“Worship the Lord with gladness; come before him with joyful songs.” Psalm 100:2
Dear North American, think about this question and give an honest answer. Has there ever been a time on Sunday morning when you opened the hymnal and listened to the organ playing the song and you shook your head and said to yourself “I can’t sing this hymn”? The words “Joyful songs” in the above verse don’t always come from my mouth on Sunday. There have been times when I just silently read the words and close the hymnal and my eyes and listen to the organ playing notes that sound like a couple of cats rough housing on a keyboard. How can that possibly please God?
I remember when the LCMS got a new Hymnal that outdated my confirmation hymnal from 1964. The Liturgy changed and some hymns were removed and other new ones added. And now it seems that every twenty years a group of educated musicians feel obligated to launch a new Hymnal and I cringe. My Lutheran reply is always the same; “What was wrong with the old one?”
I enjoy singing praises to my Savior in Church and when I am unable to do that, I wonder if my worship is pleasing to God, because it is certainly not pleasing to me. My relationship with Christ suffers and the Holy Spirit works to shake my despondent soul. The devil must be pleased. Why do I feel that way? The Spirit-filled saint is a song-filled saint! Martin Luther wrote many wonderful hymns back in the day. That warrior of the faith had two basic objectives when he fired the reformation cannon into the sixteenth-century wall of spiritual ignorance. First, he wanted to give the people a Bible they could read on their own, and second, to give them a hymnal so they could sing on their own. The Bible we have, and its words we read. The hymnal we have, but where has the melody gone?
One Sunday last year, after the service, I shared with Pastor Smith that I wasn’t able to sing the sermon hymn. Back in the day, I used to sing a few times with the Haitian choir in the photo and can read music but I couldn’t sing that sermon hymn in Illinois. So, I just read the words, closed the hymnal and spent time in prayer with my Savior until the hymn ended. When I read the above verse, my memory went to a back in the day to a moment while living in Haiti. I worshipped at Bon Berger Lutheran in Caredeux and their services usually went a few hours because they loved to sing. Pastor Thomas Bernard and the 175 members of that congregation loved to joyfully and LOUDLY sing. There were no hymnals in the pews as at that point in time, 65% of Haiti couldn’t read or write. The congregation had memorized many hymns over the years and those saints knew them by heart. They had a gas-powered generator, a drum set, an electric guitar and an electric keyboard and their voices were heard from their neighborhood all the way to Paradise. One of their favorite hymns was “God loves me dearly” that was a German folk tune written by August Ritche. It was one of Pastor Thomas’ favorite hymns and he would lead the congregation through it three or four times in a row, depending on how loud they sang. I could sing it in Creole after a few months and I am closing today with the words in English and hope that you will joyfully think about it this week as you hum the tune.
“God loves me dearly, grants me salvation, God loves me dearly, loves even me. Therefore I'll say again: God loves me dearly, God loves me dearly, loves even me. I was in slav'ry, sin, death, and darkness; God's love was working to make me free. Therefore I'll say again: God loves me dearly, God loves me dearly, loves even me. He sent forth Jesus, my dear Redeemer, he sent forth Jesus and set me free. Therefore I'll say again: God loves me dearly, God loves me dearly, loves even me. Jesus, my Savior, himself did offer; Jesus, my Savior, paid all I owed. Therefore I'll say again: God loves me dearly, God loves me dearly, loves even me. Now I will praise you, O Love eternal; I will praise you all my life long. Therefore I'll say again: God loves me dearly, God loves me dearly, loves even me.”
I’ve come to recognize that souls here in the U.S. sing hymns for an hour and the souls in Haiti joyfully SANG hymns for hours. God loves each and all of us dearly.
Heavenly Father, you have called your servants to ventures of which we cannot see the ending, by paths as yet untrodden, through perils unknown. Give us faith to go out with good courage, not knowing where we go but only that your hand is leading us and your love supporting us through Jesus Christ our Lord and Savior. Amen.
May God be with you,
Jay