Historically, the Fifth Sunday of Easter is “Cantate,” derived from the first word of the Introit, which calls upon the Church to Sing to the Lord a new song (Psalm 98). We’ve retained aspects of that historic emphasis in the three-year series, as well, especially in the Psalms and the hymns appointed to this Sunday. Aside from the salutary benefits involved in receiving the tradition, it is entirely appropriate that Eastertide – and, indeed, the entire Christian life – should be marked and characterized by the singing of Psalms and hymns and spiritual songs to the Lord. And the real “newness” of such singing is rooted in the dawning of the New Creation in the crucified and risen Body of the Lord Jesus Christ, in whom all things are made brand new.
Not only is singing appropriate to the Christian life in the peace and joy of the Resurrection, it is powerful and salutary in the service and support of that faith, hope, and confidence in Christ. Dr. Luther, himself a fine musician and a skillful hymn writer, recognized the profound significance of music as an aspect of God’s good creation and as a divine gift to man. Even aside from its capacity to carry and adorn the Word of God, Luther perceived that music is able to cheer the sorrowing spirit and chase away the devil with his enticements to melancholy and despair. All the more beneficial is music when it accompanies and embraces the confession of God’s Word.
The singing of God’s Word is there throughout the Holy Scriptures – not only in the Psalms, but at the crossing of the Red Sea, by the Levitical priests around the Ark of the Covenant, and in the Prophets, as also in the New Testament Canticles that punctuate St. Luke’s infancy narratives, in the praise and thanksgiving of the crowds that welcome the Lord Jesus into His holy city, and as He and His disciples make their way from the Upper Room to the Garden of Gethsemane. Then there are St. Paul’s references to the benefits of singing in Colossians 3 and Ephesians 5, as well as the resounding hymns that are sung by the saints and angels in heaven, as St. John is given to witness and describe for the Church on earth in the Book of the Revelation. And the Church, in turn, has taken her cues from these Scriptural precedents in singing her confession of the Word, as a proclamation of the faith, as a means of catechesis, and as vehicle for her prayer, praise, and thanksgiving. So does St. Augustine indicate that he who sings prays twice, a point exemplified in the case of St. Ambrose of Milan, the Bishop who catechized and baptized him.
Over time, the Lutheran Church came to be known as “the singing church,” not only because of the hymns of Luther, Nicolai, Gerhardt, and Heerman, but especially because of the magnificent contributions of Johann Sebastian Bach, inspired by their hymns and by the Holy Scriptures to compose some of the most beautiful music in the history of the world. I call attention to a couple of books that masterfully examine and discuss the role of hymnody and music in the history of the Lutheran Church: Singing the Gospel: Lutheran Hymns and the Success of the Reformation, by Christopher Boyd Brown (Harvard, 2005), and Johann Sebastian Bach and Liturgical Life in Leipzig, by Gunther Stiller (CPH, 1984). Both books are well researched, well written, and well worth reading. It is fascinating and encouraging to consider the place of music in the Church.
Although I’ve never had the muse or the mojo to be a musician myself, I have memories going back to my earliest childhood of a deep interest in and love for the hymns of the church. And I’ve seen the same love develop in my children and grandchildren over the years, which brings such joy and gladness to my heart. My seven-year-old grandson cherishes his own copy of the Lutheran Service Book, and at his own initiative he’s been working on memorizing hymns and singing them to his family. Even more poignant was when I discovered that the best way for me to love and serve my grandmother in her final years, when she no longer recognized or knew me anymore, was by singing hymns to her. Those she knew and remembered! And not only her, but inevitably, as I sang to her, the other residents of the Lutheran Home in Seymour, Indiana, would gather around us and listen, singing along or simply smiling at the hymns that carried their faith. I pray that I and my wife and our children will likewise be sustained by the hymns of the Gospel!