The Work of Christmas: Make Music in the Heart

 

Howard Thurman – American author, theologian, civil rights leader – wrote:

“When the song of the angels is stilled, when the star in the sky is gone, when the kings and princes are home, when the shepherds are back with their flock, the work of Christmas begins:

To find the lost, to heal the broken, to feed the hungry, to release the prisoner, to rebuild the nations, to bring peace among others, to make music in the heart.”

 

The work of Christmas sounds like the welcoming and building of kindom.

 

I don’t know how much energy you have as we enter into 2022. I suspect that some of us are weary and are living day-to-day, maybe hour-to-hour, preserving energy for ourselves and those close to us, for the jobs and tasks we have to do. Thinking about the kindom – the world made whole- is daunting, especially when we know that we are to have a hand in bringing God’s kindom near.

 

 The Christmas story reminds us that God chose to come and live among human beings in the circumstances of poverty, sickness, oppression, and instability. Jesus -the Word- came to bring good news to a weary world. These two centuries later the prophets’ words continue to be read, Jesus’ birth warms hearts, the wise men show commitment to the cause – the weary world takes notice of Emmanuel, God-with-us. As we enter into 2022, we are asked to go back to our everyday lives and begin the work of Christmas.

 

Honestly, I am weary, and as the end of 2021 came, I wondered what New Year’s resolutions or words of wisdom I had for myself.  Then Howard Thurman’s final phrase hit home – as something doable, achievable, enjoyable – make music in the heart.

Many of you have been preaching this to me over the past month!

I have enjoyed and been ministered to by people sharing with me music that nourishes their spirits. With the music comes a blessing of getting to know people more fully: their faith, feelings, and current wellbeing. Music shared has included:

Country songs that share a vision of kindom; Christmas carols that take one back to memories of youth and young faith; new Christmas songs that expand one’s understanding of Jesus; bagpipe airs that pull tears of mourning from the heart; concerts that move one to a new place where all is well; new hymns that allow listeners and singers to express recent history and circumstances; songs that are prayers too deep for words.

Often it is the music, not necessarily the words, that has the greatest affect. The music holds the listener in a safe place while exploring and expressing a wealth of emotions and sentiments; scary feelings and ideas we try to avoid. The music helps us work out feelings, memories, things we don’t even know we are worrying or thinking about. Music grounds us in the present and leaves us with more hope, with a stronger sense of who we are, and in the moment a wholeness of heart.

 

In the Christmas story there are lots of songs:  Zechariah sings a song on the naming day of John the Baptist, Mary sings a song at finding herself chosen to birth Jesus, the angels sing a song for the shepherds, Simeon sings a song at the sight of the Messiah.  The Gospel of Luke has these four songs as key components to the nativity story. The early church kept the songs and wrote them into the liturgies of the church. We know them as the Benedicta, the Magnificat, the Gloria, and the Nunc Dimittis.

The songs sung, praise and give thanks to God. In a time of poverty, sickness, oppression, and instability the singers express a welcome of hope born into the world, praise at the arrival of the Messiah, the coming of the kindom of God, and a possibility of wholeness for a weary world. The songs whisper to the human heart: hope, peace, love, joy.

 

Consider the pieces of music that whisper to your heart: songs that bring out the tears, songs that calm, songs that reset frayed nerves, songs that bring back good memories, songs that speak to faith, songs that affect your soul – that empower you, songs that feel so deep you can’t explain what it is about them that makes everything feel better; yes, those songs that have you stop and turn up the volume and listen with your whole being – the Word whispering hope, peace, love, joy.

Some of the songs that whisper the good news to me: on a frayed nerve day it is Tchaikovsky’s March Slave followed by the 1812 Overture, played loud through headphones; on days to evoke emotions like those I feel around remembrance, war, loss, faith, it is the hymn Eternal Saviour Strong to Save; on any day the good news is whispered to me in hymns set to the tune of Finlandia. And there are so many more.

Consider the pieces of music that whisper to your heart. Feel the feelings that the music leaves in your being. ‘That feeling’ is the music made in your heart.  It is God-with-us, the Spirit at work within, the Word whispering to you, good news to the very heart of you. 

This gift is not self-serving, when there is music in your heart, your being embodies the hope, the peace, the love, the joy of God-with-us – so that music flows, perhaps even sings, from you, to wash weariness from the world. This is the Word made flesh at work.

 

Yesterday, on the octave of Christmas- the church calendar marks the observance of the Name of Jesus; 8 days after birth would have been the traditional day when boys were named and circumcised.  Observing the day reminds us that we begin a New Year in the name of Jesus.

As we heard in John’s Gospel, Jesus is the Word. The New Year dawns in Jesus’ name. In our hearts is Jesus, the Word, who continually speaks – whispering – it is a new year, a fresh start for you to share the good news for the healing of the weary world.

Find the lost, heal the broken, feed the hungry, release the prisoner, rebuild the nations, bring peace among others, make music in the heart.

 

And perhaps, “make music in the heart,” is the starting point for all the rest to fall into place. If our hearts sing – whether sorrow or joy and every other emotion too- Jesus the Word will whisper and good news will be set free … from my heart to yours, from yours to theirs, from us to neighbour, from neighbour to enemy, from enemy to nation… one heart at a time until all are filled and weariness transforms to wholeness and peace.

#forthehealingoftheworld