Listening for God’s Song

“Grateful for God’s loving action, we cannot keep from singing.”
(A Song of Faith)

I have always loved singing. I came from a family that enjoyed singing together—around the piano, on long car journeys, out in the sailboat, in the echoey caves at Ainsworth Hot Springs. I have been grateful for the opportunities to sing in choirs at church and in the community. And choral singing is one of the things I missed the most during these past two years. 

Gathering again with North Island Choral Society after a two-year hiatus was a deeply moving experience. During the last few weeks, as we have practiced the glorious music of Shubert and Vivaldi, the harmonies have restored my soul.

“Music,” said Leonard Bernstein, “can name the unnameable and communicate the unknowable.” Perhaps that is one of the reasons why the United Church’s most recent statement of faith is called “A Song of Faith.” In the preamble there is the following statement: “In as much as the Spirit is vast and wild, we recognize that our understanding of the Holy is always partial and limited.” In my own life music has helped me frame my experiences of the sacred, express joy and gratitude, and navigate times of bereavement and desolation. 

One of the books that I have been reading during my quiet morning times is titled “If God is…a poetic search for God within” by Warren Molton. Each reading begins with poetry and a few days ago the poem opened with the line, “If God is somehow my song…” and ended with the line, “I must keep wrestling with the Word if I am to find my words, and listening for God’s song if I am to sing.”

I hope that in these days of new beginnings in nature set against the backdrop continuing tension and violence around the globe we can find ways to nourish our souls, to listen for God’s song, and to sing God’s song into the world.