Make a joyful noise to God, all the earth; sing the glory of his name; give to him glorious praise. (Psalm 66:1-2)
All together now– applause for God! Sing songs to the tune of his glory, set glory to the rhythms of his praise! (The Message)
Bear is all of a sudden singing! The first time it happened we were on our way home from the dog park, and when Tom Petty’s tune “Free Fallin‘” came on, and I turned it up (a required action with that tune!) Bear leapt from the back set to the front, sat down, stuck his nose up into the air, and started to sing. No Kidding! When the song ended, and Led Zeppelin’s “Immigrant Song” took over, back to the back seat he went.
I thought maybe it was some kind of coincidence, but soon Sarah related a similar experience. And then this past Tuesday, late afternoon while washing windows with Seals and Crofts blaring, Bear came into the middle of the living room and howled away with “Summer Breeze”. I wanted to include the video here but can’t, so you can find it on my Facebook page.
The point of it all is that Bear is reminding me that all creation gives thanks, and that despite all of life’s stresses, strains, and challenges, we can and ought to turn up the music of our lives and sing for joy to the Giver of all life and every good and perfect gift, including these gorgeous last blue days of summer.
Sometimes we just need to stop and sing. For me, that involves turning up the volume and singing along with a throated passion, in the spirit of Bruce Cockburn’s Lovers in a Dangerous Time — “Don’t the hours grow shorter as the days go by? We never get to stop and open our eyes. One minute your waiting for the sky to fall, next your dazzled by the beauty of it all…” Sometimes we just need to stop, and sing, and praise the Healer of our lives.
And sometimes for me it’s “Amazing Grace, How Sweet the Sound“, and “Lord, I Lift Your Name on High”, and sometimes its “All You Need is Love” and “Jesus is Just Alright”, or a personal favorite, “The Great Gig in The Sky” thanks to Pink Floyd — want a heavenly, glorious moment? Check it out. Or “Something’s Coming” from West Side Story or Edward Elgar’s Nimrod or Eric Whitacre’s Lux Aurumque. The point is that wherever I am, and whatever is going on, I can stop, mark the moment, turn up the music, and sing, which expresses the deepest parts of my soul.
Music, Plato said, “gives a soul to the universe, wings to the mind, flight to the imagination and life to everything.” and Shakespeare said, “If music be the food of love, play on.”
And singing, or humming, or “making a joyful noise” as the psalmist says it, attaches our spirit to that creative and beautiful offering someone else has concocted. Even bear has figured that one out!
So I challenge you. Sometime today, put on your headphones — sorry, I’m dating myself, earbuds — and turn up whatever connects with your soul, and join in the singing, and direct your soul’s gratitude to od, sing songs to the tune of his glory.
“We hear the bird-song ringing a many throated laud: shall not our tongues be singing our praise to Father God? My soul, lift up God’s greatness, a hearty song employ, to him who wills to find us and bring us endless joy.” Covenant Hymnal, 646, v. 2
and my “Bear Inspired” verse, NOT hymnal worthy:
“I have a singing partner, and his name is bear, he teaches me to stop, and sing the music everywhere. There is no inhibition, he lets his yelping sing, with him I praise my Maker, Giver of everything!”
Love From Here!
Peter Hawkinson
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