The Meaning Music Evokes take One

Recently, I have found myself invited into music that was evoking and invoking traces of God's grace. 

Music has a profound power in our lives.

The notes stir the soul.
The words awaken new ideas and insights.
It can take us back to our childhood and grandmother humming hymns as she baked bread.
Or dad's bass voice booming from the choir.
Music is ingrained within us...and can bring us together in ways that prose - no matter how poetic or prophetic - may not.

Vincent Harding, the civil rights leader, recalls the way people would constantly sing before, during, and after marches.  "We Shall Overcome" wasn't just some words to pump up the crowd...it was a heartfelt prayer of African-Americans being denied rights and liberties.

Music has a power to transform us from the insight out.

This only makes scientific sense since inside each one of us is a beat of a heart...a constant rhythm keeping us alive.  There is a time signature to our breathing.  There is a melody of every single moment.

Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel says, “Religious music is an attempt to convey that which is within our reach, but beyond our grasp.”  He also said... "To sing means to sense and to affirm that the spirit is real and that its glory is present. In singing we perceive what is otherwise beyond perceiving."

Or consider this from Charles Darwin once remarked, “If I had my life to live over again, I would have made a rule to read some poetry and listen to some music at least once every week.”

And you thought his best work was on evolution.

So, this week, I want to invite you to listen with me.  Listen with ears and hearts wide open.

The first song that is stuck on repeat in my heart is by the Indigo Girls.  Krista Tippet recently shared an interview with them...which is where I got the Heschel quote above.  You can click here to listen or read that episode of On Being.

But the song, "Closer I Am to Fine" has been part of the music swirling in my mind and speaking to my soul.  Here is a video:

For me, the opening words are an invitation for me during this time that I have away on sabbatical:

I'm tryin' to tell you somethin' 'bout my life
Maybe give me insight between black and white
And the best thing you've ever done for me
Is to help me take my life less seriously
It's only life after all...

That to me sounds like a beautiful prayer.
This to me echoes in my soul as truth.
The melody and words offer me more than a trace of God's grace...and I pray will do the same for you today.

Blessings ~~