My congregations have Easter worship at the outdoor Cathedral of the Pines in Rindge, NH. I was so excited that Easter is so late, imagining a beautiful, warm, spring day.

We had sun!

And 47ºF!!! Gloves, and hats, long johns? Christ is Risen Indeed!

Praise God with Music

Christ has risen. Risen Indeed! Alleluia. We read Psalm 150 on the second Sunday of Easter, all that praising of God with all the different instruments. All the singing!

With the good news that Christ has risen comes the hard work of creating the church. And I often forget this, but this hard work is done under the oppressive rule of the Roman Empire. People’s lives are not suddenly made better by the resurrection.

And still the community feels that all is well.

I don’t think this is the naive, cheery, face hope that says that everything will be alright without any evidence. I think this is instead, the realization that nothing - not even death - can separate us from God’s care. God is present no matter how hard the world gets to be.

The difficulty, when times are hard, is how to remember that God is present.

One way to remember God’s eternal presence, caring spirit, comforting words, loving fullness, is to sing about it. And so we have the psalmist with trumpet, lute, harp, tambourine, strings, pipe, and clashing symbols. We have the promise that everything that breathes praises God.

The Poor People’s Campaign includes music as essential to their gatherings. The organization Music Makes Community teaches us how sing community into being. On Sundays we have organs, piano, drums, and guitar.

No matter what is happening around us, we must sing out to praise God, to hold up our neighbor, and to drown out the sounds of hate and fear.

Praise the Lord! Praise God in their sanctuary, praise them in their mighty firmament!

Are you finding space to praise God? Are you feeling God's presence? Reply to this email to let me know what's happening. ​
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Amy Grant has many songs I love. This song and video suggests that sometimes we praise God by caring for others.

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For new ways to do music in your congregation, try out the trainings provided by Music that Makes Community. It's not a rock band, and not four part hymns, but is music that pulls everyone into to creating new sounds.

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