THE SONG OF THE SPIRIT

PENTECOST 2019

Something I understood from a very early age was that music is the one thing in this world that can cross nearly every border and tear down every barrier.  It may sound a little different, the instruments may be strange and the beats may be unusual but music is the only truly universal language.

Music transcends both time and space. It can muster whole armies to battle and aid in the grieving of the lost. It can calm the savage beast and turn our passions to thoughts of peace Music tells us when to be afraid (Jaws theme) there be sharks in those waters;
and when to think on love (Bridal March). Music has the power to unite even the fiercest of enemies. Have you ever been to a ball game when the DJ begins playing Sweet Caroline? It doesn't matter what team you're rooting for, everyone's going to jump up and (bum bum BUM) at the chorus. Music unites the world. Music is the universal language.

This last week I had the opportunity to attend a Preaching Conference. There is nothing more fun and more nerve-racking, then to spend a week with talented preachers from across the country and watch as we all try to bum ideas off each other on Thursday night for the Pentecost sermons, we all have yet to write. As I stood in conversation and reviewed the scripture I began to recognize the song of the Holy Spirit in the various tongues spoken by the peoples gathered in Jerusalem but I had yet to understand the lyrics. If you stick with me this morning,  we might be able to learn them together.

Luke’s account tells us that as the people were gathered in one place there was a sound of a mighty rushing wind. An echoing whirlwind as if the doors of heaven had suddenly been flung open and a new breath of God had come crashing into the room. A flame appeared above each head as if the Divine spark was ignited anew, and the light of creation was being birthed in the universe for the first time all over again. And they began to speak in strange tongues just as creation began with a word.

The marketplace outside had been filled with babble and chatter that morning as visitors from all around the known world were looking to buy their breakfast. Each with a different dialect, a different culture, a different language. As the Spirit moved over the followers of Christ like the waving hands of a great conductor, they began to hear the same song. The disjointed fervor fell into harmony and suddenly all became one. The story of Christ; the story of God was now for all. 

Back in the summer of 2008, I was living in Michigan working as a counselor at Blue Lake Fine Arts Camp. One of the many benefits of working at Blue Lake besides inspiring a love for music in the lives of young people was the opportunity to perform some really wonderful music with some exceptionally talented musicians. That year I sang with the staff choir and we had invited a chorus from Germany for a very special performance late in the summer. Beethoven’s 9th Symphony was on the bill and I was super excited.

Even if you’ve never listened to classical music or known it was from Beethoven’s 9th and final symphony I am fairly certain that you know the driving theme of this masterwork. It pervades our collective psyche. From the radio to tv commercials,
movies to hymns, you have heard this simple melody at some point in your life.

Although he was far from being the only composer in 19th century Vienna, Beethoven’s music was a cut above the rest and often far ahead of its time.  Hundred’s of symphonies had already been written and there were choruses upon choruses in operas and sacred oratory, but there was nothing written before that was quite like this new work by Maestro Beethoven. For starters, at the time of its performance, the composer of the work was nearly completely deaf only hearing the music playing in his own head. AND this audacious musician was including a choir and lyrics into the fourth movement of his symphony a style of music usually reserved for instrumental circles alone. –––––––––

The day finally came in late July for us to perform this greatest of works at the end of season concert. The two choirs and a huge orchestra took our places on the outdoor stage in the center of camp. The wind blew through the trees and songbirds called to their mates as the horns held a single note over pulsating cello’s and the symphony began. For forty-two minutes the orchestra flows through the first three movements transporting the audience through a myriad of emotions, opening on a risky gambit, followed by a confusing dance,  and then the listener is lulled into a pastoral scene
and a false sense of security. All the while the choir is sitting on the risers, breathing together and waiting. The serenity of the third movement is as if the bustle in the market has calmed. Everyone has their breakfast and sits to enjoy the warm morning sun. Suddenly, the fourth movement literally breaks in. The drums are beaten, the strings vibrate with violent fervor and all the horns blast in discord. It is like the sound of a mighty rushing wind ripping through the plain as shutters flap and trees come crashing down.

On the day of Pentecost, Peter stood in the market to preach to the masses. He tells all who are able to hear that the prophecies have been fulfilled. Jesus who was crucified has been raised from the dead and on this day God has poured out his Spirit upon all flesh. There is no need to fear. Instead, rejoice! The barriers that separated humanity from the Divine have been torn down and the joy of salvation is now gifted to all of creation.

For his fourth movement, Beethoven chose a text by the poet Schiller. I think the ‘Ode to Joy’ fits very well with this theme of Pentecost and is almost like the sermon of Peter has continued and is proclaimed anew out of the pens of a 19th-century poet and composer. After the initial crash, the strings begin the common theme then enters a solo tenor like Peter in the marketplace gathering the audience and literally preaching to the choir.

Oh friends, not these sounds!
Let us instead strike up more pleasing
and more joyful ones!

Suddenly the choir and a quartet join together with shouts of Joy! Joy!

And in harmonies old and new they sing the message for all to hear.
Joy, beautiful spark of divinity,
Daughter from Paradise,
Heavenly being, we enter your sanctuary,
burning with fervour.
Your magic brings together
what custom has sternly divided.
All men shall become brothers,
wherever your gentle wings hover.

Every creature drinks in joy
at nature's breast;
Good and Evil alike
follow her trail of roses.
She gives us kisses and wine,
a true friend, even in death;
Even the worm was given desire,
and the cherub stands before God.

Be embraced, you millions!
This kiss is for the whole world!
Above the canopy of stars must dwell a loving father.

On the day of Pentecost, we might wonder if the disjointed babbling ceased because all the sudden they were no longer speaking AT each other but singing together. Whatever cause there was to divide themselves was now gone and all were filled with the same spirit. Their hearts beat as one as they sang out the common refrain, God’s love is for all and God’s abundant joy has finally broken through and become available for all to hear.  The Spirits power did not stop on that day of Pentecost but continue still to vibrate the air around us and set our hearts ablaze.

When the performance at Blue Lake came to a close the campers and the visiting audience sat in silence for a brief moment. On the wings of the wind, the final notes continued to ring in echo across the waters and through the canopy of trees. It felt as if our song would continue forever had it not been interrupted by the shouts and applause that broke out from the floor below.

Like that ringing, our song of Pentecost can still continue. Millions are welcomed to sing the theme as we join the song of creation. We hum the tune of God’s love and joy whenever we uphold each other in prayer and give ourselves to service. We teach others the lyrics when we share the simple truth that God’s love is available to everyone we meet. If we live by faith and follow the Spirit we may be blessed to hear the whole of creation singing all because we shared our tiny bit of the chorus.

In a world disrupted by evil and riven by strife where many ears fall deaf to the love of God and can only hear babble where harmony should dwell remember that music is the universal language remember to evangelize and keep the melody going.