sing

Sunday’s Sermon – Great Christological Hymns- Philippians 2:1-11, Colossians 1:15-20

August 4, 2019 Leave a Comment

The context for this sermon is within a “hymn sing” worship service, where congregational favorites are sung throughout the liturgy, and the majority of the sermon is also sung by the congregation.

Do you hear the people sing?
Singing a song of angry men?
It is the music of a people
Who will not be slaves again
When the beating of your heart
Echoes the beating of the drums
There is a life about to start
When tomorrow comes[ii]

This iconic song marks a turning point in the classic musical Les Miserables. It is a song of people coming together for revolution, proclaiming their truth in a cadence that builds into powerful chorus. It will likely make you want to sing along, and may get stuck in your head. Sorry. This, along with other power ballads, is a testimony to the fact that through song, we proclaim our truth. As Christians, this is especially true, and experienced in the power of our music and hymns.

Hymns, more than just being nice ways to break up a long-winded preacher, are ways in which the church have proclaimed those things that are most central to our faith. It’s no surprise, then, that so many of them are about Jesus Christ. The story of Christ’s birth, life, death, and resurrection is the most powerful truth that we tell, and worthy of as many songs as we have breath. Amen?

The passages we read this morning as examples of perhaps how the early church professed its faith in lyric. Both seem to be additions by Paul into his respective letters to the Philippians and Colossians, adopted from an emerging tradition. Each presents the most important aspects of the story of God incarnate in ways that, hopefully, became a tune that would develop into the song of the people.

To sing about Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior, as God incarnate, as the first-born of all creation and reconciler of all, and also humble and a servant; well, those are pretty big and audacious claims. They are bold assertions that are meant to rock the boat and challenge the status quo. That is what it means to proclaim the gospel after all. To say these words in some sort of early church recited liturgy was like the hushed whisper in which the song begins in Les Mis. And one by one, the chorus grows, until all are singing together in strength and joy.

As 21^st century Christians, we don’t often think about our hymns as being particularly revolutionary. Indeed, many push-back at the idea of any change to our tunes with “new hymns”. If we’re honest, we might admit that we grow a bit complacent in our singing, enjoying the melodies and familiar lyrics and the opportunity to stretch our legs a bit. This morning, I’d like to challenge you to pay attention a bit more to the hymns that we sing and the power they contain, especially those that we sing about the one we say is Lord. These are hymns about power and transformation, both within us, and within our world. And friends, both within us, and within our world, we need the revolutionary power of Jesus Christ. The good news is; we know it is possible. We have experienced the empty tomb and therefore can sing the fullness of the story, confident and hopeful for God’s power and presence not just on the horizon, but here with us now. In Christ, a new day comes! And so we sing.

That famous song appears a second time in Les Mis at the end of the show in the Epilogue, with slightly changed lyrics that echo the joys of revolution in such a way that you could even wonder if they were also singing about faith, too. It goes like this:

Do you hear the people sing
Lost in the valley of the night?
It is the music of a people
Who are climbing to the light.

For the wretched of the earth
There is a flame that never dies.
Even the darkest night will end
And the sun will rise.

They will live again in freedom
In the garden of the Lord.
We will walk behind the ploughshare;
We will put away the sword.
The chain will be broken
And all men will have their reward.

Will you join in our crusade?
Who will be strong and stand with me?
Somewhere beyond the barricade
Is there a world you long to see?
Do you hear the people sing?
Say, do you hear the distant drums?
It is the future that they bring
When tomorrow comes[iii]!

Will you, too, be the people that sing? About the world we long to see and know to be possible because of the power of Christ? I invite you to rise in body or in spirit, as we sing the hymns of revolution this morning, proclaiming the good news of the gospel of Jesus Christ in song. And may our songs carry us into lives that are a part of the uprising God’s kingdom brings. Let us sing!

~Homily preached by Rev. Elizabeth Lovell Milford, August 4, 2019

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[ii] “Do You Hear the People Sing?” from Les Miserables, written by Alain Boublil, Herbert Kretzmer, Claude Michel Schonberg and Jean-Marc Natel.

[iii] “Do You Hear the People Sing?” from Les Miserables, written by Alain Boublil, Herbert Kretzmer, Claude Michel Schonberg and Jean-Marc Natel.

Sunday’s Sermon – Leftovers – John 6:1-14; 2 Kings 4:42-44

July 29, 2018 Leave a Comment

Mention “leftovers” and you are likely to get a wide range of opinions, some of them quite strong. Some may insist that no leftover is a good one, while others appreciate encore performances of their favorites. I would offer that some things even taste better when they are leftovers, as the flavors have truly had the chance to come together. Consider a good batch of chili or slow simmered sauce. Or, my favorite “leftover” to enjoy: banana pudding.

Both of our scripture readings today leave God’s people with a lot of leftovers. Elijah’s meal feeds everyone with food left. In the gospel we hear the familiar story of Jesus blessing and multiplying a simple meal, so much so that twelve baskets are overflowing. These stories build upon the idea of God providing for us in a dramatic, exponential way. This is not just manna in the wilderness, enough sustenance for one day at a time; these are miracles of abundance.

The presence of leftovers is a promise that God isn’t done with us yet. There will be food and nourishment for another day. In fact, knowing they are there, we might even look forward to it. Leftovers, in a theological sense, build our anticipation of a continued relationship with God. Such stories remind us of the overwhelming generosity of God. Stories like these feeding tales encourage us to remember that even as we marvel in God’s goodness and blessings, they are only a small glimpse of what God is capable of. God is always bigger than our experiences, even our imaginations. Our God is indeed limitless. It’s as if we get to the end of an amazing deal or offer, and then hear that tag line “but wait, there’s more!”

This summer, we have spent 9 weeks exploring some of the stories of our faith and the songs that proclaim them. It was hard to pick such a small selection, so, as we come to the end of the summer together, I wanted to take time to remind you that, like those baskets of bread after all had been fed, there are ample “leftover” hymns for us to enjoy. This morning, we will get to sample a bit of those, first with a taste of some of the stories that didn’t make it into our series:

Did you know that one of the benefits of the Reformation was the rediscovery of congregational singing? Martin Luther was a huge proponent of the use and power of sacred music. He is quoted as saying:

If any man despises music, as all fanatics do, for him I have no liking; for music is a gift and grace of God, not an invention of men. Thus it drives out the devil and makes people cheerful. Then one forgets all wrath, impurity, and other devices[i].

Luther also wrote many hymns in the early sixteenth century, including perhaps the most powerful hymn for the Reformation, based off Psalm 46, A Mighty Fortress Is Our God. He said:

I wish to compose sacred hymns so that the Word of God may dwell among the people also by means of songs[ii].

Of course, no study of hymns would be complete without adequate mention of the late 17^th and early 18^th century poet Isaac Watts, who is frequently referred to as the father of English hymnody. He once wrote that:

The singing of God’s praise is the part of worship most related to heaven; but its performance among us is the worst on earth[iii].

For a period of two years, he wrote one hymn a week, seeking to give the church a better voice for its theology in song. Because of his departure from the classical settings of the Psalms, he was considered a radical churchman in his day. His more than 600 works include such scandalously new-fangled hymns as When I Survey the Wondrous Cross, I Sing the Mighty Power of God, O God, Our Help in Ages Past, Jesus Shall Reign, and Joy to the World.

Few songs are as well-known and celebratory as Joyful, Joyful, We Adore Thee. Set to Beethoven’s “Hymn to Joy”, from his ninth symphony (his last composed and generally considered the greatest). The words were penned by Henry van Dyke, a Presbyterian pastor from Pennsylvania who also served as our denomination’s moderator, a professor of literature at Princeton University, a Navy chaplain during World War I, and U.S. Ambassador to Holland and Luxembourg under President Wilson. He described the writing of the hymn, first published in 1911, saying:

These verses are simple expressions of common Christian feelings and desires in this present time, hymns of today that may be sung together by people who know the thought of the age, and are not afraid that the truth of science will destroy their religion or that any revolution on earth will overthrow the kingdom of heaven. Therefore these are hymns of trust and hope[iv].

Finally, many favorites stem from the tradition of gospel music, which saw its rise in the latter half of the nineteenth century. Robert M. Stevenson noted that:

Gospel hymnody has been a plough digging up hardened surfaces of pavemented minds. Its very obviousness has been its strength. It is the music of the people[vi].

A prime example of this musical trend, Blessed Assurance, was written by Fanny Crosby in response to simply hearing a new tune played for her by friend and eventual composer Phoebe Knapp, for Fanny Crosby was a blind poetess. She wrote three new hymns each week for a period while serving as a music publisher, and used over 200 pen names beside her own, writing pieces often suggested by visiting ministers wishing to have a new hymn on a particular subject or text. Over the course of her lifetime, Crosby wrote more than 8,000 gospel song texts, many of which have been an important part of evangelical worship for the past century. On her tombstone is a biblical quote referencing when Mary anointed Jesus with costly perfume, and reflects her very modest perspective on her contribution to sacred music: “She hath done what she could.”

Many of the stories behind our hymns are incredible. The ways in which music shares God’s story, our story, is not just limited to a short series, or even one hymnal. In fact, I think the sheer number of hymns and songs of faith are a sign of God’s incredible abundance and faithfulness. They remind us that there are not limits to God’s song. There are always more notes to be played. The “leftovers” from this summer and the many more within the pages of our hymnals and beyond remind us that God’s song continues. In fact, the songs of praise we offer and ways we express ourselves musically are ones that should go on and on, telling the story of God to new generations. Some old favorites will stand the test of time, alongside new melodies and lyrics that convey how God’s Word continues to be fresh and new to the next generation.

As people of faith, we are called to rise up and sing, with saints through all the years, with siblings in faith next to us in the pews, and for the future of God’s people who will continue to let voices ring forever in the glory of God. This morning, we invite you to do just that with a hymn sing to conclude this series together, allowing God’s word to be proclaimed once again in song! You can find hymnals in your pews, and we ask that you reference which hymnal and the hymn number so that everyone can follow along as we sing the first verse of your favorite – go ahead and call them out, as Denise leads us in song.

Let us sing!

~Rev. Elizabeth Lovell Milford

July 29, 2018

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[i]       Kenneth W. Osbeck, 101 Hymn Stories: The Inspiring True Stories Behind 101 Favorite Hymns, (Grand Rapids, MI: Kregel Publications, 2012).
[ii]      Ibid.
[iii]     Ibid.
[iv]    Ibid.
[v]     Ibid.
[vi]    Robert. M. Stevenson in Patterns of Protestant Church Music, as quoted by Kenneth W. Osbeck in 101 Hymn Stories.

Sunday’s Sermon – Lift Every Voice – Exodus 4:10-17; 1 Corinthians 12:12-14, 26-31

July 22, 2018 Leave a Comment

“I. Can’t. Even.” Have you ever heard or uttered this phrase? Perhaps when you are totally baffled about the appeal or audacity of something, or when you are caught up so much in laughter at the ridiculousness of a situation you find yourself in, or when something happens that makes your blood boil to the point you cannot bring yourself to utter a restrained response. This expression, which often stands alone, is a proclamation of a limit or breaking point to a situation, a modern variation of “when enough is enough” to some extent. It’s reserved for those moments in which one’s emotional response is so powerful that you can’t express it in either words or actions. It is beyond comprehension and even beyond words, leaving the hearer to insert the follow-up implications.

“I can’t even” might have been Moses’ response to God if the Bible were to be written today. The story brings us to the end of the narrative begun in chapter 3 with the burning bush. Verse after verse, God’s glory is revealed and the plight of God’s people, the Israelites, is laid bare. As we know, God has big plans for Moses, that sweet baby floating in a basket down the Nile, raised by an Egyptian princess in the seat of privilege, removed from the experience of his native people. God is about to turn the world upside down, deliver God’s people from slavery and oppression and into freedom and the beauty of the promised land – all because of the leadership of the one who stands before God now – Moses. Surely it was a lot to take in, and in the verses we read this morning, it is clear that Moses has hit a breaking point with this news. The call God places on him is enormous. Note, he doesn’t argue with God about it needing to be done. He doesn’t offer that “well, maybe Pharoah isn’t that bad, I mean, I was raised in the palace after all.” He doesn’t suggest that the “timing just isn’t right.” Instead, he stammers an “I can’t even,” for he cannot imagine that he has what it takes to do what God is calling him to do. His primary objection? He lacks the voice, the actual eloquence and force, to deliver such a message. Of course, God doesn’t take kindly to God’s creation informing God what we can or cannot do. After all, God is our creator, who knows us better than we know ourselves, and who has given us each a voice to contribute to God’s kingdom.

The week before last, I had the privilege of joining some of our high school youth at Montreat to explore what it might mean for us to lift our voices and respond to the call God has placed on each of us. The presenters each morning and evening challenged us to embrace the passions God had placed on each of our lives, and to bring life to those passions with the help of the Holy Spirit. I have promised not to preach 5 days worth of sermons at once this morning, as the lessons and implications of our time together were many. Instead, this morning, let me focus on one that sheds light on what it means to live in the kingdom of God here and now – the importance of creating space in which all voices can be heard.

1 Corinthians presents a stunning image of the diversity of calls God places upon us with the image of the body, which I would even liken to the different voices we have been given to preach the gospel. While we are all a part of the body of Christ, each of us has different ways of embodying that call. We are woven together, bones and joints, sinews and muscles, tissues and ligaments, and serve Jesus Christ, the head of the body best when we work together, each doing our part. As those who seek to be disciples of Jesus Christ, our job, then, is to find out which part of the body we are called to be next, and to live into that call to the best of our ability.

Like Moses, though, I think we often resist or fight that call to be a voice or body part because we don’t think we have what it takes. We aren’t smart enough, powerful enough, brave enough, to take on the really big stuff in the world. That kind of large scale change should be left to someone else, we reason, with a better skill set. But actually, such a small way of thinking forgets that God has made us to be a part of something bigger. In the case of Moses, God sends a helper, his brother Aaron, who will be a mouthpiece. Working together, as the body does, will bring about the revolution God has in mind. And, as we know from reading ahead, indeed it does. Moses moves from “I can’t even” to “Let my people go,” by the power of God’s Spirit burning in that bush and the support of the community around him.

This leads us to consider that finding our voices, the ones God has placed inside each of us, might not just be a solo endeavor. What if we considered it more the work of the body, a communal activity of mutual support and care for each other? Sometimes, this means that we are active voices and parts, pushing the body in a new direction. Sometimes, this means we are supporting the work of others, and not getting in their way or resisting. Often, it means we have to communicate well and pay attention to what others are doing in order to synchronize our lives in ways that build up the body. Always, I think, it means finding a rhythm of life together in which every voice is truly lifted. It is only then, in the unity and harmony of our voices combined, that we can begin to hear the voice of God.

Listening to God’s voice, we find our own, and are able to move forward into the future God has intended for us, and all God’s children, together. This sense of progress and hope is seen in the hymn that gave way to the Montreat Youth Conference’s theme this year, Lift Every Voice.

In 1899, a young poet and school principal named James Weldon Johnson was asked to address a crowd in Jacksonville, Florida, for the upcoming anniversary of Abraham Lincoln’s birthday . . . Instead of preparing an ordinary speech, Johnson decided to write a poem. He began with a simple but powerful line, a call to action: “Lift ev’ry voice and sing[i].”

It was a tenuous time, a mere 20 years passed since the Reconstruction era, with racial tension and lynchings on the rise in the segretated South. The words of the poem captured the struggle and resilience of his ancestors, and the promise of the light of hope he saw in the future. His classically trained brother, John Rosamond Johnson, put his words to music, and it was performed for the first time by 500 school children on February 12, 1900. It was soon embraced as a hymn in churches and performed in countless graduation and school assemblies. By 1920, it was adopted by the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People as its official song, and became a hallmark of the Civil Rights Movement. Today it is still known as the “black national anthem,” giving voice to hopes for equality and a land in which every voice, no matter race or ethnicity or creed, might sing out. In April, Beyonce even included the first verse in her opening sequence at the music festival Coachella, demonstrating the song’s power even in our times. It is a song about the power of voice, and a prayer for a day when all those voices might come together. In that spirit, even as those seeking to find our own voices in the midst of the body of Christ, may we rise and sing together:

~Rev. Elizabeth Lovell Milford
July 22, 2018

**Our Youth Group and Friends shared their voices in worship through this video made in conjunction with the Montreat Youth Conference this summer: https://www.facebook.com/heritagepres/videos/10156185273678429/

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[i] https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/morning-mix/wp/2018/04/16/lift-every-voice-and-sing-the-story-behind-the-black-national-anthem-that-beyonce-sang/?noredirect=on&utm_term=.1a05e4fc5a90

Sunday’s Sermon – Great Christological Hymns- Philippians 2:1-11, Colossians 1:15-20

Sunday’s Sermon – Leftovers – John 6:1-14; 2 Kings 4:42-44

Sunday’s Sermon – Lift Every Voice – Exodus 4:10-17; 1 Corinthians 12:12-14, 26-31

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