SING FOR JOY

TODAY: Celebrate music with Martin Luther, who wrote: “The devil, the originator of sorrowful anxieties and testless troubles, flees before the sound of music almost as much as before the Word of God. This is why the prophets preferred music before all other arts, proclaiming the Word in psalms and hymns. My heart, which is full to overflowing, has often been solaced and refreshed by music when sick and dreary.” To appreciate what Luther meant, listen to St. Matthew's Passion.

In Exodus 4:10, Moses pleaded, “O Lord, I'm just not a good speaker . . . .” And Jehovah asked him, “Who makes a man so that he can speak or not speak, see or not see, hear or not hear?” Later, Moses pleaded, “Lord, please! Send someone else.” Then the Lord told Moses that he would help both Moses and his brother Aaron to speak well!

We understand Moses because we are like him. I'm not a good writer, so I procrastinated. I looked in some of my Bibles to compare texts - even one from my great-great grandmother, c. 1843.

I tried to relate this to my own life. It was not difficult. Since I have been singing in assorted choirs for 65 years more or less, I decided that I do have something to say: not about speaking, but about singing – with God's help.

How many people have been invited to sing with a choir? How many have echoed Moses with “I’m just not a good singer!!”? I want to say the following:

1. We sing for joy.

2. There are no auditions or requirements.

3. We sing together and try to blend our voices.

4. We sing to praise God.

5. Singing is one of the things that we can get better at by doing.

6. By repetition, in time we can improve. I know.

In Exodus 4:12 Jehovah said, “Now go ahead and do as I tell you for I will help you to speak well.” I believe God continues to help us whether speaking or singing.

— Helen Read Furrow

Courtesy of The Church of the Good Shepherd United Methodist