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September 4, 2005
Reflections on
Favorite Hymns
I have to admit that there is a part of me that does not feel like singing this morning. As I approached Sunday, and the prospect of a service built around our favorite hymns, I did not feel a great deal of enthusiasm. With Jim's connections to New Orleans, the horror and tragedy of the events in that city have hit in a personal way. My heart is broken for the people I know there, as well as for the many more I don't know.
I'm not alone in feeling this way. Whether you have visited the city or not, the images are heart-rending. Our inability to remedy the situation is staggering. How do we sing in the midst of such trouble, such unfathomable destruction and loss?
We sing because singing is what we do. We sing because we need to.
Most of us think of hymns as being about offering praise to God, and that is a primary purpose. The first hymn each Sunday is always a hymn of praise and adoration. We sing that hymn of praise no matter how we are feeling on any given morning—confident, distraught, confused. Our praise is not dependent on good times. We keep singing, because singing re-connects us with God, strengthening us when we begin to doubt and despair. We keep singing, because the words and music remind us of who we are and where we've been and who God is for us.
But that's not the only reason we sing. Singing also binds us together as a community, as we lift our voices together in unison (or in harmony!), as we share the common experience of a hymn, the common experience of worship. Sometimes our hymns are songs of praise, sometimes they are songs of supplication, asking for God's help, but always we sing them together, and in that act we are formed again and again in community.
So that is another reason we sing this morning, because community is important. We have seen the physical structures of communities destroyed this week. We have seen communities of people come together to help one another and share the burden, and we have seen communities of people suffer because of the selfish and violent actions of a few. It seems clear to me that we need each other, that life in community is a good thing, a gift from God.
So, we're singing this morning, and we're singing the hymns the congregation loves best. And even as the sadness of what's happened to the Gulf Coast hangs over us, we sing, giving voice to our praise, our hope, our trust in God, and our need for one another.
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The congregation's favorite hymn is Sydney Carter's "I Danced in the Morning." The song traces the story of Jesus, from the "In the beginning was the Word" of his eternal existence to his incarnation on earth, his ministry, the crucifixion and finally, the resurrection. And always, there is the dancing Christ, the Lord of the Dance leading the way and inviting us to join in with him.
I think it significant that the refrain's invitation comes at the end of each stanza, and if you look at the words in each stanza, things are not necessarily going well for Jesus. The first stanza things are fine, it's early yet and there aren't problems. But in stanza 2, there is already trouble with the scribes and Pharisees. By stanza 3, Jesus has already been "whipped" and "stripped" and hung up high. In stanza 4, Jesus has been buried and left for dead. Stanza 5 brings the "happy ending" but in spite of the harrowing situations with which the other stanzas end, always there is the call to join the dance.
Sydney Carter wrote of this hymn, "I see Christ as the incarnation of the piper that is calling us. He dances that shape and pattern that is at the heart of our reality."
The Lord of the Dance calls us to join him, in good times and in bad. The Lord of the Dance knows that the need to dance is not dependent on the circumstances in which we find ourselves on any given day. So, we dance, because we know that there is another reality, an unseen reality, a vision of a better, fairer world, and the Lord of the Dance leads us towards it. We dance, and sing, because we know we do not do it alone.
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A Mighty Fortress Is Our God
The year I lived in Germany, I had the great fortune of visiting Eisenach and Wartburg Castle. This is the place where Martin Luther, the Great Reformer, hid out after his appearance at the Diet of Worms where he was declared an outlaw, meaning anyone could kill Luther without being punished for it.
Wartburg Castle sits on an outcrop of rock, with a commanding view of the land around it. The walls are immense, several feet thick. It was indeed a fortress and refuge for Luther during the year he stayed there, watching and praying to see what would happen to the seeds of the reformation he had planted with his 95 theses.
Legend has it that Luther's famous hymn, "A Mighty Fortress Is Our God", was inspired by his stay at Wartburg Castle. We know for sure that it is based on Psalm 46, a psalm of which Luther was particularly fond.
It's easy to see why. He was always in some kind of difficulty. As a student and as a young monk, Luther struggled with what he believed. Then his study of the Bible led him to criticize the practices of the church, beginning with the 95 Theses posted on the door of the Wittenburg Church on October 31, 1517. When he was called to defend himself four years later at the Diet of Worms, knowing that his beliefs were a capital offense, Luther said, "…my conscience is captive to the Word of God. I cannot and will not recant anything for to go against conscience is neither right nor safe. God help me. Amen."
It is said when things were going badly for the Reformation, Luther would suggest that he and his friends sing Psalm 46. I suspect that means Luther sang that psalm a great deal!
Since my visit to Wartburg Castle, I cannot help but think of that fortress on a hill when I sing "A Mighty Fortress Is Our God."
But I think it's important to note that while Wartburg Castle was a refuge for Luther for a time, Luther knew where his true refuge was—it was his trust in God. If Luther had truly been interested in self-preservation, he would have stayed at the castle the rest of his life.
Thankfully for us, Luther's faith was not dependent upon a guarantee that all would be well and safe and easy, but instead was based on the belief that God was with him, "a very present help in trouble," no matter how earth should change or the mountains shook in the heart of the sea.
That same faith is available to us, if we will only believe and live out the words we sing.
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First Presbyterian
Church of Cedar Rapids
310 Fifth Street SE Cedar Rapids, IA 52401
Phone: 319-364-6148
E-mail: church@fpccr.org
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