[AI translation] Let me first of all draw your attention to something that we don't usually keep track of, but which can be useful to remember. It is the fact that, according to the ancient Christian calendar, this is today's Sunday, the so-called Cantate Sunday, the second Sunday before Pentecost. "Cantate!" - Latin word meaning "Sing! So it is one of the words that appear particularly often in the Book of Psalms. "Sing to the Lord new songs..." - that's how the psalm I just read begins. On Cantate Sunday, according to a centuries-old custom, the attention of many Christian congregations throughout the world turns to singing, to the God-honouring singing of the believer in God and of the congregation. It is an issue that is relevant to us, as we practice it, if at no other time, in all our worship services. We sing. It is therefore worthwhile for us, on this Cantate Sunday, to address specifically the question of worship singing. It would be good now to really make ourselves aware of why we sing and why we sing.It is a simple fact of religious history that singing is one of the main forms of man's worship of God, and an ancient and eternal form. This is especially true in the Old and New Testament world. It would be almost impossible to count the number of verses in which the Spirit of God always exhorts the believer to sing, to praise the Lord with words, with music, with every musical instrument imaginable. Do you know, brethren, that the Old Testament believers sang the same psalms that we sing today? And the churches of the New Testament also sang many psalms. We know, for example, that Jesus and his disciples sang hymns of praise after the Last Supper, when they went out through the evening streets to the Mount of Olives. On the occasion of Jesus' entry on Palm Sunday, the whole of Jerusalem was filled with great jubilant psalm singing. The Apostle Paul and Silas sang psalms in the night silence of the Philippian prison. In the apostolic epistles there are several references to psalms, hymns, spiritual songs, and songs of thanksgiving to the Lord, precisely in connection with the worship of the church. No wonder, then, that from the very beginning of Christian worship, singing has always had a significant place in it, so let me say that it has become an essential part of our worship. And one in which the members of the congregation actively participate. Our worship services are now in danger of being reduced to passive silence, with the members of the congregation participating as spectators and listeners, doing nothing more than sitting and listening, then getting up and leaving, with the person leading the service, the pastor, doing everything for them. Now, then, it is precisely the singing that is the component of worship when you too move from passivity to activity, because singing means that every soul prays itself. Of course, in order that this loud praying of many people does not become a mumbling, the verse and the melody and the beat bring together the prayers that are said individually, so that the whole congregation can praise God with one heart and one soul!
Brethren, these are very simple things that I want to emphasize very seriously now, because they are not as obvious as they seem. That is to say, to take really seriously for once that singing here in the church is an integral part of the whole worship service. So let us not allow it to become an empty formality, let us not regard singing as a necessary, stop-gap element that is only there to begin and end the service with something. For many people see singing as just that, do not consider it important to participate in singing, for example, and do not sing, except when they have something very dear to sing. They do not consider it an omission if they arrive late for the service, when the congregation's singing is already finished, they just make sure that they do not miss anything from the sermon; they talk, look around, greet each other while they sing. So no attention is paid to it, as if it were all there to cover the noise of the slow silence of the many people with the sounds of the hymn and organ. Now then, let us note this first of all: singing is not a garnish to worship, but a part, an element, just like prayer and preaching. Indeed, I could imagine a service - at least occasionally - in which the only element would be the singing of the congregation, the whole consisting of the singing of one psalm or hymn after another by the faithful, in a form somewhat like that which the Apostle Paul writes here in the passage we have read: "Sing to one another psalms and hymns and spiritual songs; sing and praise the Lord in your hearts."
Music, singing, is generally a very appropriate way of expressing worship to God. The glory of God is reflected and echoed unceasingly not only in the faith of the believer in Him, but also in the whole universe. This vast universe, of which we are but a small part, is not a creature condemned to silence, but one that lives and makes its voice heard with joy. Not only is it true in a symbolic, poetic image, but it is the reality expressed in Psalm 19 when it says: "The heavens speak the glory of God, and the firmament proclaims the work of his hands. The sun speaks words to the sun, and night gives a report to the night." There is not a word, nor a speech, whose voice is not heard, "Their word is over all the earth, and to the ends of the world is their saying. He maketh a tabernacle for the sun in it." From this speech of the created universe, the psalmist hears a flood of voices praising God. And haven't you ever felt, for example, that from the rippling of the waves of Lake Balaton, or the mysterious evening rustle of a poplar tree, or the poignant splendour of the spring flower-blossoming now, your soul seems to hear that innermost harmony of creation in which the eternal glory of God echoes? An old Greek thinker once said that every star in the universe is a voice, and that these voices merge into a melody and harmony of ineffable beauty, a celestial music that only purified souls can enjoy. It is this sublime work of the created universe that the greatest artists have sometimes heard and expressed a melody of it in their immortal works, even for everyday people.
And beyond the visible world of the created universe there is also an invisible world, the happy, eternal realm of higher spiritual beings and glorified souls, the heavenly world of God. There, too, the song is sung! Whenever the Bible speaks of this heavenly world, which is unimaginable to us, it always uses singing, harps and trumpets to convey the beauty and joy of it. To this idea of the inexpressible glory of heaven, the Scriptures always add the eternal hymnody of the heavenly hosts, the majestic music of the heavenly hosts praising God. Even so, of course, we cannot imagine that heaven is not an eternity of deathly silence. It is interesting that the Bible, in speaking of hell, of damnation, never mentions that there is singing, never the sound of song and music, only weeping and gnashing of teeth - but heaven is full of singing!
And now imagine that into this vast flood of earthly and heavenly sounds praising God is merged the sound of our psalm-singing, the singing of the congregation. That is why singing is such a powerful spiritual instrument. Help in all situations! When one sings from the heart, it is like breathing in the air of heaven. There is almost a mysterious power that flows through you when you really sing. Try singing a joyful psalm out loud when you are surprised by sadness! You will see what a wonderful medicine it is! By singing a suitable hymn of praise, one finds comfort in bitterness, thanksgiving in joy, strength and confidence in suffering, help in temptation, grace and forgiveness in repentance. A song from the heart is almost miraculous. If we have never seen such a thing, we know that there are snake charmers who use musical instruments to charm an otherwise deadly snake so that it forgets to harm and sways harmlessly to the music. In the Bible, the serpent is a symbol of evil. In this metaphorical sense it is also true: evil becomes harmless to the song of praise to God. He flees from it! Where there is real singing, Satan is not comfortable. When a family sings psalms in the evening, the room fills with angels! Try really pouring your heart into a beautiful song, and you will see the pain quieted, the fear and anxiety gone, the repentance dissolved in the grace of forgiveness, the joy and gratitude overflowing. Calvin is right when he says that singing is a healing power in temptation and trouble, a preventive remedy against sin and unbelief, a means of sanctification. Let no one, therefore, be excluded from it because he feels that he cannot sing, that he has no good voice or hearing, that God has a different taste in this respect from ours. If someone wants to sing in such a way that others can enjoy it, it is very likely that God will not like it. Yes! We could and should make much better use of the precious opportunities given to us in singing. Cantate! Sing new songs to the Lord! "Sing to one another psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs; sing and praise the Lord in your hearts."
Twice in our basic hymn we find the word praise, the saying of praise to God. What is it? What does it mean to praise God? It would be good to make ourselves aware of this for once. Well, praising God is also done in singing. "I praise you with all my heart, my God, I praise your name", sings the congregation, and in doing so, it is as if it is joining in the harmony of the whole universe praising God. Praise is a form like thanksgiving, but more than that. The basic meaning of both is the same, i.e. that one raises one's gaze from the gift received to the giver, to God. In thanksgiving, we thank God for what we have received, and in praise, our souls admire the greatness and depth of divine action. He delights in God! I can give thanks for the daily bread that comes to my table, but I give praise to the One who makes bread from the grain of wheat and the sand. I give thanks for the sunshine that pours into my room, but I praise the Creator of the order of the universe. I am grateful for the forgiveness I receive, but I praise God, who thought out the tremendous plan of redemption and carried it out in the atoning sacrifice of Jesus. Just to give thanks sets me free and happy, but it is in the giving of praise that its power is truly felt. In praise, I am almost directly in front of God, and that is what is important, that is what we need: to be with God, to experience his presence. It is not a nice thought that helps us, not a clever speech that comforts us, encourages us and gives us strength, but the wonder of God, of being with Him, of experiencing His presence with a shudder. And this is what happens in the eulogy.
And finally something else: Our Word also draws attention to another important role of singing when it says: "Speaking one to another" - that is, when we sing, we also serve one another. Singing can be a very particular form of communion, not only of prayer but also of preaching, a service of the congregation itself to teach and admonish one another, so that all members may be edified by one another's faith. When a congregation sings, for example, "The Lord is my shepherd, my keeper", it is proclaiming the Word. In our singing, the word of God itself, the Word, resounds, and so we also teach, admonish and build one another up through it. Our singing can be used by the Holy Spirit of God to proclaim the message of Christ just as much as preaching. I know someone for whom the miracle of salvation and the way to receive it became clear when he sang with the congregation, "As I am, under many sins, but hearing your voice calling, receive me, Jesus." - Surely we have had many experiences like this, where the sermon doesn't say much in a worship service, but a song makes up for any gaps! I will never forget the feeling that crossed my soul at my father's funeral in the Kecskemét cemetery, when the coffin was lowered into the grave and the hymn was sung: "I no longer fear to look down on the grave, for I see by the example of Jesus what the dust of the dead can be". I don't even remember the text of the sermon that was sung, but I remember very well the affirming effect, the happy, triumphant feeling, despite the tears, that this song had, and it still warms my heart! Yes: our singing, along with the other components of worship, can also serve to build up the whole congregation.
Cantate! Sing! How good it is that we can sing! How we can converse with one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and praising the Lord in our hearts!
So let us sing right now:
"All my heart praise Thee
My God, I proclaim your name.
I praise you above gods
I praise thee above all, for thou deservest it.
And in your holy church
I worship your name,
I am ready for your blessing,
I give thanks to you, my God"
(Canto 138, verse 1)
Date: 12 May 1963.