I have heard it said that, "Religion is the opium of the people"(Karl Marx), but now more than ever, I'm convinced that it is not religion that opiates society, it is music.
If there is something everyone is so familiar with, something everyone loves, something that reveres and taunts both the old and the young, something that does not necessarily need a struggle to get along with; something sweet and comforting and memorable, something that gladly helps kill our sorrows and bury our pains, something that mediates the healing of our wounds and the clothing of our nakedness; something that echoes the un-echoed and verbs the unspoken, something that arouses feelings of peace and declarations of war, something that batters and scatters, while yet again, smothering and pampering; something that expresses our deepest fears and buries them altogether, that something should be music; yeah, it should be a song...
Who never sings a song? Who in the heavens and on earth never sings or loves a song? Who has no song to sing? Who is it that has no song they relate to? Who refuses a song its pious coddling upon their hearts? Who? Huh? I have not found one and there are not many, because even the absence of 'singing' is music in itself: the song of silence... ;)
Music is the art of the soul expressed in earth's most tangible and influential mode: words. The repetitiveness of a theme resounding in one's soul is what births a song, or in many cases, music. Music can be an impetus impeding or supporting the flow of emotion within someone. It is the best "psychological breather" so to say.
Sometimes music need not to be words. Sometimes it is just that sound of harmonious instruments bringing a melody that offers a stylized atmosphere. Sometimes it is just a moment - the stillness of a heart battling or rejoicing within itself...
I have a feeling that music, when endowed with the right words and atmosphere, has power beyond our natural understanding. I am sure that the combined influence of music to a given society has not been fully explored: it has not been fully known what a song can [absolutely] do to a soul, (but partially so, I will try to elaborate in this post) whether perishing or begetting life. It has not been fully understood, but allow me to somehow help you see it...
I am sure that if we were to anthropologically research on music and society, the outcome will be that, of all arts, music fits best, is the most influential and is the most adopted art in a society. Actually, almost every situation and/or season in life has a song attached to it regardless of the society one lives in: that is why Andrew Fletcher once said "Let me write the songs of a nation - I don't care who writes its laws..." That's how influential music can be - it defines a society... Maybe in my own small words I can say, "I will read through and sing the songs of a nation, then therein I will know the heart and mind of that nation..."
A good song or a reckless song forges a season and an atmosphere with it. There are songs of war, songs of peace, songs of celebration, songs of lamentation...
If one gets used to singing songs of lamentation, grief becomes his/her DAILY food; but if someone chooses to echo the songs of joy, joy will become their portion. If a young unmarried person loses himself/herself in songs of love, love will be stirred within them and uncontrolled passions may soon emerge. Happy songs CREATE moments of happiness and joy. If we sing songs about God and His faithfulness, Faith is built in us and we can start seeing Him as He really is and therefore make it easier to win our war against the enemy (Marvin Sapp in his song "Praise Him in Advance" says, 'Praise will confuse the enemy...'); but if we sing songs of despair and gloom, our hearts and minds will tend to move towards that direction. If we sing songs about clubbing, raping people (God forbid), fornication, adultery, drinking and such things, don't be deceived (and don't lie to us either): your mind will remain attached to and thinking about such things. Do not underestimate the power of a song.
We somehow have a lesser power when it comes to what we hum as determined by the kind of songs we listen to. Our subconscious creates rhythms within us that are transferred to our lips based on what we listen to. That is why when a worship leader tells me, "I can't remember any song to sing right now...!" I normally ask them, "What have you been singing from morning? What about what you've been singing the whole week long...!!??" Any music writer will tell you that above 70% of the music they write is influenced by the type and genre of music they listen to: to make music, you listen to music - unless you are super-creative... The best memorable songs carry the emotional turmoil or aptness of moments, telling stories the singer so dearly beholds to his/her audience; and when mixed with poetry, music (or songs) becomes a true definition of someone's (or a society's) inner being...
Side note (to the worship leader/song writer): We can't lead people to sing and love what we don't sing and love!!
There is a reason as to why I post a lot of what I listen to on social media. It is not all about boasting that I know quite a bunch of artists and the great songs they sing, but the storyline is this: I create my mood for the day by the kind of music I listen to from morning right into the night. That music keeps on replaying in my mind all day long hence mostly influencing my thinking (and behavior) in that day.
A song with a theme of thanksgiving for my morning makes me have spontaneous moments of thanksgiving all day long - mostly happening in my subconscious, and occasionally exploding into loud singing. People will tell you that I mumble rhythms a lot...
There is one thing that I want us to understand: listening to music that buries your heart in sorrow and other negative behavior has been known to bring about suicidal tendencies. This article (please click on the link to read) tries to illustrate how listening to heavy metal music contributed to several suicide cases in a certain people who listened to that music.
The words in a song (because words carry a force - a force that is the basis of them being used) have so much power upon our being that we should not neglect them. Illuminati feeds on our ignorance of the power that words in music have on our lives (read: thoughts, actions and behavior) and has left many people (mostly young) to think that "a song and words in a song are just like words in every other song..." That is not true. Words influence you depending on who is/was their source and the purpose for which they were intended...
I know that the greatest and deepest songs have not been sung yet. Heaven has its endless songs and the earth too has its songs. Be it as it may, music, unlike most of us have been made to believe, is not a lesser gift - whether in Heaven or on earth - because it is the only art that is eternal. Music will he sung in Heaven as well as in hell; so, as we all know, eternal things are not "minor" but "major".
In Christianity, music consolidates all other gifts. Music is a gift that has its portion and a part to play in ALL the other gifts of the Holy Spirit. Side note: Bear with me on this one because I don't have enough time to delve into that for now...
Music, song and poetry are revealed in the following verses of Scripture:-
1. Shouts and music by the Israelites brought down the walls of Jericho and gave them victory (Joshua 6:20).
2. The prophet Jeremiah (a renowned "man of grief") says this in Lamentations 5:14 [ESV]: "The old men have left the city gate, the young men their music..."
3. The Apostle Paul referred to music and poetry in many occasions:
(a) Acts 16:25-26 [ESV]: "About midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the prisoners were listening to them and suddenly there was a great earthquake, so that the foundations of the prison were shaken. And immediately all the doors were opened, and everyone's bonds were unfastened."
(b) Ephesians 5:19 [ESV]: "...addressing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody to the Lord with your heart..."
(c) Colossians 3:16 [ESV]: "Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, with thankfulness in your hearts to God."
(d) Hebrews 13:15 [ESV]: "Through him then let us continually offer up a sacrifice of praise to God, that is, the fruit of lips that acknowledge his name."
(e) Acts 17:28b [ESV]: "...as even some of your own poets have said, 'For we are indeed his offspring...'"
Although I don't have enough time to elaborate every moment as described by Scriptures above, we can all see that the Bible too is full of music and poetry. In fact, the Book of Psalms has the most memorable parts of Scripture (my own research) so highly beheld by both Christians and non-Christians and forms the central part of all Judeo-Christian faiths and worship. This means that music is as important to God as it is to man. He expects us to forge our lives around the right kind of music, and such that comes from deep within so that even if our mouths won't open to sing to Him or about Him, our lives can still be a song that is pleasant to Him - that which stirs Him up to action on behalf of His people, that which draws Him nearer to us:
John 4:23 [ESV]: "But the hour is coming, and is now here, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for the Father is seeking such people to worship him."
Have a musical day/night people! ;)
Bonface Morris.
No comments:
Post a Comment