I recently came across the following passage from the Psalms:
84:1 How lovely is your dwelling place, O LORD of hosts!
84:2 My soul longs, indeed it faints for the courts of the LORD; my heart and my flesh sing for joy to the living God.
I realized that, as I read it, I couldn’t separate the words from the music of the Brahm’s Requiem in my mind. Since I have sung this piece several times as a soprano I am, therefore, very acquainted with the melody itself. Indeed, I’d like to think that the very words that follow: “…my heart and my flesh SING for joy to the living God…” might have been the catalyst for Brahms to write this profound work.
It made me realize how much the expression of my faith is bound up with music and the arts. Having grown up in a church-going family and having chosen to view life from a Christian perspective, I have always associated my beliefs with an actual “dwelling place”, ie. a church building. Over the years, my ideas have changed somewhat and I have come to a deeper knowledge of what a life of the spirit means. Thus, the building became less important and my own inner exploration and the stimulating environment of community increased. Part of this change occurred because I was so drawn to the aspects of the creative skill and imagination of the human psyche. We’ve all been there. We’ve all experienced a work of art, a piece of music which moves us powerfully. We are changed. Our lives are enhanced, emotionally, aesthetically or intellectually.
And in this change I would include the way we believe. When we experience an art form which brings us up short, makes us re-evaluate our approach, turns on a light bulb of understanding, shocks our complacency, hones our ideas on the grindstone of discernment – we are changed, we are different. The “old” becomes “new”; we are revitalized; nostalgia gives way to hope. The idea of faith takes on a fresh dimension, allowing for more openness of the heart, more cultivation of the mind and more invigoration of the spirit.
All this to say that in our “dwelling place”, our church, would do well to continue to place an emphasis on those matters which contain artistic merit, that we encourage the creative instincts in the young, acknowledge the emotional yearnings of the becoming adults, make possible the use of artistic talents of harried and time-constrained young parents, and unlock the imaginative potential of the older members of our congregation.
84:1 How lovely is your dwelling place, O LORD of hosts!
84:2 My soul longs, indeed it faints for the courts of the LORD; my heart and my flesh sing for joy to the living God.
Let us pray:
Guide us, Lord, in our deliberations, keeping in mind the things of the spirit and imagination. In addition to being practical and sensible, teach us the value of the ineffable and the indescribable.
Amen.
