Meditation for Music Sunday
‘Tis said “music has charms to soothe the savage breast”. And haven’t we felt that to be so over and over again? Not just lullabies or the most lyrical of etudes, either. Soulful blues, hard-driving rock, EDM, sailing, wailing folk, rollicking Zydeco–these, too, and more, soothe the savage breast. Because sometimes frayed or enraged nerves easily fall into alignment with gentle melodies and smooth rhythms. And sometimes the clangor of heavy beats and clashing chords and soaring harmonies reset frayed or enraged nerves, freeing the way to calm serenity.
‘Tis said,"If music be the food of love, play on." And we have known it to be so. Songs that bring back all but forgotten memories of long ago love. Songs that provide the soundtrack of budding romance. Songs that sung and played together strengthen loving bonds of friendship, community and common cause. But not just love. Music is the food of discovery and joy, justice and longing, heartbreak and reconciliation. Feeding our souls for the journeys of life, giving our spirits voice for the telling of our stories.
‘Tis said, "Music is the strongest form of magic." And oh, how we know it to be so! The score that surpasses all other aspects of a film, lifting it to sublime heights. The countless times tunes, ditties, airs, ballards, hymns have transformed days and nights from mundane to extraordinary, from gloomy to sun dappled. Tears flowing, limbs dancing, heads bobbing, fingers snapping, feet tapping, hearts mending–music casts its spell and we come alive.
And ‘tis said, "After silence, that which comes nearest to expressing the inexpressible is music." So it is we enter into silence, now, listening for the music of Creation sounding within our being, time kept by the beating of our heart, that that which we’ve never been able to expressed even to ourselves, might reveal itself unto us: a holy psalm at once a harmony in the song of the Universe and a melody uniquely ours. Amen (lmd)
