Music by Hallucination-Walker on DeviantArt
“I, Doctor Martin Luther, wish all lovers of the unshackled art of music grace and peace from God the Father and from our Lord Jesus Christ! I truly desire that all Christians would love and regard as worthy the lovely gift of music, which is a precious, worthy, and costly treasure given to mankind by God. The riches of music are so excellent and so precious that words fail me whenever I attempt to discuss and describe them…. In summa, next to the Word of God, the noble art of music is the greatest treasure in the world. It controls our thoughts, minds, hearts, and spirits…. Our dear fathers and prophets did not desire without reason that music be always used in the churches. Hence, we have so many songs and psalms. This precious gift has been given to man alone that he might thereby remind himself that God has created man for the express purpose of praising and extolling God. However, when man’s natural musical ability is whetted and polished to the extent that it becomes an art, then do we note with great surprise the great and perfect wisdom of God in music, which is, after all, His product and His gift; we marvel when we hear music in which one voice sings a simple melody, while three, four, or five other voices play and trip lustily around the voice that sings its simple melody and adorn this simple melody wonderfully with artistic musical effects, thus reminding us of a heavenly dance, where all meet in a spirit of friendliness, caress and embrace. A person who gives this some thought and yet does not regard music as a marvelous creation of God, must be a clodhopper indeed and does not deserve to be called a human being; he should be permitted to hear nothing but the braying of asses and the grunting of hogs.” – Martin Luther, 1538
“For just as though some musician, having tuned a lyre, and by his art adjusted the high notes to the low, and the intermediate notes to the rest, were to produce a single tune as the result, so also the Wisdom of God, handling the Universe as a lyre, and adjusting things in the air to things on the earth, and things in the heaven to things in the air, and combining parts into wholes and moving them all by His beck and will, produces well and fittingly, as the result, the unity of the universe and of its order.” – St. Athanasius, Against the Heathen
“You must every man of you join in a choir so that bring harmonious and in concord and taking the keynote of God in unison, you may sing with one voice through Jesus Christ to the Father, so that He may hear you and through your good deeds recognize that you are parts of His Son.” – St. Ignatius to the Ephesians
Music has been part of the heritage of the Church since the “Old Testament Church.” From the Psalms of David, which console us to this day, to the compositions of early Christian musicians, to the compositions of Tchaikovsky, Church music has been part of the worship of the Church. Whether sung as a quiet and calming song by King David (before he was King) to King Saul or sung as the glorious antiphonal singing of the two choirs that King Solomon had processing along the opposite walls of the Temple to the complex polyphonic music of Tchaikovsky, music has always been part of godly worship. And music has always been part of godly private meditation. The believer, singing to himself/herself at home, even if quite atonally, knows that the presence of God accompanies the singing of his music. And, it is his music, even when written by human hands. In the greatest of the troparia, the kontakia, the hymns, the processionals, etc., one is left with the clear inner impression that God has been at work through the mind and heart and hands of the composer.
That quavering older voice, the untutored young voice, the trained professional voice, all mirror something of God when they sing his hymns. The dying person who subconsciously begins to recite Psalm 23 as they slip away to their reward gives witness to the power of music in our lives. For it is often the Psalms, which are simply musical compositions, to which we go when we need to express some profound spiritual experience in our lives. The soldier who claims Psalm 91, “A thousand shall fall at thy side, and ten thousand at thy right hand; but it shall not come nigh thee,” is reciting the words of a hymn as he prays for their Lord’s protection. It is to music that we turn when we need to express the profound in our life.
Though I am now Orthodox, there are two Western hymns that appeal to me during times of trouble or sorrow. One is “When Peace Like A River attendeth thy way.” The other is the Navy Hymn, “Eternal Father strong to save.” “Abide with me, fast falls the eventide,” calls out another hymn. There are generations of Christians that in time of trouble have sung the great hymns of the faith, whether Eastern or Western. “Music hath charms to soothe a savage breast,” confirms a sentence from playwright William Congreve. It is music that God had King David use to soothe King Saul. It is music that soothes us, calms us, and helps us to reflect on what is true, good, honorable, and lovely.
I suspect this is why I dislike bad music so much. It seems to be a horrible insult to write bad music. I do not mean any certain style of music, for I have a rather eclectic taste. But rather, I speak of music that patently appeals to the wrong passions, or is simply shoddily written. Oddly enough, the lyrics bother me less than the actual music, though I must admit that there are some ghastly lyrics around. Does anyone remember an early Jesus People song that said something like, “I saw raindrops on my window; joy is like the rain … I saw clouds upon a mountain; joy is like a cloud?” I still shudder when I think of those words.
Now, as it should be plain, I am not writing in any way about secular music. There is an entirely different set of standards and considerations when it comes to secular music. It is sacred music that calls to me. Whether the Celtic hymn of St. Patrick, or the great kontakia of St. Romanov, or the modern music of a John Michael Talbot or a Michael W. Smith, music has the power to guide us to God, to soothe our pains, or even to stir us to commitment. How many people have turned away from the world, the flesh, and the devil through the strains of “Just As I Am Without One Plea.” The Orthodox may not sing that hymns in their parishes, but we need to acknowledge that tens of thousands of people have come to know God under the calling words and melody of that hymn. Which of us has not cried at a funeral as the strains of “Amazing Grace” have gently tumbled out of our mouths. Who of us has not soared to the Heavens as they sang the Lamentations during Holy Week. And, which of us has not been encouraged as they sang Soson Kyrie ton laon sou.
Yes, music is a gift from God. But, not simply a gift from God, but that God Himself is a musician, or at least so tells us St. Ignatius, among others. Let us thank God deeply for his gift, and let us sing his hymns that we may indeed sustain our souls.
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