The Gift of Music

Some of my earliest memories of church are musical. In fact, I apparently started early – I was just two years old in the photograph accompanying this reflection, sitting at a piano with hymnals on the music stand.

When I was five, I began taking piano lessons from Jane Wooten, my church’s Minister of Music. My lessons took place in the sanctuary, where I also watched Miss Wooten lead the congregation in singing hymns on Sundays. I began noticing how the words and music came together in the hymnal and became curious about the composers, lyricists, and even those funny-looking numbers and symbols. Have you ever wondered what codes like “87.87” or “CM” in the bottom right corner of our hymns mean? (Stop by my office sometime, and I’ll happily tell you!)

I didn’t know it then, but I was beginning to discover that music could be a way of learning about God.

As I grew older, I sang in the youth choir and played piano for my middle and high school choirs. I continued singing in college and seminary, and later with community choirs. Sacred music introduced me to Latin, French, German, and Italian and taught me to listen not only to the music, but also to the language, history, and faith behind it. Music became a way of connecting with people and places I might never otherwise have encountered.

There are hymns I can hear today and immediately be transported to another time and place. As a hospital and hospice chaplain, I also saw how music could be a balm for patients and families experiencing dis-ease. Sometimes there simply weren’t words for what was happening. A familiar hymn or a few quiet notes could bring comfort, create connection, and make space for what words could not express.

We are blessed with extraordinary music at Christ Church, and it is an important part of how we worship. From the hymns we sing to the prelude that helps us gather and enter into worship, to the postlude that gives us a moment to linger before we return to the world, music helps shape our experience of worship. And when we sing, we are worshiping. Our voices join with those around us, and together we become part of something larger than ourselves.

That is one of the gifts of our Christ Church Choir. Singing together creates friendship, community, and shared memories, while leading our congregation in worship is a responsibility the choir does not take lightly. If you have ever thought about joining, I hope you will consider it. There is something beautiful about discovering that your voice – your particular voice – has a place in the worship of God. And if you would like to hear our choir, I hope you’ll make plans to attend Lux Perpetua: A Choral Orchestral Concert on Friday, October 16, at 7:30 pm. The concert is free and open to the public. You can find more information here: https://christchurchcharlotte.org/events/lux-perpetua/

I am grateful that a five-year-old child was given the opportunity to sit at a piano in a church sanctuary and begin discovering all of this. I didn’t know where those lessons would lead me. But perhaps that is how faith often works. Someone gives us a song. Someone teaches us a hymn. Someone invites us to sing – or perhaps to listen, to experience a Broadway musical, or to discover music in a place or tradition we have never encountered before. And years later, we realize that the music has been teaching us all along, connecting us to one another and to what is holy.