In Defence of 'Heavenly' Music

A Musician's Musings

by Larry Stracener

In Milton's Paradise Lost Lucifer, the fallen angel, was asked what he missed most about heaven. He replied instantly, "The sound of trumpets!"Indeed, Lucifer may just as well have answered, "All the music of heaven." Imagine never again to hear a symphony of angels, or the saints sing the anthem of the redeemed. Or cherubim praising the Most High, "Holy, Holy, Holy." And if there be such, the great fan- fare of heavenly trumpets.

I miss the sound of 'heavenly' music in my church. I confess that most all the Sunday music I hear these days sounds alike; a blur of what passes for melodies. Words, all of which could have been written by the same untalented poet, whose anonymous fingers have never traced the face of God nor heard the music of the spheres.

How I long to hear the 'heavenly familiar' again. The great organ roaring praise from its deep bass pipes, the blare of its trumpets, the sweetness of vox humana. Let me hear again those great hymns which have stood the test of time for the simple reason they are the genuine testimony of redeemed hearts and souls; the words and music of divinely-inspired praise. As such, their words and music are and will always be timeless.

I make haste to say I do not impugn the testimony of any song-writer, only the small talent it takes to write a monotonous four-note melody and a seven-word libretto repeated ad infinitum. If that be a common complaint repeated ad infinitum, so be it. It happens to be true.

And let none dare to compare today's monotonous musical offerings with the glorious refrain of hallelujahs in Handel's Messiah. The two do not deserve to be heard within the same airspace.

The music which leads us to worship must be as transformed as our minds:

We can no longer even risk conforming our music to the world's mindless raves to satisfy some misguided sense that people under thirty cannot be reached for God without employing a profane beat to the ' vain repetitions of the heathen.'

To think in terms of less than greatness in the music of the redeemed is to convict ourselves of moral laziness and a lack of talent and commitment to teach others what is holy in music and the Word. Too many churches are already afflicted with the lack of will to teach and preach holiness in either one.

We must never become guilty of a failure to teach all the great truths of God in our music just as we must teach them in Bible study and preach them from the pulpit.

In language both simple and lofty our great hymns reinforce in unique ways that God is:

Creator, Great and Powerful, Pure, Merciful and Triune. He is Gracious. Saving, Loving, Forgiving, Redeeming, Providential, and the Source of all Goodness.

These and hundreds of other themes in music are unforgettable. We remember them. We hum, sing and even recite them in our prayers, sermons and devotions. They are treasured, a part of our daily life. They teach, explain and inspire. They bring us 'closer to His bleeding side.'

Apart from Scripture itself, no other body of literature speaks to the heart like our hymns, provides such an incomparable musical heritage, or so ably embodies the tenets of our faith.

Let 'every voice and kind' be raised in heavenly praise!