The Shaping of Our Hearts
A friend recently posted a cute story about her kids singing a hymn in the car on the way home from church, and she ended it by saying, “Hymns get the words into our souls, and let our souls out through our mouths.”
Hymns are a common language many of us share. There are the old, familiar tunes, and the familiar words of hymns we've been singing since childhood. They become a part of us, and shape us without us needing to be conscious of it. There's something about setting words to music that makes it more than the sum of its parts. There have been scientific studies that show physical benefits to singing with other people, and, as my friend pointed out, allows the words to burrow into our hearts and minds in a way that just saying the words or memorizing them doesn't. Martin Luther knew this, which is why he wrote so many hymns, some of which are very long by modern standards.
And it works in reverse, too. When we sing together, we are declaring that what we sing is true. Hymns can be a way, not just of grounding us, but also letting us express ourselves. There are seasons when it can be hard to find my own words to pray, and I often find myself turning to songs, to hymns and to contemporary music in those times. Hymns are something that can give us words when we just don't have any of our own.
Hymns and singing together can provide a comfort that is unlike the comfort we receive in other places. There are several hymns that are tied to specific memories or people for me, and even just seeing the title of those hymns while flipping through the hymnal bring them to mind for me.
My favorite hymn changes often, but it's usually "Gather Us In," by Marty Haugen, who wrote our beloved Holden Evening Prayer. I grew up singing it in church and I had to stop myself when planning hymns in my first congregation or we would have sung it at least once a month. It's a hymn for the beginning of the church service, calling all of us to come to God as we are-- young, old, able or disabled, because God meets us here. Along with a bouncy tune, the hymn reminds us that it is God who is at work when we gather together, and that God is present with us here and now, not in some theoretical time and place.
What hymns have shaped you? What songs feel like coming home when we sing them together? How have the songs you've sung burrowed into your heart?
May God continue to work within you, using the hymns and tunes that speak to us, inviting us into deeper relationship with God and with our neighbor. Amen.