Constant Contact - June 23
Today’s Readings: AM Psalm 97, 99, [100]; PM Psalm 94, [95]; Num. 16:20-35; Rom. 4:1-12; Matt. 19:23-30
My husband observed on one of my visits home from seminary last year, “I love how your music follows you around wherever you go.” It’s true, I love music and it is often with me playing from my phone in my pocket. I’m not a great singer, but I often sing anyway. And when it’s the right song in the right moment, I sing loud and proud. Music has a way of touching my soul that is beyond the lyrics alone. Music sets the tone, enhances a mood, or helps me express myself, and I usually select my playlist accordingly. Certain songs also remind me of a certain person, time, or place.
Some time back, I heard about the Avett Brothers and I became obsessed with their music when I discovered they were singing about the story of my life. There was one song, in particular, that helped me make peace with God and myself because I had been experiencing a spiritual awakening and reckoning with some bad choices I had made. I had been finding my way back to God. Not only finding my way back, but running back to God because of my need for God. I had thought I had things under control on my own, but in fact, I didn’t have life so great on my own after all. In embracing my dependence on God, I began feeling joy I hadn’t experienced in quite some time. This Avett Brothers song is called “All My Mistakes.” I’m pretty sure it’s a love song about a woman, but for me, it’s a love song about my relationship with God.
As time passed by, I noticed more songs that tell the story of my life and relationship with God. I began compiling a song list to tell my spiritual autobiography that includes a variety of songs from a variety of artists. Listening to the lyrics of songs usually keeps me connected to God in some way – be it through the lyrics, themselves, or through the emotions they evoke. Through music, I am in constant prayer.
Someone typed a comment during the service on Sunday that the music is as important as the preaching, and I don’t disagree with that statement. This is why music amplifies worship. The psalms are often chanted or sung as hymns that reflect our relationship with God through lament and petition, thanksgiving and praise. They reveal our absolute dependence on God. The laments are especially important because they help us re-establish our posture for praise.
I have enjoyed learning to chant the psalms and sing canticles during seminary. Before seminary, I had only ever prayed Morning Prayer a few random times and wasn’t aware of its significance. Psalm 95, aka, the Venite (Latin for “come!”, the first word of the poem) has become one of my grounding psalms because it has become such a familiar hymn of celebrating God through Morning Prayer. This is also one of the (optional) appointed psalms for today, so I was excited to remind myself of its significance. It is not unlike the Avett Brothers song that reminds me of my dependence upon and praise of the Lord. Perhaps this psalm is becoming more familiar to you also over the months of daily Morning Prayer we’ve been practicing together. What songs and psalms reflect your relationship with God?
-- Susan Oakes, Seminarian
Susan Oakes is a rising senior at the Seminary of the Southwest in Austin, Texas. This summer, she is serving as a seminarian intern at Saint Stephen's, her sponsoring parish for ordination.
Questions for Self-Reflection
What song or psalm connects with your spirit these days?
What is it about this song or psalm that attracts you most?
Daily Challenge
I invite you to listen carefully to the lyrics of this psalm and others to see what you notice through the words, the imagery evoked through metaphors, and other ways in which the heart and mind are addressed.