July 6 2019
SINGING
There’s one text I remember from a sermon, although I can’t recall what the female preacher exactly said. Here it is:
“Then Jehoshaphat consulted with the people and appointed those who would sing to the LORD and praise the splendor of His holiness. As they went out before the army, they were singing:
“Give thanks to the LORD,
for His loving devotion endures forever.”
The moment they began their shouts and praises, the LORD set ambushes against the men of Ammon, Moab, and Mount Seir who had come against Judah, and they were defeated.”
Guts and faith
It takes guts and faith to meet the enemy not with swords and spears, not with bows and slings, but simply with song. That happens when we listen to the people, because democracy was at work here. The story says that the king first deliberated with the people. Jehoshaphat took counsel with the nation and together they decided to tackle the problem in a unique way: rather than blindly attack, somebody suggested something different: let those who can sing, men and women, come forward and face the enemy while praising the Lord in song.
That calls for a lot of trust. The beauty here is that the people decided: it was not a command dictated by the king, who actually had absolute power.
Picture the scene here: God’s people are under attack. A mighty army has invaded the Holy Land. The people of Israel basically are farmers who know how to grow food and look after cattle, but fighters they are not. Once a year they all gather in Jerusalem in that grandiose temple built by Solomon in all his glory: a magnificent structure. When they walk there from every corner of the nation, they travel by foot, and you know what they do? They sing all the way. There’s always a person who plays the flute or strings a guitar equivalent, making traveling easier. Yes, that’s what they are good at: Singing, not fighting. Psalm 100 comes to mind:
Make a joyful noise to the LORD,
all the earth.
Serve the LORD with gladness;
come into His presence with joyful songs.
Know that the LORD is God.
It is He who made us, and we are His;a
we are His people, and the sheep of His pasture.
Enter His gates with thanksgiving
and His courts with praise;
give thanks to Him and bless His name.
For the LORD is good,
and His loving devotion endures forever;
His faithfulness continues to all generations.
People in those days lived by memory and storytelling. No books or TV. That’s how the Old Testament was preserved for us. And memorizing a poem was easier when it was given a tune.
Singing
There’s something peculiar about singing: it binds the people together. Armies not too long ago marched on the tune of martial melodies. When, on May 10 1940, the German army occupied my hometown, they sang. The Russian Army has a famous male choir, well-known for its great performances. Yes, singing is universal.
In my book, DAY WITHOUT END, I discovered lots of instances of singing. In Chapter 3, after meeting with my guardian angel, Cornelius, who is there when I wake up in the new creation, the first thing I do is,
“I start to sing, beginning a scale as low as I can manage and rising easily two, almost three octaves. My voice is pure and beautiful, or so it sounds to me. But, then, perhaps, in my exalted state, am I prone to exaggerate? So what?”
And then the next sentence is,
“Suddenly I stop singing, sensing that my voice has awakened the universe. As if shaken out of a deep sleep, I now hear the birds in the trees, the bees in the fields, the wind in the branches, the hum of the insects all tuned in a perfect harmony, singing to our God, Creator and Father.
“And then, as if on cue, the world comes alive. Out of nowhere, it seems people emerge: people, people, everywhere….I fall in line with women and men clad in colourful clothes that reflect their personalities and their traditions.
“Spontaneous singing wells up, starting at first as a song without words, resembling the humming of bees or the purring of kittens or the blowing of the wind in the trees. I raise my voice and strange, inarticulate tones emerge, melodious but wordless, resembling the wailing of sirens, the “all is safe” sign at the end of an air raid, a long extended sigh of solace.”
That’s how I described one scene in my book. I then continue on a personal note. Clarification: Melodia is the angel in charge of music. She was the one who organized the event that took place in the fields when the shepherds were told about the birth of Jesus.
Here she distributes sheet music. I continue citing my book:
“I have always loved singing. As a baby I hummed in my crib, my mother told me, and music has always been a part of my life. So, of course, I am ready to join Melodia as are many others. Our entire group comes over, some more out of curiosity than real interest in singing, and joins a group of about one hundred people. Melodia positions herself so that she is visible and audible to all.
“I return to my place and look over my part. Arctica is standing next to me. She has never participated in a choir before and has never sung from a score. However, the music is written in such a way that when the correct note is hit, the musical note glows a bit indicating the proper pitch. I find this a fantastic way of teaching both the untrained and those like me who have had a life-long exposure to choirs and singing. At first hesitantly, but with increasingly confidence, we try out our parts and with enthusiastic encouragement and participation from the notes on the sheets we soon sound quite professional.”
Later in the book, our group of 4, Arctica, Initia, Jethro and I, Novissimus, find ourselves in Africa, where we attend a concert, with Jesus, who is black, at the drums.
“Long after the concert is over, the singing-sounds within me continue. To me singing is worship and worship means singing. Now singing is embedded in the new creation. The song of creation is always audible.”
Read the entire book. Go to “Bert Hielema: Day without End.”
The Bible has many passages referring to singing. Matthew 26: 30 relates how after the last supper Jesus and the disciples “sang a song and went out to the Mount of Olives.” Yes, the last thing they do is ‘sing’, before that fateful night.
Singing has always been a part of my life. As a youngster, 6 years old, I was part of a large children choir. Our grade school teacher loved music and singing was a daily affair. As a teenager I was in the school choir, and later in life was instrumental in starting a male choir. Even today my only tenor voice has a place in our church choir.
In my youth singing was part of daily life. As a family we would assemble around the pump organ and sing. During the 5 year war 1940-45 after the Sunday meal, attended by some dozen people, our own family and always visitors, we would have a pretty standard repertoire of psalms my father liked, always ending with “The Wilhelmus van Nassau” the Dutch National Hymn.
Even today, as I write, there always is a song in my mind.
But back to choirs.
I believe being a member of a choir is an enlightening, communal experience. It requires a set of skills and enhances them.
Let me enumerate them as they come to mind.
Singing is an exercise in community. When I sing, I have to listen to the other singers, and not try to dominate but blend in so that the song becomes a harmonious entity. Also I breathe in deeply and exhale, which clears my lungs and gives health benefits. I must engage my brain by reading the notes and obtain the right pitch. Reading notes and listening to music is itself an enriching experience. Listening to music is an aesthetic exercise and makes a person wiser and adds to the lifespan. Being part of a group is a natural human trait, so much neglected in today’s individualistic society.
Yes, singing is universal: it is found in all cultures and, despite protestations of tone deafness, the vast majority of people can sing. Singing also often occurs in collective contexts: think about sports stadiums, religious services and birthday celebrations.
We now also know that feeling sufficiently socially connected guards against physical and mental illness, and increases longevity.
Singing bonds.
Few other activities have such great social benefits as singing together. While we sing our voices blend, and harmony is the result. I like that word ‘harmony’. It is more than a musical expression, that too because it adds beauty to the whole, but harmony does more: it spreads shalom, it enhances the human psyche, it – in church singing especially – is the only way the people of God are allowed to directly participate in worship.
Bottom of Form
Singing bonds: it has an ice-breaker effect. People reveal themselves more quickly and, I have read, fall in love more easily when singing together. Singing is a form of promiscuity, in the good sense: our breaths mingle, as we suck in the ecclesiastical essence, and find pleasure in vocalizing our faiths.
Sometimes, when the words of the hymn move me, I choke up and stop singing. Sometimes when the words are overly pietistic or even gnostic, I don’t argue as I used to do when my displeasure came out in the open. Today I am mellowed, shrug my shoulders at the words that offend my understanding of the Bible or my notion what faith is all about in these last days. “Onward Christian Soldiers”, or “By the sea of Crystal”, or “Pilgrim through this barren land”, come to mind: nice tunes, terrible words.
“When truth is replaced by silence, then silence is the lie”, I read last week.
There’s so much that is untrue in the church, that harping on it would be my constant occupation, so, perhaps my silence is a lie. God will forgive me.
I started out with
“Then Jehoshaphat consulted with the people and appointed those who would sing to the LORD and praise the splendor of His holiness. As they went out before the army, they were singing:
“Give thanks to the LORD,
for His loving devotion endures forever.”
Just picture these singers, these courageous women and men, singing their hearts out, even as they are shaking in their boots, because what if……..
There’s magic in crowds. It only takes a few courageous leaders to instill confidence in the wavering mass.
So, what is my lesson for this week?
We, the church, the people of God, are again in mortal peril. Today it is no just that a few tribes are out to get us: the entire world conspires against the Truth, preferring the lie of constant economic growth and ever increasing standard of living, instead of facing the truth of Our Finite Earth, now on the brink of Collapse.
Jesus warned the people of his days- and, of course, us today – to be true to the circumstances of their time. He said, “We sang a dirge, and you did not mourn.” (Matthew 11: 17). To be truly human, we have to lament when sorrow strikes, and rejoice when good things happen.
And today? Today death is all around us: dying whales, slaughtered elephants, disappearing insects, forests aflame, the earth quaking everywhere, the Arctic melting, young people perishing from overdoses, lies tolerated. Where is the dirge, the plaint of mourning?
Today more than ever, our song must be two-fold: lament for all that is dying due to our cruelty and also songs of praise for what is coming: the glorious new creation, now being prepared for those who mourn the state of the earth and live in the expectation of the New Earth to come.