Music Notes for February 5

      Almost from the beginning, Mark’s gospel highlights the time Jesus spends in solitude in “lonely places,” being tested by Satan and confronting demons (Mark 1: 12-15, 35, 45).  Job is similarly tested (Job 1: 6-12), losing everything he had.  His soliloquy, our first reading, describes one trapped in the belly of Jonah’s whale. His complaints sound very much like what we today call burnout. St. Paul finds himself similarly trapped, making himself “a slave to all.” 

      Psalm 147 provides the counterpoint to all this compulsion. A symphony in three movements, it is one of the last half-dozen psalms with “Hallelujah!” (“Praise the Lord!”) as their refrain. We sang the third movement on the feast of Corpus Christi last June.  Today’s passage is drawn from the first movement and emphasizes God’s justice: “God heals the broken-hearted and binds up their wounds. . . . The Lord sustains the lowly; the wicked he casts to the ground.” Jesus is of course God-with-us, confronting evil and healing by touch.

      As last week, “How Can I Keep From Singing” is the prayer of one whose faith is put to the test. The final verse sums it up: “The peace of Christ makes fresh my heart, a fountain ever springing.” There is similar refreshment in “There Is A Balm in Gilead,” from the tradition of spirituals. The allusion is to Jeremiah 8:22, but we propose that the balm is not in biblical Gilead but in the melody of the refrain, which to us suggests the “precious ointment” which runs down the beard of Aaron in Psalm 133 and brings communal healing. The mission of the church as a healing and reconciling community is the theme of “A Touching Place,” with a text by John Bell set to a Scottish folk song with a haunting melody. The determination of Paul and Job are well-expressed by “I Say Yes, Lord,” a bilingual song from Donna Peña of Chicago. Our determination and perseverance are taken up in “I Will Follow” by Chris Tomlin and “Been So Busy,” by Grayson Warren Brown. The latter is based on the spiritual “Ain’t Got Time to Die” in a classic arrangement by Hall Johnson, which the choir will perform at 11:30. Note that the expression is simply a metaphor for being completely consumed by the Lord’s work, as St. Paul describes. It does not refer literally to death.

Music Notes for January 22

       The theme of the call continues in this week’s stories of Jonah and the first few disciples. Whoever compiled our lectionary could have picked instead the story of Elisha, who left his father and mother behind to become Elijah’s protégé (I Kings 19: 19-20), much as James and John left Zebedee standing in the boat, holding his nets. But Jonah held a special significance for Jesus: when the scribes, Pharisees and crowds pressed him for miracles, they were told to wait for the resurrection which would follow three days in a tomb, as Jonah had spent three days in the belly of the whale (Matt. 12: 39-42; Luke 11: 29-32). Most of us can identify with Jonah’s story: during periods of uncertainty, indecision, insecurity or loneliness, we often talk about being in the belly of the whale, waiting for a breakthrough. We also share Jonah’s rebellious nature, preferring the easy way out, the path of least resistance, and then are disappointed and frustrated if God does not fulfill our expectations. The scripture for the next three weeks is something of a mini-course for prophets. For St. Paul, the disciple needs to be free of material attachments. He or she must also have open ears, an open mind and an open heart, as Psalm 25 says: “Your ways, O Lord, make known to me; teach me your paths. . . . . [You] guide the humble to justice, [and] teach the humble [your] way.”  So a prophet may be discerned by a commitment to justice. The last paragraph of the psalm, verses 16-22, refers to the loneliness, trials and tribulations of the prophet in the whale’s belly. We will pray this psalm again on the first Sunday of Lent.

      The by-now classic meditation on the “fishers of men” story is Pescador de Hombres, “Lord, When You Came to the Seashore,” by Spanish priest Cesáreo Gabaráin (1936-1991). Sr. Donna McGargill’s “Servant Song” is another musical conversation with Jesus. Jesus’ public ministry is poetically summed up in 5 verses by Sydney Carter (1915-2004), using the Shaker tune “Simple Gifts.” At 10:00 we will sing two spirituals on the importance of listening: “Somebody’s Knocking at Your Door” and “Somebody’s Callin’ My Name.” Organ Masses conclude with the charge of the prophet Micah (6:8): “We are called to act with justice, . . . to love tenderly, . . .  to serve one another, to walk humbly with God.”  Worship at 10:00 concludes with Chris Tomlin’s “I Will Follow.”