“Holy, Holy, Holy is the Lord God Almighty”. “Worthy is the
Lamb”. As you read these song lyrics
a tune probably comes to your mind. Music:
melodies, harmonies, lyrics, rhythms, brings our minds to different places, creates
memories of people (old flames, grandparents) or places (worship spaces,
ballparks).
The lyrics above are taken from
Revelation 4 and 5’s songs, the music of Heaven. These are the lyrics all of
God’s children sing gathered around the Throne.
But, which notes should go with those words? Did God give Handel a special revelation of
what those notes should be, as captured in Handel’s
Messiah? Maybe Jesus prefers the
Hebrew tunes he grew up with, the ones he sang in synagogue as a boy. Perhaps the angels in charge of worship like
to mix it up, ‘I’m a little bit country; I’m a little bit rock and roll.’ I don’t know how ‘Worthy is the Lamb’ would sound
in a country twang, but there must be someone who has tried it and people who
love it. And what of all of the millions assembled there whose memories are
triggered not by organs and cymbals but by African drums, South American flutes,
Canadian brass?
I join those who believe that
Music was woven into the atmosphere of the Universe because God loves to be
praised with music. He set people free
to pluck notes from the air, but God’s ‘middle C’ in Michigan sounds just like
a ‘middle C’ in Madagascar. It is all God’s
music. Just like God loves many
languages, God loves many melodies.
Perhaps the songs around the Throne will be like modern churches: if you
like hard rock worship tunes go to church X; if you like organ-accompanied 18th
century hymns go to church ‘Y’; and so
on.
We know the lyrics to the music
of heaven. But we await the revelation of the melodies. I personally am hoping
it sounds close to the final minutes of Mahler’s
2nd, the Resurrection Symphony. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RONBzkthUjM
When you gather around the
Throne I suspect that whatever style of music gets your motor running, you will
be able to jam to it like there is no tomorrow.
Because, well, there will be
no tomorrow.
“Let everything that has breath praise the LORD!” (Psalm 150) AMEN!
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