It’s in the moments when you are completely silent that you can reflect on how profoundly limited language is to communicate. In the very same moment, with nothing but the sound of wind through the trees, the soft chirping of sparrows or the ambience of your favourite song playing through your ipod you can realize just how powerful music is. There is something about music that compels us. There is something about it that communicates a deep, inward expression, foreign to the restricted world of words. In some mysterious way, music seems to fill in the blanks that words can’t quite reach.
In fact, there have been countless times in my life where I have heard really nice sounding words, but I never really understood them until I heard them sung. This last weekend was one of those moments. Two weeks ago this Saturday my Grandma went to be with Jesus. “Grammy” as her grandchildren called her. The funeral took place this last Saturday. The funeral was very much a celebration of her life. The tears that were shed were both of sorrow and of joy. Sorrow because she loved so well and she will be greatly missed. Joy because she is experiencing the very thing she devoted her life to sharing and experiencing: eternal life with Jesus. Leading up to the funeral we had been talking about this as a family, sharing meaningful moments and stories of her life. We had been more or less discussing how the most important aspect of her life was her faith in God. In the perspective of my Grammy’s entire life, through all the laughter, talks, warming up blankets in the middle of summer because it was never quite warm enough for her, opening Christmas stocking together, through all of that the most important part of Grammy’s life was her faith. It wasn’t the fun we had together, it wasn’t the memories, it wasn’t even how great we felt because of her. It was her deep and passionate pursuit of God’s love which she showed all her life. With hours of tears from the moment of her death I thought about this. The funeral on Saturday opened with some kind words of Grammy and a reminder of the significance her life possessed because of Christ. After this, we all sang a hymn and then my sister sang a song on her own. The song she chose was a common one I had heard many times before in church, “When it’s all been said and done.” That was exactly what we were saying about Grammy before the funeral. Just like the lyrics of the song say, “When it’s all been said and done, there is just one thing that matters. Did I do my best to live for truth; did I live my life for you?” Powerful words. Powerful words that I really never understood until this past weekend. As my sister sang the opening verse, the words of the song started to come alive. As the music continued, the words grew stronger and stronger, drawing their very life from the music that surrounded them. What happened next, though, changed everything. At the beginning of the second verse, my sister suddenly became very quiet. For the rest of her song her eyes welled with tears as she fought through each note with little more than a loud whisper. Even now, trying to write this is near impossible without crying. There in that quiet moment, the song became beautiful. The words of the song gained life, and for the first time I realized the depth of what it means to live for truth above all else. My Grandma lived that so well. Her life reflected the very words of this song to God.
The day after the funeral I was driving out to a hillside overlooking Cochrane with my girlfriend. We were listening to a mixed CD she had made for me because of my Grandma passing away. It was filled with carefully chosen music, soft, reflective and peaceful, just exactly what I needed. I mentioned to her on the way out to the hillside how much I loved the worship songs she chose. She turned to me with a smile forming in the corner of her mouth and said, “well, they’re not all Christian songs, but they are all worship songs.” I asked her what she meant and she responded, “Well, it’s the beauty of the music and the passion and hope behind it that makes it worship.” My first thought was, “Well, she may be crazy, but at least she’s a looker.” I thought about it a little more, and I can’t say that she was right, because we have a little game going where we keep score on who’s right and I’m not about to let her win that game. I will say, however, that there is profound depth and truth to her words (that’s different that saying “she was right,” right? Right? Ah well, at least I tried).
In all seriousness, her words changed my perspective on worship. It’s not about the words. For that matter, it’s not about the music. Words are just words and notes are just notes. Without passion and deep inward expression, words and notes are just noise. But with hope and personal connection words and notes can become musical worship to God.
Ephesians 5:19 says to “make music in your heart to God”. Verse 20 tells us that in doing so we will “give thanks to God for everything in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ”. Make music in your heart to God. There are three things there: Make music; in your heart; to God.
Make Music.
In your heart.
To God.
It doesn’t say, “make music with your mouth to God”, it doesn’t say, “make music with a pretty sounding instrument to God”, it says, “make music in your heart to God”. It is not about the notes. It is not about the words. It is not about saying the right creed or doing the right thing or being Christian or non-Christian. It is about the beauty that comes when music is made in your heart to God. It is about worshipping God from the deepest part of your soul. Worship is not absent of emotion in order to make sure you are worshipping “properly”, but very much out of our emotion and exactly what our soul is feeling to the very corners of who we are. This is why we can be standing in church and singing the words of a hymn or chorus and not be worshiping at all. At the same time, for the same reason we can be making music, out loud or quietly, with or without words, with our voice or with an instrument, yes even with or without sound, we can be making music that is not a “Christian” song and experience complete worship to God.
Make music in your heart to God.
That is exactly what Grammy did her entire life. She made music in her heart to God. Whether it was through her morning devotions, her kind words to her grandchildren, her endless support of the church and people in need, her deep love of family, or her prayers for each of her children and grandchildren whom she mentioned by name each and every morning, my Grandma lived to worship God. The very life she lived was beautiful music to God.
When you attend a funeral, especially one of a loved family member, you begin to realize how finite your own is. You begin to reconsider the routines and programs on your weekly schedule. All of the hours we spend stressing and planning around the minutia of life’s routines are meaningless in comparison to the life God has given us to live for him. Actually, it’s really quite laughable. Everything we think to be important in this life by worldly standards is entirely pointless. Yet, we are consumed by how our life looks to other people.
Consider this: What if we were less focussed on how our life looks to the world and more focussed on how the worship of our life sounds to God.
If we could hear the sound our life makes as God hears it, would we hear beautiful music or chaotic noise?
I have to admit, I love the CD my girlfriend gave me. I listen to it basically non-stop. Just yesterday I was listening to the song, “Kiss the Rain” by Starfield. There are no words, just a piano playing softly, peacefully, beautifully. It’s one of my favourite songs on the CD. After reading Ephesians 5:19-20, I thought to myself, “I want my life to sound like this.”
I am convinced that God was completely aware of the limitations and restrictions of language when he gave it to us to communicate. I think that’s why God gave us music. Music allows us to share something that we could never share with language. It makes the words in Zephaniah 3:17 stand out to me:
The LORD your God is with you,
he is mighty to save.
He will take great delight in you,
he will quiet you with his love,
he will rejoice over you with singing.
God quiets me so I can hear the music of how he loves me. He wants me to hear not the words of how he feels, but the richness of his intimacy. Beautiful.
I encourage you, take a moment this week and listen to a quiet song without words. Listen to the music. Listen to the passion. Think about the music that your life makes. What does it sound like?
You may or may not know my Grandma. Either way, I wonder, can you hear her song? Can you hear the music her life made to God? You know, if we all sounded like that, each in our own experience and with our own unique personality, I think we might truly know what beauty sounds like. Because when it is made in our heart to God
Music
Is
Worship.
