Preaching at the Parish Mass in anticipation of the Feast of St Cecilia, The Patron Saint of Musicians, Christopher Hartnett our Director of Music quoted St Augustine:
“Singing is for one who loves”.
In full:
Those of you who know me well will know that my radio stations of choice are BBC Radio 3 and BBC Radio 4 and that, when I am not listening to iTunes or an audio book in the car, I will be listening to one of those stations. When you can rack up 500 miles a week as I can you get to learn the radio schedule. Friday morning at 9am, I am always on the road and for those avid Radio 4 listeners you’ll know that that is Desert Island disks time – a show that asks guests what recordings of music they would take on to a desert island with them if they were to be stranded.
Well I’m going to do an adaption now – if you could only sing one single hymn for the rest of your life, what hymn would you pick?
As a young child serving at the altar, my younger brother, Robert, had a favourite hymn. But unfortunately, he misheard the lyrics and has had to live with his family mocking him for this ever since. He misheard “thine be the glory. Risen conquering son” as “thine be the glory risen with a concrete gun” and proceeded to sing it out rather too loudly.
For me it would be the hymn sing it in the valleys. We have never had it in a church service here during my time as it isn’t in our hymn books. It has great sentimental value to me as I sang it at the funerals of 3 of my contemporaries at Newman College. The first verse goes like this:
Sing it in the valleys,
Shout it from the mountain tops;
Jesus came to save us,
And his saving never stops.
He is King of Kings,
And new life he brings,
Sing it in the valleys,
Shout it from the mountain tops, (Oh!)
Shout it from the mountain tops.
The whole Christian message is summed up in two sentences as is our rightful response to that message: Jesus came to save us and his saving never stops to which we are called to sing it in the valleys and shout it from the mountain tops, some of us more literally than others if we are from South Wales.
Hymns have a deep meaning, often sentimental meaning to us. For some of us, we are reminded of loved ones passed from this life. For others, we might be reminded of a wedding day or other event.
However, our hymnody, the hymns and songs we sing in our worship have a threefold purpose beyond our personal likes and dislikes. Firstly, they are to glorify God for all the benefits he has given us. “When in our music God is glorified, And adoration leaves no room for pride, It is as though the whole creation cried: Alleluia!”
One of the most misattributed quotes in history is “Bis orat qui bene cantat “ – “he who sings prays twice” which many think St. Augustine said. What Augustine did say is “Singing is for one who loves”. These two ancient proverbs teach us the importance of singing in our worship. We are to be drawn closer to the God who love us so that we might love him through our singing in which our prayer is doubled.
Secondly, our hymnody functions as a spiritual aid to us. The hymns I select for the most of the month and which our ministry team select for the All Age services are selected because they enhance the theme of our worship, that is to say they fit with the readings of the Mass. They are there to help us understand more fully what God is saying to us in scripture and sacrament. I remember my godfather, who was a parish priest in Fleetwood prior to his retirement telling the congregation they could donate a specified amount to pick a favourite hymn to be sung on a Sunday of their choice. I am told by their former organist that he regretted it when his treasurer picked “hark! The herald angels sing”… to be sung on Easter Day.
Thirdly, our music is an evangelistic tool. Our choir and indeed our anyone who sings might not see themselves as evangelists but the words of the hymns and songs used in our worship proclaim the good news. Our bellringers play a crucial part in evangelism – if only because they wake the village up in time for church.
But returning to the theme of our music draws us closer to God and I want to leave you with an example of this. Just under a year ago, I was invited by Whalley Deanery’s Mother’s Union to lead with my friend Tracy a Taizé service at the church in which she was the vicar. The church was dimly lit by candlelight and the repetitive chants kept the mind focused on God. In such atmosphere we become truly closer to God. The whole idea of Taizé styled worship, whether in the Taizé community or else dispersed across the world, is that, through music we pray to God (“he who sings prays twice”) then in silence we listen to hear God’s response and so you will be glad to hear that I’m going to cut this sermon a little short in order that we might experience this. I’d like to ask you to close your eyes and join me in the repetitive chant “Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom” after which we will spend a few moments in silence reflecting on what God has to say to us about our lives in the coming weeks and months.
Amen.
