Growing up I had a piano teacher who belonged to a musical society. I am not sure what the name of the group was that he belonged to, but they would make a point of listening for angel song on Christmas Eve. They believed that the angels rejoiced and celebrated each Christmas in honor of Christ… and so they would listen very closely at night on Christmas Eve. They would listen to the dogs bark. They would listen to the wind through the trees. I’m not sure they listened to the cars driving by, but they listened to the things going on around them in the world… in creation to see if they could hear angel song. What would this angel song sound like? It sounded perfect. They listened for harmony and perfect pitch in the sounds of nature…
It’s a strange thing to do, it’s kind of an odd way to spend Christmas Eve. But that’s what my piano teacher and his friends did… There’s a romantic notion to what they did. I wonder how many of them actually believed that angels were actually singing and how many of them were a part of the group because they just thought it would be neat if angels sang. How many of them believed and how many of them hoped?
The fact is that on the night of Jesus birth, where there was silence, music shot forth. Whether by angels or creation, you’ve got to believe that Jesus’ entering this world must be celebrated greatly. So, on Christmas Eve’s I listen, as my piano teacher did… to see if I hear music where I would not have expected to find it. I have not yet heard angels sing… but it is possible.
I. Silence
Here we are, during the first week of Advent. Christmas is upon us. We will be spending the next four weeks looking at how thankful we can be that Christ came into this world. We are going to look at what it is that the world was like without Christ and what the world can be like with Christ. This affects the whole world. Before Christ the world was a certain way… and when Christ entered it he changed it. But this also affects each of our lives. Before Christ we are a certain way… but when we ask Christ to enter our lives they are changed… and they are changed for the better.
So we’re going to be looking at music, light, hope and promise. Promise is important. So is hope. And Jesus is the light of the world. But music? Sure it’s nice, sure it’s pretty, but is it really that important? Is it really something worth spending a whole sermon talking about? Hopefully I’ll be able to show you that it is.
To understand music and how wonderful it is we need to begin without it… in silence. We need to be like the shepherds were, in their fields at night. Sitting around in silence… sure they were probably talking with each other… sure they might have even had the noises of the wilderness all around them. But they were just doing what they always did. They were just going about their business like they did every night. There was nothing special going on in their lives. They were trudging on in silence.
Silence can be boring, silence can be painful, silence can be deadly. Silence, bad silence, destroys us. It keeps us from moving forward. Silence in relationships kill them. When people don’t talk, they grow apart. This is true in relationships with friends, with families and with God.
But this doesn’t mean that all silence is bad. There is silence where we wait to hear from God. There is silence, sheer silence, where God speaks. This happens to Elijah in the Old Testament. There is silence where we wait on God and we don’t fill the world with our own noises. There is silence that is lack of noise for noise sake. People told me that one of the most difficult things about moving to Iowa would be the silence. I would not hear cars and ambulances driving by all night, and the silence would be overwhelming. In truth this has been a good thing for me. It is something that I have enjoyed much about Iowa, about Albert City. I don’t need the extra noises. I don’t need to talk just to hear a voice, though Lisa might disagree with that statement. I’m okay with silence in worship. For many it is uncomfortable, but for me it is enjoyable.
This good silence is all silence where one party quiets down to hear the other party speak. I think specifically of the earlier mentioned story of Elijah where he ran away to a mountain, being pursued by people who wanted to kill him. There, at the mountain he waited on the Lord. And a great thunderstorm came… and he was sure that he would hear God in the thunderstorm, but he didn’t. And a sheer silence came, and that was the place where God spoke. In the midst of the thunderstorm maybe God was speaking, but it was being drowned out by all the noise. We sometimes do this in our own lives… create our own thunderstorms so that we cannot hear God or others speak. Maybe this is the very reason that it was shepherds that the angels appeared to. Because they were not surrounded by noise like the rest of the world. For shepherds were not the most reliable people and tended not to be believed by those around them… so angels appearing to them is not the best way to make Jesus’ birth known. But, they were people who were used to silence, who were comfortable in it. They were people who knew how to listen.
II. One voice in the night
So, in the midst of the good silence, that which is waiting upon the Lord, listening for the Lord to speak, and the bad silence, that which destroys that which keeps people from communicating with each other… a voice comes out.
For the shepherds the voice began as many angel voices do… saying “Don’t be afraid.” I think sometimes that people who draw pictures of angels refuse to read their Bibles. When we look at nativity scenes we see angels that are beautiful and sweet. We see pictures of adorable cherubs floating around on wings that are too small for them. But every time an angel shows up to people in the Bible, when that angel is not disguised as a human, the angel’s first words are always “Don’t be afraid.” Now is this an angelic greeting? Is this the way that angels say “Hello” to each other? I don’t think so… instead, I think that angels are something fierce to behold. I think that we would probably be running in terror if we were to see them… if our legs would work to get us going.
So an angel appears to the shepherds and calms them down… The angel tells them that there is good news for them… Jesus, the savior is born. The angel, the messenger, delivers the message. That is the actual definition of angel. It is not “heavenly being” but rather “messenger of God” This is not to say that the angels were not heavenly beings… of course not… but they have a mission… they have a purpose… and whenever we encounter them, it is because they are fulfilling their purpose to be messengers of God.
And what joyous news this messenger brought. A Savior, from the house of David… born in David’s hometown.
But here is a somewhat unique place in the Bible. For the angels usually give their message and then go on their way. They do their duty and they move on. Perhaps they are very busy. Perhaps they are just work oriented. But here, on the night of the incarnation, at the point of the Messiah being born, the angel lingers, and the angel brings friends… and these friends sing and praise and glorify God… these friends bring music!
III. Many voices singing
You wouldn’t know it turning on the radio, but praising of God is what music is for. Am I saying that it’s wrong to listen to a love song… am I saying that it’s wrong to listen to music that isn’t about God? No. Secular music, in its many forms is not necessarily evil. Some of my favorite music is Irish and Scottish folk music; jigs and reels and ballads. This music is fun. It is exciting. It is secular… But music has a way of entering our hearts… entering our souls. This is one of the reasons that it is such a powerful way of communicating with God. So, be careful about the music you are listening to. Does it work to put things in your heart that shouldn’t be there? If so, you need to be careful.
In the Bible we come in contact with music in a number of different areas. We are treated in Ezekiel to a glimpse of heaven with angels worshiping God and singing God’s praises. In the Psalms we are introduced to a number of songs. Some are joyous, some are laments… but they were songs that were directed to God. We are introduced in the Bible to the Song of Solomon… a song that is secular, showing what love can be… describing our love for each other as well as showing a type of what our love for God is about. In the New Testament we are told of people praising God to such a point when Jesus comes to Jerusalem that Jesus is asked to silence his followers… they’re making too much of a racket. Jesus responds… and here’s what causes me to buy my piano teacher’s way of spending Christmas Eve… Jesus responds that if the people were silent, the rocks and trees would sing to God. Really? Really!
We are told that the early church liked to praise and worship God with music. When Paul was imprisoned, he sang and praised God. When the church gathered together they sang and praised God. And when Revelation describes the end times, it describes people around the throne of God, singing and praising God.
So… in the Bible we see people sing, we see them dance and we see them praise God. We also see people sing for other reasons. We see the possibility of the rocks, trees and mountains singing, clapping their hands and dancing. This is actually described and prophesied about in a couple places in the Bible. And we see angels in heaven, singing and praising God. But here, at Jesus’ birth, we see something unique, we see angels on earth singing and praising God. And their song is one of glory and it is a song of peace. Christmas is known throughout the world as a celebration of peace. Whether people are Christian or not, they think of peace when they think of Christmas… they think of the hope for peace and they think of the possibility of peace. Where does peace come into the Christmas story? Here. With the angel’s song.
Where there was silence there is now music. Where people were waiting, they are now rejoicing. Where they were listening, now they are singing.
Music is, in many ways about beauty. In harmony, in unity, in joy and in sadness, music is about beauty. One can listen to a song that is a song of lament, that brings down the spirit… and be enraptured by the beauty of the song. One can listen to a song that is full of joy… full of promise and excitement… and be moved forward by the beauty of the song.
The angels, fierce angels who cause people to run in terror, brought beauty to the world in their song as they glorified God with their praises upon Jesus’ birth. Jesus himself brought beauty to this world by coming down to be among us… to be incarnate… to be one of us. Let us revel in that beauty.
This holiday season I invite you to avoid the dangerous silence. I encourage you to talk with those who you haven’t talked with. I pray for you to reconcile with those who you have silence between.
This holiday season I invite you to seek the silence that listens to others and for God. I encourage you to not build up a thunderstorm around yourself that keeps you from hearing others or God.
This holiday season I invite you to join in with all of creation in the song of joy, in the song of peace, in the song of glory… as we come together celebrating Christ’s coming into this world 2000 years ago. Bringing his teachings to us. Bringing his love to us… and sacrificing himself for us. But we also sing in anticipation, for we know that Christ will return… so let us sing to him asking him to come back. To come to us in our need, to come to us in our pain, to bring his glory and peace to our lives and to this whole world.
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