelous things.” (Ps 98:1)
Les Orandi, Lex Credendi. This Latin phrase traditionally translated as “praying shapes believing” is the foundation of worship in the Anglican tradition, in the Episcopal tradition. It means, generally, that our liturgy, the way we pray together, fundamentally forms us as Christians.
Today I’m thinking about how we make and sing music together in community fundamentally forms us as Christians.
Think about your favorite hymns. What do the words of those hymns teach you about who God is? What do they teach you about who you are and what you are called to do and be as a follower of Jesus Christ?
When I think about the hymns I loved to sing as a kid, I notice now that the words of those hymns were all about how wonderful life in heaven will be, after the trials and tribulations of this life are over. I’ll Fly Away, Will the Circle Be Unbroken, I’m Just a Poor Wayfarin’ Stranger, Balm in Gilead…I wonder about how deeply this theology of the afterlife was etched in me by the power of singing these tunes with these words in community over and over and over again.
A person close to me remembers frequently singing a hymn at revivals called God’s Gonna Get’cha For That. It’s pretty easy to see how you could grow up with a theology of a punitive and vengeful God if you sang a hymn like that a lot.
One of my favorite hymns in the 1982 Hymnal is There is a Wideness in God’s Mercy. (469) The final verse: “For the love of God is broader than the measure of the mind; and the heart of the Eternal is most wonderfully kind. If our love were but more faithful, we should take him at his word, and our life would be thanksgiving for the goodness of the Lord.” For me, to sing this hymn is to remember that each moment of our lives is an opportunity to live out God’s love commandment more fully and to rejoice and give thanks in doing so.
A member of St. Francis recently sent me an anthem by the Methodist musician and composer Mark Miller. Using the refrain from an earlier song by Gordon Light, Miller composed new music for Light’s words Draw the Circle Wide. The words and the music lift up the ways that we as Christians are called to respond to God’s love and infinite mercy by drawing the circle of that love and mercy felt and known on earth wider still. I’m linking to a Presbyterian church choir singing this anthem. It’s recent, and the image of the masked and socially distanced choir singing this hymn of inclusion and wide welcome is such a powerful message of the wideness of God’s love and mercy. I hope you enjoy it. You can listen here.
Mark Miller (b. 1967) believes music can change the world, and his dream is that the music he composes, performs, teaches, and leads will inspire and empower people to create the beloved community (http://www.markamillermusic.com/).
