THE PASCHAL MYSTERY: On New Year’s Day the baseball movie, Bull Durham, was playing on the television. I hadn’t seen the movie in years and enjoyed watching it, as if for the first time. There was a great scene midway through the movie on the team’s tour bus: the young star pitcher, named Nuke, was playing guitar and singing Try a little tenderness by Otis Reading. Nuke didn’t know the words and kept singing “woolly” instead of “weary” and “stress” instead of “dress”. He sang until the veteran catcher, Crash, snatched the guitar from him and said: “I hate people who get the words wrong. It ain’t woolly it’s weary and it nobody’s got stress, they’re wearing a dress...” What we say matters. A song sung with the wrong words looses much (or all) of its original meaning. I wonder if that is any different than singing a song and never once taking time to consider what the words of the song are saying. A tune, as great and familiar as one might be, is only part of a song when words are involved. For example, Handle’s Messiah is a great piece of music, but the point of that music is expressed in the words that are being sung. Without the words, the meaning is lost.
I’ve been paying more attention to the words of hymns lately. I wrote last month about some of the great Advent hymns. Over Christmastide, I noticed that most of Christmas hymns are not focused exclusively on Christmas. A number of them work better lyrically moving into Epiphany (for example The First Nowell and What Child is this both transition quickly from the manger to the magi), while others climax in a celebration of the Paschal Mystery:
Mild he lays his glory by, born that we no more may die, born to raise us from the earth, born to give us second birth. Risen with healing in his wings, light and life to all he brings, hail, the Sun of Righteousness! hail, the heaven-born Prince of Peace! (from Hark the herald angels sing)
God comes down that we may rise, lifted by him to the skies; Christ is born for us that we born again in him may be. (from Sing, O sing, this blessed morn)
Then let us all with one accord sing praises to our heavenly Lord; that hath made heaven and earth of nought, and with his blood our life hath bought. (from The first Nowell)
The church year is rich with symbolism. In the midst of that symbolism, every Christian celebration, including Christmas and Epiphany, finds its meaning in the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. Many of the hymn writers took great care to point singers and hearers of those hymns toward Easter. Every celebration of the Holy Eucharist culminates in the Paschal Mystery. The words of the Holy Eucharist are the words we worship with, but they can also inform us about the faith we share. I am convinced that Christians learn through worship. Every now and again I think that it’s important to recognize that fact and pay a bit more attention to some of the details.
A good new year’s resolution might be to sing the words of each hymn with special care to understanding what the words are saying. Another great resolution might be to pray and hear the words of the Holy Eucharist with a newly tuned ear. In addition, I highly recommend carving out time once a week this winter to learn about the Passion of Our Lord Jesus Christ. Information on the class I will be offering is in this month's newsletter.
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