Messages, Meditations, and Musings on the Life of Faith by Rev. Dr. Scott E. Olson, Interim Pastor, Christ Lutheran Church, Preston, MN

Sunday, May 11, 2014

"Singing Hymns to God" - Sermon for the Fourth Sunday of Easter

Singing Hymns to God
Easter 4 – Narrative Lectionary 4
May 11, 2014
Grace, Mankato, MN
Acts 16.16-34

What song do you sing? What song do you sing when you are going through difficult times? The gift of song is marvelous isn’t it? Isn’t it incredible that we remember songs from 40 years ago when they come on the radio, but have a hard time remembering our children’s names (unless they are doing wrong). Our Worship Coordinator, Robyn, spends a lot of time agonizing over the right music for worship each service. One of the things I do with families is talking about music, as I did with the Weber family yesterday in preparation for Kay’s funeral. Music is a bearer of our emotions; it helps us vocalize feelings. In fact, I still have trouble with Beautiful Savior because we sang at it my mother’s funeral 31 years ago. Music is so powerful that people with crippling dementia will join right in with their favorites when we start singing.

Paul and Silas are in jail on clearly trumped-up charges designed to punish them, albeit illegally. They have been severely beaten, chained and placed in stocks making it impossible to sleep. So, what do they do? They pray and sing hymns to God. Their hands and feet are bound, but not their voices. What happened to them wasn’t fair, but they sang anyway. Instead of cursing men they blessed God. What makes their song possible is their trust that God is more powerful than earthly powers holding them captive.

We don’t know what songs they were singing. They could have been laments, like the old African-American spirituals the slaves sang. It would have been available to them from their tradition. However, what is important is that they are able to give voice in a meaningful way in the midst of suffering. Whatever joy or emotion they are experiencing isn’t just because of their suffering, but in spite of it. Paul and Silas sing because of an overwhelming confidence in who they are and whose they are. We have the audacity to do that as Christians, don’t we, to boldly claim we are claimed by God. Like many people, I have a list of hymns I want sung at my funeral: Borning Cry expresses my belief that God has been with me through my life, even when I turned my back on God; Here I Am expresses the deep sense of call I have to be a pastor; and You Are Mine my conviction that I will always belong to God, no matter what. The problem with my list is that each time Keith and Kristyn Getty come out with a new song I have to add it to the list: In Christ Alone, How Good It Is, etc.

What song do you sing in the midst of difficult times? Just as important a question: who is listening? That’s the other part to our text today, that the singing of Paul and Silas influenced others, too. The prisoners were listening and no doubt the jailer who asked the question about salvation. I often joke I like singing at nursing homes because they think I sound great, but perhaps it’s because I don’t feel like I have to hold back, and that I can sing as loudly as I want to sing. The reality is that the songs we sing are metaphoric, too. The “songs” we sing show people see how we work out our lives. That doesn’t mean we ignore our pain and suffering, but we do testify to whom we put our trust in the midst of it.

Songs are powerful, and the songs that we sing of our lives are even more powerful. They are powerful because they express our deepest feelings and even more powerful because they express our trust in God. God has sung to us through the crucified and risen Jesus Christ and we are invited to sing our lives back to God and others. Perhaps the final question is not so much what we sing or to whom, but how can we keep from singing? Many people claim that the church is dead or dying. Yet, the world is still as full of brokenness, injustice, bigotry, slavery, and divisiveness as it was in Paul and Silas’ day. Our world needs to hear God’s song of love, acceptance and hope. Indeed, how can we keep from singing? Amen.

No comments:

Post a Comment