Lent Day 15: Thankful for meltdowns

The music flowed over me, harmonies splashing, melodies soaring, and rhythms relaxing in one worship song after another. It was time. Maybe past time.

Once in a while I have a meltdown. Winters are very hard on me: the lack of sun and time outdoors gradually shuts down my systems. This morning, after working in rooms away from my sun-simulator lamp for 2 weeks, everything collapsed. So I staggered over to piano and sat down, eyes closed and hands ready.

One after another, choruses and hymns of praise and thankfulness began to wash off the weariness of study, the darkness and grey climate, and the puttering that fritters away hours of depression. After a half hour, I opened my eyes and wiped away the tears. Renewed. I walked upstairs to my office and flipped on the lights (besides a south window, I have 5 overhead bulbs and a super-Verilux sun lamp). I opened my computer and started the day's work with a lighter heart.

Sometimes God needs us to come close, to relinquish the ideas and hopes of days past and future to wait near in his presence. As we open our hands and hearts in worship, he refreshes us from the inside out.

Jesus stole away for hours with his Father. As I worship, I remember, "Even in this, O Christ, you are a model of life and Life." Thanks be to God.

Do you need time with your heavenly Father today? What gifts can you offer him, that will refresh you and glorify him?

Read more:

*Praise be to the LORD, for he has heard my cry for mercy. The LORD is my strength and my shield; my heart trusts in him, and I am helped. My heart leaps for joy and I will give thanks to him in song. Psalm 28: 6-7 NIV

*My words that I have put in your mouth shall not depart out of your mouth, or out of the mouths of your children, or out of the mouths of your children's children. Isaiah 59:21

*The word of the Lord endures forever. That word is the good news that was announced to you. 1 Peter 1:25

Moravian Prayer: We give thanks to you, gracious God, for the gift of Christ - your communication of who you are and what you want us to be. We have experienced your good news and we are determined to pass it on to future generations through our words and actions. Guide us in this endeavor. Amen.

Praise the everlasting King!

Culture inundates us with sounds, sights, textures, tastes, smells. Western noise floods every sense with diversions that keep us from meditating on God and his ways. I suggested to a young friend that hymns might help soothe him when he has trouble sleeping.

"Don't think so! I hate hymns," he replied. "They drive me crazy, like a busy Bach piece or random jazz. There's too much going on." Many people without a background in traditional Protestant churches or classical music would agree.

When W and I lived in Cambridge, UK, we enjoyed Evensong at the various colleges. On debate trips to the UK, students and I attend Evensong sung by one of the exceptional university choirs of Oxford or Cambridge as a cultural experience. Students and I sit with other tourists near the choir and reader, on hard benches facing the center aisle in cold, dark chapels. The music washes over us. Old and New Testament readings pour into the shadows between songs. Responsive readings from the Book of Common Prayer echo against stone walls. The discomfort of non-religious or world religious adherents is obvious:  the Word, prayers, and music direct attention without apology to the living God and his expectations. I am always astonished at the indifference of the singers as they pour the tones into the air. They pass along Living Water without sipping it or drinking deeply themselves.

The music and lyrics of Evensong, written to glorify God, have been sung for decades or centuries, reminding us of God's faithful provision and constancy. I love the thick growls of the pipe organ that buzz and rumble through soles to scalp. The occasional bleat of an oboe or keening cry of the trumpet accompaniment gives me goose-bumps. The pure voices of young boys soar into the rafters, their innocent clarity and white choir robes denying sneaky shoves in the foyer before the preteens marched into the chapel. 

I hope my young friend engages in worship within his own culture. My prayer is that he seeks out meaningful words, melodies, rhythms, and harmonies written by his peers, opening his heart to be drawn into God's presence. 

Anyone desperate for well-sung, beautifully written hymns can enjoy old and new favorites online. UCB Media plays hymns at 7-9am Sundays (Greenwich time), and streams British and American "inspirational" worship music without commercials the rest of the week. (Another option is saturation in scripture as it's read aloud on UCB's "Bible" station.) 

Whatever else we do today, let's take time to praise the Everlasting King! 

Read more:
*Praise the LORD!
        
         Praise God in His sanctuary;
         Praise Him in His mighty firmament!
        
Praise Him for His mighty acts;
         Praise Him according to His excellent greatness!
        
Praise Him with the sound of the trumpet;
         Praise Him with the lute and harp!
Praise Him with the timbrel and dance;
         Praise Him with stringed instruments and flutes!
Praise Him with loud cymbals;
         Praise Him with clashing cymbals!
        
Let everything that has breath praise the LORD.
        
         Praise the LORD! (Psalm 150)