When is a hymn not a hymn?

To You silence is praise, O God  Psalm 65:1

Shout out to God, all the earth. Hymn God's name's glory. Make God's praise glory.  Psalm 66:1

So one of the amazing realities of the Bible is often stories are set side by side that are inherently and blatantly contradictory without so much of a note of explanation or effort of rationalization.  Psalms 65 and 66 are one example.  (So are Genesis 1 and 2 - does God create with a Word or by sinking God's fingertips into the dirt and mud of earth?  The Bible seems to answer that question by simply saying, "Yes" with a smile on it's face).  

Psalm 65 talks about silence as praise.  Being silent and sitting still long enough for our souls to catch up with us.  Listening to the sounds around us, even if all we hear is our own breathing.  Being immersed in the beauty of what Psalm 42 describes as the "deep calling out to the deep".  When that which is within us calls out and cries out for God.  Let's face it, we live in a noisy world.  Cars constantly zoom past my window, phones ring, this week at church nails were pounded into underlayment in the sanctuary at such a pace I could not hear my own thoughts...let alone God's.  Even if we find a moment of silence, like for me right now typing this blog when no one is home, I could turn on the television or tune into a podcast.  We are driven by distraction and awash in a sea of words.  So, how can silence be praise?  Especially when you first try a silent prayer at church and after about 10 seconds people feel the need to start coughing...perhaps concerned that the pastor might fall asleep and forget to complete the service.  Yet, silence is praise when it allows us to notice God's still speaking voice.  Silence is praise when we can hear our own authentic voice speaking truth about our frantic lives.  Silence is praise when we are just still noticing God's presence.  It is praise, not always easy to hear praise, but praise nevertheless.

Right after the Psalmist invites us into silence and we are ready to be still, the very next psalm says, "Shout out to God."  Okay, but which is it?  Am I suppose to keep silence or shout?  To which again, I suspect, the Bible simply says, "Yes."  There are a time and place, there is an invitation to balance the two.  It cannot always be what we prefer.  Some people prefer silence, some prefer singing with gusto, both have a place and need space in our worship.  There are some hymns we need to sing so softly that we are whispering only to ourselves.  There are other hymns we need to sing out so our neighbors next door to the church wonder what in the world is going on inside that building.  

What connects both psalms is the question, when is a hymn not a hymn?  I believe when it sits unsung.  I believe even silence can be sung softly within us or better yet to us.  Hymns were meant to be sung by a community of faith.  Solos are great, but hymns are about community...so are the psalms.  We need to sit in silence with others, hear the rumbling of our neighbor's stomach so we are connected in a different way with the person realizing our own shared hunger.  And we need to sing loudly, even shout, with others creating such a cacophony that we realize the truth that we are not alone.  Both can be melody and music to our Creator's ears.  The psalmist invites both of these, and every sound in-between, to be times when we sense a trace of God's grace and presence in our life.  May it be so for you and me today and for our communities of faith at worship this weekend.

Blessings ~