How Can I Keep from Singing

Music has always been a big part of my life and continues so today.  Yesterday, Lorna and I participated in a “Joyful Noise” service at our parish church of St. John the Evangelist in Strathroy, Ontario.  I can say it was both joyful and noisy in a good way.  Lorna and I are also embarking on a musical journey which will end on Good Friday at St. Paul’s Cathedral in London, Ontario, with a performance of Faure’s Requiem.  This latter endeavor is turning out to be something of a challenge as neither of us are as familiar with the piece as we thought we were, having last been involved in a performance more than 25 years ago.  I know the music is buried in my memory somewhere but the excavation has not revealed much so far.  In any case, a bit of a musical challenge never hurts – even for someone of my advanced years.

With these current musical exploits, my thoughts have turned to the part that music can play in our lives.  Whenever I think of music in a religious setting i.e. church choirs and music in worship, I think of the quote by St. Augustine who is famous in choir circles for the quote, “He who sings prays twice.”  One comment I found on this quote suggested that “singing adds to our praise and worship of God—that our voices are gifts, with which we can make music to the Lord.” 

I certainly agree with that as music has been a gift in my life that may have waxed and waned at times but has never left me and I thank God for that gift in my life and for the joy it has brought to the world.  Writing this, I am reminded of a Twilight Zone episode where aliens landed on earth and things looked pretty grim for the human race as the aliens, with their vastly superior technology and weaponry, were deciding if there was any reason why humanity should be spared extinction.  Well, thank God, someone whistled a tune – perhaps whistling in the dark at the dark possibility that lay ahead.  This amazed the aliens who did not have music of any kind in their world.  Well, you can guess the rest - they were enthralled by the rich music that was available and on offering and humanity was saved. 

As with many of the episodes in that wonderful TV series, that edition caught the essence of being human.  Perhaps the lesson is that we need to keep making music to save our world.  I am sure music has saved many human beings literally and metaphorically.  It has certainly been my rock and salvation which has brought me joy and comfort frequently in my life.  I invite you to reflect on the part that music has played in your life.  Do you have a song that resonated with you deeply when you first heard it?  For me it was ‘How Can I Keep from Singing’ by Robert Lowry.  Do you have a song that is connected to a special event in your life? 

In any case, let's keep on singing and making the music of the spheres and may you be blessed with music on your journey. Now, back to relearning the baritone part of the Requiem.  

 

It’s Turtles All the Way Down

Last week my son Matthew recommended a recent episode of the CBC radio program, Ideas.  It is actually a rebroadcast of the 2005 Massey Lecture by Thomas King, a writer and, for this incarnation, a master storyteller. The episode can be found here; Stories can be both wondrous and dangerous, according to writer Thomas King https://www.cbc.ca/radio/ideas/stories-can-be-both-wondrous-and-dangerous-according-to-writer-thomas-king-1.5593496

I am and have been interested in stories and particularly the genre of myths, legends and fairy tales.   This edition of the program certainly was of interest as it dealt in great part to a comparison of the myths of two creation stories; one which, although not identified as such, was a story, I assume to be of first-nation origin – but perhaps that is only my interpretation.  This story involved the Great Mother named Charm who gave birth to twins.  The twins being the same but opposite – one right-handed and one left-handed, created the pairs of opposites in the world including the first man and the first woman. 

The second was easier to identify, the story of creation from the Judeo-Christian bible involving those rather famous, or perhaps infamous first couple, Adam and Eve and, oh yes, that most crafty of God’s creatures, the serpent - let’s not forget the serpent.  I should note here that I don’t use ‘myth’ in the sense that it is just a story and not true.  But in the sense that it is a story that deals with the relationship between God or the gods and humankind and contains a capital T-Truth.

King begins his ‘lecture’, which is more a lesson on story-telling, with a story which has become apocryphal about someone who talks about the scientific structure of the world and is challenged by someone who knows that the world sits on the back of a gigantic turtle.  When asked about what the turtle sits on, he is told, it is ‘turtles all the way down’.  I am giving the abridged version for the sake of brevity.  Now, I had first heard a version of the story in Stephen Hawking’s 1988 book A Brief History of Time:

A well-known scientist (some say it was Bertrand Russell) once gave a public lecture on astronomy. He described how the earth orbits around the sun and how the sun, in turn, orbits around the centre of a vast collection of stars called our galaxy. At the end of the lecture, a little old lady at the back of the room got up and said: "What you have told us is rubbish. The world is really a flat plate supported on the back of a giant tortoise." The scientist gave a superior smile before replying, "What is the tortoise standing on?" "You're very clever, young man, very clever," said the old lady. "But it's turtles all the way down!"

As King notes, this story has been told in many versions at many different times and places.  However, some features of the story never change, the turtle never changes and never swims away.  We could ask where the capital T truth is in this story/myth.  Well I would say that the world/universe was not created by humans and we desire to understand who created it and how it was created and more to the point, why?

Turning to the two creation stories, the same question arises.  These are both myths – in the good sense that they contain Truth.   In the first-nation story there are many aspects to recommend it – I would recommend that you listen to it.  It is one in which all creatures cooperate and there is no moral judgement about good and evil – I imagine that comes later in the myths of those people – but perhaps not.  The creation story of Adam and Eve and the serpent do not come out very well in comparison.  It is a story, apparently about the naivety and disobedience of the first parents and the duplicity of the craftiest of God’s creatures.   It even was the basis for the doctrine of original sin by Augustine which, in my view has done a great deal of damage in the history of the Christian church and the world. 

I propose that this is not the Truth in the Christian creation story.  I am aware that I am treading on dangerous territory here so instead of declaring a different Truth, I will end with asking a few questions.  What would human beings, who are created in God’s image be, if out first parents had not tasted of the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil?  What if humans had continued to live in that pre-conscious state of paradise in the Garden of Eden in that state of perpetual innocence?  Would there have been any Cain and Able to have a conflict over who’s offering was better and commit the first act of fratricide?  Would a perpetual state of bliss enable humans to live as God actually intended his greatest creation to live?  Perhaps God had something else in mind when God placed the serpent in the Garden. 

Things to consider on your journey – blessings.

Sermon September 13, 2015 Fifteenth Sunday after Trinity What, Me Worry

Do you remember Mad Magazine from the sixties and seventies?  The character on the cover was usually Alfred E. Neuman who was not the sharpest knife in the drawer, at east in appearance.  In my memory he appeared on the cover of every edition of the Magazine.  He would often have words of “wisdom” when he appeared on the cover.  These are a few of the pithy sayings:
• We are living in a world today where lemonade is made from artificial flavors and furniture polish is made from real lemons.
• You can be on the right track and still get hit by a train.
• In retrospect it becomes clear that hindsight is definitely overrated!
• Most people are so lazy; they don't even exercise good judgement!

Alfred was a bit of a clown in appearance.  If you aren’t familiar with him, he was a rather gormless looking character with ears that stuck out, a missing front tooth, and hair that was never quite combed.  He looked a bit like Alfalfa from the Our Gang Comedies of even longer ago.   He might be considered rather a fool to look at him.
But like the classic fool in the king’s court he was able to speak the truth if you get below the surface appearance.  The classical fool was there to keep the king from getting too high and mighty.   He would remind the king that he wasn’t infallible.  He was mortal and in the end he would have to answer to God.

Alfred E. Nueman’s tag line was, “What, me worry?”  Now when he said this, you could easily dismiss it as being foolish.  If Alfred didn’t worry it seemed it was because he didn’t quite get it.  However, if we dig a bit deeper the truth in his statement is exactly what Jesus is telling us.  “Which of you by being anxious can add one cubit to his or her stature”?  Why are you anxious concerning your clothes? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow: they toil not, neither do they spin, yet Solomon in his glory was not arrayed as one of these.”  

Worry and anxiety are the curse of the 21st Century.  There is no shortage of things to worry about.  As our society becomes more complex the number of things to worry about piles up until it is a mountain that is impossible to scale and conquer.  Coincidentally (if you believe in coincidences) Huffington Post had a headline last Sunday about high paying jobs that are low stress.  Some of the jobs listed were fork-lift operator, lab-technician, tenured professors, librarians, tailors and jewelers.  The reasons given for the low stress included job security, being able to set you own pace, and not having to deal with demands of co-workers. It is interesting that the things that cause stress are insecurity, and demands placed on you by others.  However, there was no mention of jobs that provided fulfillment and a sense of accomplishment or even jobs that are meaningful.  

We often think of the ancient times, the olden days as being idyllic and worry feel.  Life was simpler so there were fewer things to worry about.  However, as Jesus confirms, even in those simple times there were things to worry about.  People were anxious about many things.  From what Jesus said they were worried about their appearance i.e. what cloths they wore, or their appearance i.e. not tall enough, or having enough to eat.

There was also worry about not fulfilling the covenant and being isolated from the community.  Anxiety and worry seem to be part of being conscious.  Human beings have been given the gift of consciousness.  We know that we are separate from the world.  We are aware of the world and the possibilities for what lies ahead of us and the knowledge that we are going to die unlike the rest of creation.  That awareness allows us to plan and come together to work cooperatively and to develop cultures.  It also made us aware that there is a God and the need to worship God.

If anxiety and worry are a result of our being conscious, could not God have given us consciousness without anxiety?  Now it may be that anxiety is an inevitable outcome of being conscious—you can’t have one without the other.  However, it can also be that worry can be beneficial.  If we worry about having security we can strive to be more secure. Our ancestors knew they had to protect themselves from wild animals and enemies. If we worry about disease we will make an effort to develop ways to protect ourselves against disease.  If we had just accepted that we would die from different diseases scientists would not have striven to find cures.  Ironically, people today seem to be eschewing vaccinations which have done wonders in protecting us from disease because of exaggerated worries that the vaccines themselves will cause harm.  This is where worry can lead to negative results.
If we allow worry to control our lives then we are falling into a state that Jesus is warning against.  If worry gives us the incentive to do something about what we are worried then it is a positive thing.  However if we are worried about things about which we can do nothing then we are letting the anxiety take over our lives.

Jesus tells us to consider the lilies of the field; they neither toil nor spin.  Jesus is not telling us that we do not need to strive to live full lives—to work and to harvest and to reap the benefits of our labour.  He is telling us to have faith in God and to give those pointless worries over to Jesus.  
We worry about the things in our lives we cannot see; and yet faith, according to St. Augustine, "is believing what you cannot see, and the reward of faith is seeing what you have believed in."  If we believe in Jesus Christ as our Saviour and Redeemer, then our hearts will not be troubled and we will be able, if not to give up our pointless anxieties, then at least help us to bear them.  Jesus tells us that his yoke is easy and his burden is light.  Thanks be to God.  Amen.