Sermon from April 21, 2024, by the Rev. Dr. Tara W. Bulger
Second Lesson Philippians 2:5-11
Let the same mind be in you that was in Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not regard equality with God as something to be exploited, but emptied himself, taking the form of a slave, being born in human likeness. And being found in human form, he humbled himself and became obedient to the point of death— even death on a cross.
Therefore God also highly exalted him and gave him the name that is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bend, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.
This is the Word of the Lord. Thanks be to God.
Making Dinner
There is an unspoken rule in our house that goes like this: if Mom is cooking dinner for everyone, the TV is off, and I get to play whatever I want on the stereo. I pick The Beatles or Bob Seger almost exclusively, or if I'm feeling particularly close to my roots that day, it's Waylon Jennings and Willie Nelson. Cooking dinner becomes much more tolerable when I can sing along to some of my favorite songs.
I pick that music because it is the music my family listened to when I was a kid. We may not have been much of a family, but when we were all in the car together, with the windows down on a warm summer night, we usually sang along to the Beatles, Seger, or Waylon. Not only is it good music, but that feeling of connectedness and joy that one can only get from music is what I like. In some ways, as I cook for my family now, I feel like I am reclaiming the best parts of the family I had growing up. All this, with the volume up while singing at the top of my lungs, in my kitchen, while preparing a meal. As Henry Wadsworth Longfellow has written, "Music is the universal language of (hu)mankind."
What Music Can Do
Music can connect, excite, and express our feelings like almost nothing else can. I am under no illusion that you will remember what I have said in this pulpit week to week, but I know that snatches of hymns will stick with you. Think of Jesus Loves Me, This Little Light of Mine, Father Abraham. Those are just a few of the songs we learned as little children, and they live on among us. Most of the time, music can do more than the spoken word can. Sometimes, the best sermons are sung.
Music In Worship
And music is an integral part of our worship experience. Even before Christ, the psalms were sung to God in praise and lament. The Psalms were sung because mere words wouldn't do—singing was required to get the fullest expression of crying out to God or praising God the best one could. Psalm 150, which we just read, reminds us that the chief end of us all is to praise God—in all places and all ways. And one of the best ways to do that is with music. Song. Let everything that has breath praise the Lord.
Our earliest Christian worship is described by Paul in 1 Corinthians this way: "When you come together, each one has a hymn, a lesson, a revelation, a tongue, or an interpretation." The first one on the list? A hymn. Elsewhere in 1 Corinthians, Paul writes that we should sing praise to God in Spirit, but we should also sing with our minds. The hymns we sing should appeal to the Spirit but speak to our minds, too—they should have serious intellectual content. Hymns should be both singable and deep. They should be rooted in the truth of our Christian identity.
Biblical Stories Where Song is the Response
Think of all the places in the Bible where singing was the only appropriate response:
The people brought the ark of the covenant into the temple, and they did it with music, song, and dance.
Mary is visited by the angel Gabriel with the incredible news that she will bear the Son of God, and her response is to sing the Magnificat. What words would have worked for such glorious news?
What is his response when Zechariah learns that his wife will bear John the Baptist? To sing!
Songs are sometimes the only logical response to the glory of God.
It is noted that in the epistles of the New Testament, as many as a dozen passages were hymns that were sung. And this passage from Philippians is one of the most well-known.
The Church In Philippi
Paul writes this letter to the church in Philippi from prison. He is unsure when his death will come, but it looks certain. There is also a problem in the church at Philippi. There is division and quarreling among the members there, and Paul is worried about the unity and sustainability of the church. And so the first chapter of this letter, through this passage, reminds the church of how they should act—that they should love one another the way Christ has loved. Paul wants them to remain rooted in who Christ is and what he has done, which should unify them.
In the face of this pastoral crisis, Paul gives them many words about what to do. But finally, in this passage, he gives them a song. Maybe his extended exhortation on how to act will move them. But if not, surely a song will.
So we have this—the Christ hymn.
Let the same mind be in you that was in Christ Jesus.
Christ Jesus emptied himself to the point of death on the cross.
Therefore, God highly honored him.
And what should we do?
We should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of the Father.
Every tongue should confess.
And we often do that in song.
Diversity in Our Hymnody
At the time of the Protestant Reformation, the church sang almost exclusively psalms for a couple of centuries after that. We still sing psalms to this day. But slowly, over time, trusted hymn writers began to put words to this life of faith, to the glory of God, for us to sing in worship. The hymns have changed over time as the church has changed. Our music should always reflect the diversity of the church universal.
Our Voices
One of the things I love about congregational hymns is that there is room for everyone's voice in the song. Your voice is needed to lift praise to God.
I jokingly told the staff this week that while writing this sermon, I had in my mind's eye all the church members who stand for the hymns but don't sing—and how much you were going to hate this sermon. Yes, I see you. And I want to remind everyone that singing in worship is never about us, just as worship is never really about us. It is about our offering to God. If, like me, you sing and sometimes all you can think about is how bad you sound, imagine God seeing us as a church singing to God as one. I hardly think God is worried about how we sound; God is just honored by the singing. Remember, sometimes, the song is the only response to the glory of God.
The songs we sing bind us together, one generation with another in the church. When we lift our voices, we honor God and join with every person who has sung before in worship and every person who will sing after. Our worship contains many things: prayers and proclamation, confession, and affirmation of faith, but it is the songs that bind us that get inside of us.
An Overflow of Love
When my children were infants and as they got older, I sang to them. I didn't worry much about how I sounded, and they were too young to understand the words. I was just so filled with love for them that it seemed singing was a natural response.
I think that is what God wants from us. That our love for Christ will be so great it will spill over into song.
May we sing every hymn, not worried about how we sound, but with an exuberance and joy rooted in our love for God. Amen.