PEOPLE'S CHURCH OF DOVER

Singing Theologians[1]
Sermon October 4, 2009:  People’s United Church of Christ, Dover, DE:  The Rev. Dan Griggs

          In Protestantism the worship emphasis has always been on the preaching of the word of God.  But how many of the sermons you’ve heard in your life do you remember?  In the local church, theology does happen in the pulpit, but it mostly happens with music.  How many hymns do you remember by heart?  A lot more hymns than sermons, I’ll bet!  So the church’s hymnody is very important, and those who lead our worship in music are our theologians.  There are some Sundays when Philip finishes the Prelude that I think, “Okay, I’ve been to church now; I don’t have anything to add.”  And then the Chancel Choir gets up to sing the Anthem, and every time they do that they are our “singing theologians.”  They help make our faith beautiful, lift our souls to the praise of God, and teach us not just the ideas to believe but the feeling of believing.  And so today we recognize our choir and organist and say “Thank you for our theology!” 

          In the human race music has always been around.  Archaeologists digging in Slovenia recently found a bone flute that goes back 50,000 years—it was made by one of those primitive humans we call Neanderthals.[2]  Scholars researching the literature of classical Rome before the birth of Jesus have found some scraps of papyrus with the words to songs written on them, and above the words there are pen strokes indicating how the tune was supposed to go--music.[3]  The ancient rabbis working with the text of the Hebrew Bible added markings so that the entire Old Testament could be chanted in synagogues.[4]  The Hebrew chants made their way into Christian worship and laid the foundation for Gregorian plainsong,[5] and some of those melodies are still in our hymnal today.  It was Bishop Ambrose of Milan in the 300’s who developed the use of multiple choirs and congregational singing in Christian worship.[6]  All this music was sung in unison.  Polyphony and harmony didn’t develop in Europe until around 1,000 A.D.[7]  But throughout all those centuries there were “singing theologians” whose music sustained the faith of the church through good times and bad. 

          One of the greatest theologians in Christianity, St. Augustin Bishop of Hippo, knew in the fourth century the power of “singing theologians.”  One year after the baptism of new converts on Easter, he preached a sermon based on Isaiah 42:10:  he invited the new Christians to celebrate their new faith as if they had found a new song.[8]  He quoted the verse: 

and then he said:

Augustin’s words capture the joy of our faith   expressed in music.  Paul Hanebutt has written many praise songs for our Introits, and we are glad to learn these “new songs.”  When Philip Betts composes an organ piece he uses a pseudonym so nobody knows it was him who did it, but he has given us new songs to the Lord. 

          But new songs or old, these robed men and women sitting behind me work hard at their theology.  They come out for rehearsal in fair weather and in snow.  They arrive for worship an hour early to warm up and put some last touches on what they’ve prepared for the day.  They sing when their robes are too hot.  They sing when their voices are tired, when they have colds, when somebody at home needs them. 

I deeply appreciate our choir, and I know you do too.  So today we take a few minutes just to say thank you.  Your gifts to your church are highly valued. 

          [holding up a framed copy]  This is page 27 in the Centennial Booklet.  The page is dedicated to the church choirs past and present.  Women’s Fellowship has framed it and placed it beside the west door from the Fellowship Room.  It has Paul’s picture along with a photograph of today’s choir, the Mothers’ Day men’s chorus, the choir back when they wore light blue robes, and a junior choir that Kathy Hanebutt directed.  So this is for you guys [turning to the choir]—all of you. 

          In addition the Diaconate and the Board of Trustees are working on another gift.  These red robes blend nicely with the church carpet and pew cushions, but when they wear their red stoles you can hardly see the stoles.  New red stoles will soon be ordered, with a white border or some distinguishing border so we can see the stoles.  This is something the choir themselves have been asking for; and the church is glad to give it.

          You are our “singing theologians.”  You help us do more than think the faith—you help us feel the faith.  You touch our hearts with the beauty and the joy of new life in Christ.  In the name of Jesus, and for the glory of God, we thank you.

AMEN