I had heard stories like this before, but I had never experienced it for myself until a few months ago. Our family—some twenty people in all—was gathered at the home of my parents, and we were doing something we had always done growing up: singing. This time it was Christmas carols, and we were all sharing the tattered songbooks (complete with the music printed) and thoroughly enjoying ourselves. My 15-year-old daughter was sitting next to my mother, and both were singing away, carol after carol. My mom had been diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease six years prior, and though she had experienced a slow decrease in mental acumen, she could no longer carry on a coherent conversation. I asked my daughter afterward if her grandma had been singing all the right words and notes. “Yes,” she said. “And she was singing the alto parts the whole time.”
What is it about music that embeds itself in us even into our failing years when we can do little else? This article doesn’t intend to explain that mystery, but it does seek to probe the topic of how music can form us spiritually from an early age as we sing the truths of God’s Word at home and in our churches and schools.
Music is so ubiquitous to 21st century people that it is hard for us to imagine a time when people could not simply go to their favorite music app and, with a few gentle presses on a touch screen, instantly play any song they wish to hear. Little more than 100 years ago, people heard music in three main places: an occasional concert in a music hall, church on Sundays, or in the home. Music must have been even more precious back then, since it was less accessible. This precious nature of music was a gift of God from the beginning. Take a look in the book of Genesis and see how much of it is written as poetry. And since poetry was sung in the ancient world, we can see how important this part of our human nature was to God in His creation. A quick thumb-through the Old Testament will show you more: massive chunks of God’s Word were given as musical poetry. The book of Psalms and other wisdom literature comprise the largest portions, but one can also think of those songs embedded within books that are largely prose: the first promise of a Savior in Genesis chapter 3; the song of Miriam in Exodus 15; the song of Deborah in Judges 5; the song of Jonah from inside the great fish.
Why should singing take such an integral role in the faith of God’s people throughout salvation history? Besides Martin Luther’s famous remark that music is a gift of God and is next to theology in the proclamation of His Word, we can draw other insights as well from Scripture. First, Remembering is key; the fact that music helps call to mind words is one of its celebrated qualities. Though music can be enjoyed without words, when we experience it coupled with God’s Word, it allows us to reflect and recall those words even years after learning them. Take, for example, the Great Song of Moses in Deuteronomy 32; God teaches Moses a song—and then has him teach it to the people of Israel. The purpose is for them to remember the covenant between God and His people. Moses was to teach it to young and old alike. When he had taught the song to them, Moses said, “Take to heart all the words by which I am warning you today, that you may command them to your children, that they may be careful to do all the words of this law. For it is no empty word for you, but your very life, and by this word you shall live long in the land that you are going over the Jordan to possess (ESV).” The remembering of God’s saving acts is of vital importance for God’s people. Psalm 78—a musical creation itself—sings of what the psalmist and his contemporaries had heard from of old: “We will not hide them from their children, but tell to the coming generation the glorious deeds of the LORD, and his might, and the wonders he has done (ESV).” In these passages, one cannot miss the injunction to teach children. Singing forms faith by helping the singer to remember.
Second, expressing joy in all the “wonders he has done” is reason in itself for singing. One of Luther’s favorite Psalm verses, one that was dear to him, was from the great Hallel Psalm, 118. Verse 17 says, “I shall not die, but I shall live, and recount the deeds of the LORD (ESV).” As Carl Schalk has pointed out,[1] Luther was advocating the proclamation of what God has done through Christ as the highest praise. “Praise” is not merely telling God we love Him; in its best form, praise is recounting the deeds of the Lord—telling, in a word, the Gospel. In his Preface to the Babst Hymnal (1545), Luther wrote:
God has cheered our hearts and minds through his dear Son, whom he gave for us to redeem us from sin, death, and the devil. He who believes this earnestly cannot be quiet about it. But he must gladly and willingly sing and speak about it so that others may come and hear it. And whoever does not want to sing and speak of it shows that he does not believe and that he does not belong under the new and joyful testament.[2]
Third, the emotive aspect of music cannot be ignored. Why else would tears start forming in your eyes every time you sing that certain stanza of “Abide with Me” you had always sung with your loved ones? Why else would your heart rate increase and your viscera vibrate with an inexplicable gladness when singing “Jesus Christ is Risen Today” on Easter morning? Daniel Levitin, a musician and neuroscientist, has written about the deeply embodied nature of music.
Some of the most beautiful music ever written has been songs of religion, songs of praise to God. Religious thought takes us outside ourselves, lifts us up higher, elevates us from the mundane and day-to-day to consider our role in the world, the future of the world, the very nature of existence. The power of music to challenge the prediction centers in our prefrontal cortex, to simultaneously stimulate emotional centers in the limbic system and activate motor systems in our basal ganglia and cerebellum serves to tie an aesthetic knot around these different neurochemical states of our being, to unite our reptilian brain with our primate and human brain, to bind our thoughts to movement, memory, hopes, and desires.[3]
Levitin can describe the phenomena in scientific terms—but he can’t fully explain how music moves us so powerfully to feel love and compassion and courage and excitement. Like other mysteries in the life of faith, like the real presence of Christ in the supper and the two natures of Christ, God gave us this one to ponder and to delight in. Luther pointed out the affective character of music when he said:
For whether you wish to comfort the sad, to terrify the happy, to encourage the despairing, to humble the proud, to calm the passionate, or to appease those full of hate—and who could number all these masters of the human heart, namely, the emotions, inclinations, and affections that impel men to evil or good?—what more effective means than music could you find? The Holy Ghost himself honors her as an instrument for his proper work….[4]
In short, our emotions too, rightly formed by music and words that proclaim God’s truths, can redound to the praise and honor of God.
A few years ago, I interviewed several people about their childhood memories of church music. I wanted to find out what they remembered that still impacted them today. One told of remembering her father taping a copy of “Entrust Your Days and Burdens” into the briefcase he took to work. Another remembered her father singing church songs to her before she went to sleep. One recalled having an altercation at recess with his friends in third grade over the right way to sing “This is the Feast of Victory.” Still others commented on their humming, whistling, or singing the liturgy and hymns from church while they go about their daily work. All these examples speak to the power of music for the forming of the people of God.
How does the church go about helping to form Christians with this powerful gift of God? We can promote singing the liturgy and hymns of the church in our Lutheran Churches and Schools. In our Universities and Seminaries, this means educating everyone—not just those regarded as “musical”—in the importance of singing the faith. Having a core of hymnody that can be repeated and known by children and adults will serve them throughout their lives. I recall having to evacuate our Lutheran school, years ago, when the fire alarms went off, and the principal asked me to lead the children in singing hymns. And there we sat, on a grassy hillside for 25 minutes, singing the hymns they had memorized in school: God’s Own Child I Gladly Say It, A Mighty Fortress is Our God, Father Welcomes All His Children, and many others. These were normal teachers and students; they were not all exceptional musicians. All that is needed are teachers and parents willing to teach them, and we will have helped to form our children for life.
Now that I serve at Concordia Seminary, I don’t have the opportunity to teach children on a daily basis. However, the Seminary has received a grant from the Lilly Endowment for its Children in Worship Initiative, and we are working to promote the singing of the faith in congregations and homes. Our team members are available to travel to churches and schools to give two different kinds of workshops: one is for parents and church leaders that addresses the inclusion of children in worship and provides resources; the second is for those who lead children’s choirs and helps give ideas, rehearsal skills, and repertoire that all serve to glorify God with the beauty of music. Our goal is to provide tools to teach God’s truths, following His command in Deuteronomy 6: “You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise.” We pray that God’s Word—Christ Himself—will continue to dwell with us richly, in psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs.
Jesus comes in joy and sorrow, Shares alike our hopes and fears;
Jesus comes, whate’er befalls us, Cheers our hearts and dries our tears;
Alleluia! Alleluia! Comforts us in failing years.“Jesus Came, the Heavens Adoring”
Lutheran Service Book 353, stanza 4
[1]Carl Schalk, Luther on Music: Paradigms of Praise (St. Louis: Concordia Publishing House) 1988.
[2] Luther’s Works 53:333
[3] Daniel J. Levitin, The World in Six Songs: How the Musical Brain Created Human Nature (London: Aurum, 2009), 225. Another of his popularly written books is This Is Your Brain on Music: The Science of a Human Obsession (London: Plume, 2007). As can be inferred from the quote above, Levitin is an adherent of evolutionary theory, though his background is Jewish.
[4] “Preface to Georg Rhau’s Symphoniae iucundae,” Luther’s Works 53, 323.
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