The Giver of song If not for music, how could we communicate as disciples, as Christians, as lovers of our Lord? Words alone fail utterly to express the anguish, passion, union, and joy that is our lot. Our worship, our praise, is given form, texture, color, and life by the music that weaves in and around it. Our liturgy is whole only when music is an integral part, not adding to our common prayer nor completing it but rather forming its essence, permeating its very root. In our sung prayer, we find communion with each other and with all who have sung before, bound together with the Holy Spirit. “God has bestowed upon his people the gift of song. God dwells within each human person, in the place where music takes its source. Indeed, God, the giver of song, is present whenever his people sing his praises” (Sing to the Lord: Music in Divine Worship, 1 [USCCB, 2007]). This issue of ML features music and music ministry. As a focus, we reflect on Fred Pratt Green’s hymn, “When in Our Music God Is Glorified.” James Savage shares his experience of the journey from pride to praise as he considers the text “when adoration leaves no room for pride.” Michael R. Prendergast reflects on the third verse as a testimony of how the church has been a healing force in the world, called now to heal the wounds within. Taking the text “And may God give us faith to sing always” as a personal challenge, Paige Byrne Shortal describes her method for building choir community. Joe Paprocki certainly finds a new dimension in the world of sound as he proposes a method for the use of hymnody as a catechetical tool. The music that animates our worship is (or should be) deliberate. It is to be prepared with care and attended to with sensitivity. Every one of us is called to support or sustain that music and to connect all else that we do to it. “Every sound in worship is, at its root, musical. The tunefulness of worship, therefore, is not confined to the sounding of instruments or to the vocalization of choirs or other musical specialists. Liturgy is to be tuneful in every human sound, including speech” (Milwaukee Symposia for Church Musicians [1992]). We are graced with an abundance of music from a variety of traditions, languages, and cultures, though we must use some wisdom. “Let the words of our hymns be worth singing. Inspired by the metaphors in the psalter, let our hymnals be treasure chests overflowing with such multi-faceted jewels that it is difficult to choose between the diamond and the opal. An excellent hymn, like a great poem, wants to be memorized. You sing it at the liturgy and are delighted, perhaps even astounded and you sing it over and over that week until you know its words by heart. You want to join in singing the words, for the words themselves sing” (Gail Ramshaw, Words That Sing). We have music that reflects the full spectrum of human emotion, perhaps none so clearly as the psalms, in so many interpretive settings. They are a connection to both our history and future, from fall to salvation. They can be for us a source of strength and courage when all around us seems to be lost. When we sing our prayer, the words take root in our hearts in a way not easily lost. When we need those words, that song, in time of trouble, it will spring readily to our lips. When our own words are lost, the Giver of song will give these a voice—even in the face of the greatest darkness the world has ever known. And did not Jesus sing a psalm that night when utmost evil strove against the Light? Then let us sing for whom he won the fight. Alleluia! ML Banner corrections The Cathedral banner pictures for last month’s cover and feature titled ”Pixels, paint, and print” have stretched side borders. You can view more accurate pictures at www.nancychinn.com; follow the link to the National Cathedral. Additionally, the captions for the banners and the church seasons were written under the direction of the Rev. Canon Carol L. Wade, Precentor of the Washington National Cathedral, as published in A Banner Year: A Visual Path Through the Seasons of the Church at Washington National Cathedral. For more information on the banners and the banner booklet, visit www.nationalcathedral.org. SUBSCRIBE NOW! What do YOU Think? Send an e-mail to ML Editor or post an entry on the ML Current Issue Discussion Board. (All submissions become the property of RPI and may be edited for length.)