DECEMBER 15, 2003

CHRISTMAS IS MUSIC

What is it about Christmas that makes it such a musical time? It’s hard to imagine Christmas without hearing music in your head. It just seems to rise up spontaneously—anything from Handel’s “Messiah” to “Jingle Bells.”

Maybe it’s because the first Christmas celebration began with an angelic hymn:
“Glory to God in the highest,
Peace on earth, good will to men.”
This seemed to set off all sorts of musical responses on earth, still echoing the joy two thousand years later.

Or maybe the angels were themselves responding to some awesome heavenly symphony that could not be heard by human shepherd ears. They heard the music and were just “humming along” when they sang their “Gloria.”

In fact, music seems to be a manifestation of the order and beauty of God’s created universe. The Greeks believed that the nine planets vibrated at different rates, creating the “music of the spheres.” Through science and philosophy, they believed, we may learn to hear their music.

More modern thinkers have pointed out that musical intervals and harmonies are very mathematical, and that the way music affects us may be connected with this arithmetic way of communicating with nature, the universe and ultimate meaning through music. Some of today’s most far-out extensions of Einstein’s thinking are picturing the tiniest units of matter as “strings” that vibrate. Isn’t that a fascinating musical possibility?

The famous line by the English poet Congreve,
“Music hath charms to soothe a savage breast”
is frequently misquoted
“Music hath charms to soothe a savage beast.”
But even the misquote is true; music has been used successfully to calm cows so that they will give more milk, and also to seduce hens into laying more and larger eggs.

Congreve’s original quote is also true, as many a “savage breast” has been tamed through music. King Saul’s frequent clouds of depression were lifted only by David’s lute playing. And music therapy has been developed into a respected tool of the healing arts, sometimes getting through with a dose of peace where medication cannot reach.

Christmas is so often expressed through music because it cannot be expressed through words. The facts of Christmas are laid out in the Gospels, but none of them pretends to grasp the meaning of Christmas, which is beyond human words or thoughts.

Music brings us a little closer. So it’s time for the preacher to be quiet so that the Holy Spirit can bring to your mind and heart the message of a Christmas song or hymn.

           musical
Have a merry Christmas!

–Pastor George Van Alstine