Mothers’ Union Devotion for the Fourth Week in Lent 23rd March 2022

O come, let us sing to the Lord;
let us make a joyful noise to the rock of our salvation!
Let us come into his presence with thanksgiving;
let us make a joyful noise to him with songs of praise! Psalm 95. 1-2.

Music is a truly remarkable gift from God. A gift in that the laws of physics and biology come together such that a series of different wavelength sounds can produce pleasure to the listener. Also, a gift in that many people have the God-given talents to compose and play music so skilfully. Different cultures have developed different instruments, different musical styles, and different time signatures but in all cultures, music is an essential part of the human experience. Music has the power to take us back to previous occasions when we heard that sound, to transport us to another place and to marvel at the creativity in our world.

The greatest power of music, however, must be the way it transforms us. It transforms our mood. When we are feeling anxious it calm us. When we are feeling sad it lifts us. When we are feeling alone it fills the silence. We choose the music we listen to, based on our mood. There are times we want to feel the poignancy of melancholy pieces. There are times we want to be filled with triumphant sounds of overwhelming joy. There are times we want to sing along at the top of our voices and there are times we just want to listen curled up in an armchair in a darkened room.

Music is such an important part of our worshipping lives that I have found myself thinking, we have not had an Easter for two years, which is not true. We were in church last Easter, but we were unable to sing. So, the triumphant soul lifting music we associate with Easter Sunday was missing, making us feel that in some ways Easter did not happen. Music is often the spark which brings people to faith. It gets deep into the soul in a way that reading and listening to others speak, sometimes fails to do. We could all point to specific lines in hymns which really speak to us about our hopes for our relationship with our loving Lord. Such as those amazing words from Isaac Watts:

Were the whole realm of nature mine,

           that were an off’ring far too small;

           love so amazing, so divine,

           demands my soul, my life, my all.

What would you choose?

With all my love and prayers for a continuing Holy and Prayerful Lent.

Revd Sandra