HARMONY
January 12, 2014
QUESTION of the WEEK: How has your life been positively impacted by differences of
language or culture?
As most of you are aware, we are in the second week of our sermon series “7 Words to
Change Your Life.” For these seven weeks, we are preaching on a different word each week
that could change your life. And as part of this series we are offering you the challenge to
discover your OWN WORD, and focus on that one WORD for the YEAR. The concept is an
alternative to making a list of New Years Resolutions this year.
Last week Pastor Joe gave a homework assignment, and for extra credit, he suggested a few
books to read. The assignment was to begin discerning what ONE WORD will be your word.
(Last week - 1/5)
1) Find some quiet time to pray
2) Brainstorm a list
3) Pray some more
4) Narrow the list to 10 (max)
This week (1/12), your MISSION, should you choose to accept it, is
1) Write a DEFINITION of what those ten words mean to you
2) Look those words up in the Bible - maybe using biblegateway.com or just Google
3) Continue to PRAY
Next week - 1/19
Pray again and choose your word from the list
What One Word can Change YOUR Life?
It's not easy to choose ONE, is it.
When we were inspired to do this series, the first word that popped into my head was “IF” - in
thinking about changing a life, the word “IF” is one of those transformational, life changing
words. If this happens, then that will be the result... If only this instead of that...
But I knew that wasn't it... So I kept listening...
The second word to come to mind was BREATHE – except I'd already done a lot of thinking,
meditating and speaking about BREATH at different times of my ministry....
So I continued to listen... Listen for an even greater life-changing word; a word that
would speak to not only me, but all of us.
And what is the word that I believe can change my life, or your life, or the lives of
everyone around the world? HARMONY!
I know what you're probably thinking. The first thing that comes to mind as you think of
HARMONY is MUSIC. Music is a universal language, but I'm not just referring to the harmony
found within music.
Even those who consider themselves musically challenged can have life changed by
HARMONY!
So lets spend some time thinking about HARMONY within our individual lives and our
church, among our human community and all of God's creation, and especially HARMONY
with God.
I don't consider myself especially musically talented, although I absolutely love it,
appreciate it, have done my fair share of it, and grew up with music as an integral part of my
life. My love of music was greatly influenced by my mom because she loved music. She
played the piano, show tunes and hymns mostly; and always with a bit of a waltz tempo.
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And Mom loved to sing. But my mom frequently didn't sing the melody.
Her sister was definitely a soprano and always sang the melody when the family was
gathered around the piano. I don't know whether my mom was considered a second soprano
or an alto, but she was always harmonizing.
I think a lot of times she just made up her own harmony. She HARMONIZED with
everything from Happy Birthday to every Hymn she knew. As far as I knew, harmony was as
much a part of music as the melody.
My ear often zones in on one of the sections when I listen to the choir because of my
mother. I suspect the bells, the vocal choirs, the awesome No Excuses band that grace our
church also helped inspire my choosing the word HARMONY for today's message.
I did a little bit of investigating to discover how harmony fits into a musical composition.
Those of you who are actually musicians, please forgive my basic explanation. When most of
us sing, whether it be singing a hymn here in church or singing along with a favorite song, we
usually sing the melody – the primary tune. But a musical composition is made up of rhythm
and chords that accompany the melody and make it into a song. Those CHORDS are what
create the blended harmony of a piece of music.
Apparently, for something to be classified as “Harmony” more than one note or pitch
must occur at the same time, but they don't necessarily have to be “harmonious.” Some music
is composed so the notes are particularly DISSONANT rather than harmonious. The music of
various cultures may sound more or less “harmonious” to us. Have you listened to traditional
music from India, or China, or Korea? Very different from what we're used to.
That's an important concept to keep in mind as we unpack the word HARMONY as a
word that can change our lives.
How many of you remember that song from about 30 years ago that started as a
commercial for Coca Cola: “I'd Like to Teach the World to Sing, In Perfect Harmony”?
That commercial that says “I'd Like to Buy the World a Coke” reappears periodically not just in
the US but around the world because it captures the imagination of millions of people –
Wouldn't it be transformational if the entire world was in HARMONY? Unified and United in
our actions, in our concerns, in our focus on what is important to the whole world.
Nirvana. Heaven on Earth. God's Kingdom realized.
Harmony IS a type of Unity, but Unity isn't necessarily Harmony!
HARMONY is so much more than a musical concept! The HARMONY I'm referring to as life
changing is different PEOPLE and different IDEAS occurring simultaneously, in the same way
that musical pitches occur at the same time in chords.
Let me use today's scripture reading to explain what I mean.
In the book of Genesis, there are many inspired stories that helped the first Hebrew
people understand their creation and their very human characteristics. Living in Harmony
with God and with all of Creation has it's roots in these earliest traditions. In Genesis, we
hear of God's creation being formed out of chaos and confusion, and all parts of Creation
were in HARMONY.
But almost immediately, humanity became unbalanced, discordant and OUT of
HARMONY. Chaos and confusion returned. People began to blame one another, mistreat
one another, lie to one another and above all become separated from God.
That is a primary understanding of SIN.
To become separated from God.
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And being separated from God is the total opposite of HARMONY!
We should remember that by the time the book of Genesis was written, the world as
they knew it already had multiple ethnic groups competing for power as well as multiple
languages. One of the ways the people understood the creation of diversity was through the
lineage of Noah. The story of Noah, the flood and his family, immediately precedes the story
of Babel that we just heard.
Noah is the image of a faithful and righteous man, who acts in HARMONY with God,
right?
Another tradition that explains the variety of languages and peoples is this account of
the City of Babel, but it is very different from the story of Noah. The people of Babel were in
UNITY with one another, but they were a far cry from being in HARMONY with God. In fact
the people of Babel weren't even in CONVERSATION with God, as, God and Noah were.
The people of Babel talked among themselves. As it says in verse 3 “THEY SAID TO
ONE ANOTHER, let's make bricks.” And then in verse 4, “They said, “Let's build
OURSELVES as city with a TOWER.” “And let's protect ourselves.”
There is no thought about God in this passage.
It's all about self-preservation.
In this account of these early people, they are depicted as EGO-CENTRIC and
IMMATURE. The people of Babel were only concerned with themselves.
UNITY can be a positive attribute, but as we see from this example, it can be a
negative when it separates us from the type of life God would have us live and that Jesus
taught us, by example.
In the earliest understandings of the people of God, in the Creation stories of Genesis,
there is a single language as all people came from a single source.
As they multiplied, they probably became fearful of how things were changing.
Fear of change, fear of something different is a condition follows humanity throughout the
centuries, especially for those who are not in a relationship with God.
Harmony continues to be elusive. Look around us.
As people see changes in our current world with population growth and diversity, what
happens? We don't want to listen to statistics about food production, about climate, about
human consumption and responsibility and changes. People hunker down, and protect what
they value.
Human beings tend to become united around the idea of self-preservation, which is exactly
what happened in the city of Babel. …...........
Throughout scripture, Old and New Testament, that pattern repeats itself. The first
disciples of Jesus did the same thing – after Jesus was crucified, they hunkered down in the
Upper Room, afraid of change, afraid of the powerful, leaving Jerusalem to return to their
homes where they felt safe and were with people like them.
Even as the new Christian community grew, they continued to struggle with how to be
united in their understanding and teaching of Jesus, but more importantly working through
how to be in harmony with God.
Sometimes we think about the event of those original disciples at Pentecost event
described in the Book of Acts as the resolution of the CONFUSION of BABEL. Do you recall
the story about the first Pentecost, what we often call the Birthday of the Church?
There were people saying the disciples must be drunk because they were all speaking
in different languages.
Do you remember the people being amazed to hear about God and God's powerful and
amazing deeds, all in their OWN language? The confusion of languages described in the City
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of Babel as God's punishment was no longer an obstacle to their HARMONY with God.
They all were able to hear the single Gospel Message in their own language. This
empowered the Christian Community to fulfill the commandment of Jesus to go into all the
world and make disciples.
But even in that earliest beginning time of Christianity, were they living in HARMONY?
With God or even with one another? Not really!! Many of the challenges that faced the first
Christians continue to plague us today.
True HARMONY means everyone has a voice, everyone is equally valued and of great
importance to the HARMONY of the WHOLE.
Striving for HARMONY is the heart of the Biblical message.
But it is challenged by the force of the EGO and self-preservation that destroyed the city of
Babel.
To see another image of harmony, let's go back to the musical realm.
I recently was listening to an interview on NPR with a Violin Virtuoso named Michael
Ludwig. He was being interviewed in conjunction with conducting the Lands Downe
Symphony Orchestra.
As I looked into his background, his roots are in the general Philadelphia area and his
father was also a well-known musician, so some of you may be more well acquainted with
him than I. But I was impressed by something he said in this interview.
He talked about HARMONY as the goal of each musician, including the CONDUCTOR.
In his role as conductor, he believes that each musician is equally important, equally
professional and equally valued as part of the whole musical composition. The musicians
must be aware of each other, listen to one another. A performance isn't about any single one
of them, but it is about the value that ALL of them bring in order to create true HARMONY.
Musicians must be themselves, as individuals, in the midst of performing the
composition, while listening carefully to every other musician.
HARMONY is about AWARENESS and RESPECT.
Those of you who play bells or sing in the choir know exactly what I'm talking about, I'm
sure.
But this image is not just true for a choir or a symphony orchestra.
It's an image that is at the heart of living in PERFECT HARMONY!
The people of Babel were focused on themselves rather than on the part they had to
play within the whole of the known world.
The Hebrew people of the Old Testament, likewise tended to be inwardly focused. And
even the disciples of Jesus Christ followed this pattern, until God came to Peter and Paul and
others to help them understand the vision of God's world as people living in harmony with one
another AND with God!
As Christians today, we continue to struggle with what it means to live in harmony
among all of God's creation.
The reality of human existence is that challenges face us, and changes happen. Life
often seems off balance and discordant. Like the people of the City of Babel, we are prone to
focusing inward, on ourselves and our individual community, thinking about what is best for
us, possibly ignoring the effect it may have on others.
When there is a crisis in Medford, or Marlton, or Mt. Laurel, or when we think about the
disaster to home and property from Superstorm Sandy, what is our response? We rally our
resources, we gather together to help one another, which is a wonderful thing. But whatever
other crises or life situations happening in another part of the world are forgotten, or at least
temporarily put on a back burner.
It has to be that way, doesn't it? Survival means looking out for yourself, and your
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family and your immediate neighbors, those whom you have some affinity with.... But that's
meant to be a short-term situation.
To be in harmony we need to listen to the voices and the concerns of ALL who are in
the choir or the orchestra or the country, the world and yes, even the Universe. To really be in
harmony means to accept any imbalance or dis-HARMONY as TEMPORARY, as we open
our hearts and minds to God's guidance.
HARMONY calls us to always stay alert for the ways the Divine is working with us and
through us to RESTORE balance and harmony.
And how do we become aware of God in the midst of life? The best way that I know of
is PRAYER. Time and time again, throughout scripture and history, people who live in
harmony with God are those who have an active prayer life. There is no other way that I
know of to discern God's presence and God's will.
Whether we pray with words in the solitude of the morning or at the end of the day.
Whether we find our time with God as we walk in the woods, along the beach or on the
treadmill. Whether we listen for the voice of God through music, through preaching, or in
silence. God is there in prayer, waiting for us.
In the coming week, we suggest that you use prayer to discern the WORD God is
suggesting for you to focus on this year. We hope you'll accept the assignment of coming up
with a list of ten words, defining them and praying about them.
As we close this time of meditating on HARMONY, I want to share with you a form of
prayer that comes to us through the music of the TAIZE community.
Many of you are probably already familiar with these chant-like musical prayers. We are
going to sing one of the TAIZE prayer songs as we transition from our sermon to the
morning's offering.
The words and music can be found in the FAITH WE SING on page #2157 and also on
the screen. The words and the tune are simple, and I'm sure you will pick it up quickly if you
don't already know it.
The song is COME AND FILL OUR HEARTS, and the words are
“Come and fill our hearts with your peace, You alone O Lord are holy.
Come and fill our hearts with your peace, Alleluia.”
After we've sung through it once or twice, just close your eyes when you are
comfortable and continue to sing together.
I'm asking that we sing it through SIX TIMES, so that by the third or fourth time,
perhaps members of the choir and others of you in the congregation might start to sing in
HARMONY.
And perhaps as the words resonate throughout the room, one of them might become
more of a focus for you. If you prefer to hum rather than sing the words, that's ok too. Bruce
will play it through once before we begin to sing.
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