St Paul says what we already know:
Music is good for you!
Indeed, St Paul
tells us very clearly
that music should do for us
what we think strong drink
ought to do for us.
A pint of beer
or a glass of wine
is certainly a good thing
for us to enjoy.
That's why there is
no commandment
not to drink an
alcoholic beverage.
If there were such a commandment
then Our Lord would have changed
water into Vimto
at the wedding of Cana
instead of the best quality wine.
A good pint of beer
relaxes the mind
and cheers the heart.
This is true.
The trouble is
that there is a limit:
alcohol is poisonous
and ruins lives
when those limits are breached.
It's the existence of those limits
that St Paul worries about.
That's why he brings up music.
A hymn,
a psalm
or a spiritual song
will do good for the Christian soul
more than drowning sorrows
in pint after pint after pint
of Boddingtons.
But, bring up
the topic of Church Music
in Christian circles
and there will be more bitterness
than pint after pint after pint
of Boddingtons.
Why?
[PAUSE]
Like choosing a beverage,
music is a matter of taste.
One person's Beethoven
is another's Britney Spears.
St Paul is very clear
that music is for the soul
and the soul is what makes us live;
the soul is what makes
this lump of flesh us;
the soul carries our existence
as individual human beings.
There is not one single piece
of human music
that will appeal
to every single human being.
In our fallen state,
we are deafened to
the music that would truly
raise all who hear it
for it is the Voice of God Himself
for God is Beauty itself.
So music is subjective
and this poses problems
but it shouldn't.
[PAUSE]
As far as Church Music goes,
its function is to beautify
the written words of the Liturgy
and draw people to hear the
"Holy, Holy, Holy"
of the Seraphim circling
the Throne of God.
The trouble is
when we identify Beauty with
Entertainment.
We should not have music
that entertains us
but rather something that helps us
lift our hearts to God.
Just as the old English
of our Liturgy
is sometimes difficult
to understand,
wrestling with it
helps us do our Liturgy well
because it keeps us honest
and humble before God.
Likewise Church Music
is there for our souls' benefit
not our ears,
though making it easy on the ears
is helpful.
Church Music
must convey
our reverence for holy things
as well as the orthodoxy
of our faith.
Too many modern church songs
are written
for the express purpose
of making us feel great
rather than lifting the soul to God.
We know that
the Psalter is the prime hymn book
of our faith,
and there are songs sung
by Moses,
Miriam,
Judith,
Tobit,
Zacharias,
Our Lady,
Simeon
and quoted by St Paul.
We can trust
that these express
the truth of our Faith.
But this is our Church Music.
What about in private?
[PAUSE]
There are times
when we need
to sing our own songs -
Songs of joy,
Songs of grief,
Songs of praise,
Songs of lament.
And these will bubble up from within.
We need these
in order to be honest
with God and ourselves.
If music is to temper
our desire to drink to excess
then we need to be able
to sing our own songs well.
We have to do this
outside the Liturgy,
for the Liturgy
is not about any one person
but our collective expression
of worship.
But we can write,
learn and sing
those songs that
speak to God from our souls
and which
open our souls
to the Beauty that is God.
To do this correctly
requires hard work
but it is good work
and does not have
the same limits as
the amount of alcohol
we can consume.
Alcohol is easy to enjoy
at first
but its pleasure cloys.
Singing spiritual songs
is hard to do at first
but its good increases
the more we sing.
[PAUSE]
But what if we can't sing?
What if we have a voice
that sounds like
two chainsaws
that have become
enmeshed
or like a piece of glass
that has got wedged
under the kitchen door?
To such folk,
King David says that
we can praise God
on the well-tuned cymbals
AND
we can praise God
on the loud, clanging cymbals.
Let everything that has breath
praise the Lord!
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