Pastors' Weekly Message: From Pastor Pat

The late theologian James Cone described the spiritual as “the community in rhythm, swinging to the movement of life.” (1)
 
The spiritual as music was the means of messaging used to communicate information undetected; the balm of hope soothing the distraught and discouraged soul. The soulful sound of how people have moved through life. And while not all music is spiritual, in this cultural context the various genres of music have indeed captured the syncopated movement of God’s hued people through life.

Webster defines music as “the art and science of combining vocal and instrumental tones in harmony and rhythm... to form a complete and expressive composition.” (2)

From the soulful lament of Billie Holiday’s “Strange Fruit,” the melodious imploring of The Temptations' “Ball of Confusion,” the painful lament of Marvin Gaye’s “What’s Goin On,” Tupac’s “I Wonder If Heaven’s Got a Ghetto,” to John Legend and Common’s “Glory,” music has been the voice of the undervalued and the victory of the undeterred. Music is the sound of the soul’s expression that words without music cannot communicate.

Psalm 40 verse three reminds us that music is the sound of hope, set to life’s rhythm appropriate for all time. Reaping the liberation of deliverance, the manifestation of answered prayer, the psalmist introduces a new verse to his life’s song.

He put a new song in my mouth,
  a song of praise to our God.

As we continue our journey through life, may we listen for and to the sounds of the soul of man expressed through the melodious messages of every genre and generation, each singing the song of God’s people in the strange land of their habitation in that time. 

-- Pastor Pat 
pallen@stpaulsk.org

(1) Guenther, Eileen. In Their Own Words. Morning Star Music Publishers, Inc., 2016. p39.
(2) Webster’s’ New World College Dictionary. Wiley Publishing, Inc, 2004. p950.