Sing Aloud to God our Strength!

Psalm 119: 97-120 • Psalm 81, 82
Num. 11: 24-33 (34-35) • Rom. 1:28-2:11 • Matt. 18: 1-9

“Sing aloud to God our strength; shout for joy to the God of Jacob!
Raise a song, sound the timbrel,
The sweet lyre with the harp.” Psalm 81:1-2

Yesterday, just as we were closing out YouTube after Sunday’s Morning Prayers, I caught a glimpse of the song title “All Things Bright and Beautiful.” I opened it and was enjoying one of my favorite hymns, in John Rutter’s setting, when I began to recognize faces. “That’s Linda! That’s Jack! That’s David! Oh, my word, that’s our choir!” And indeed it was, and what a blessing it was to see their faces and hear their voices united in a beautiful chorus. Echoing today’s Psalm, they were singing aloud to God their strength in a time of division, “shouting for joy” to their Creator, as their voices joined virtually. As they closed, I wish they could have seen us smiling and waving back at them.

Their gift reminds me again of the importance of music in our religious life. In his book Real Presences, holder of professorships at Oxford, Harvard, and Cambridge universities, the literary critic, philosopher, and novelist George Steiner gives music as his best reason to believe in God. And I remember a friend once saying that doubts might creep in at times but never did he question the reality of God when he was listening to Handel’s Messiah.

To everyone who participates in St. Paul’s Virtual Choir, I say thank you, thank you. It is the next best thing to being together. And until we are, may we all continue to “sing aloud to God our strength,” letting our music bind us together in one great song of praise.

Written by Kay DuVal

Thanks be to God for the singers, instrumentalists, technicians, everyone at St. Paul’s who is working to bring us the gift of music in our isolation. God bless you and keep you.