Difference between revisions of "Sermon for September 22nd, 2024"

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Psalm 150:1-6

1Praise the Lord! Praise God in his sanctuary; praise him in his mighty firmament! 2 Praise him for his mighty deeds; praise him according to his surpassing greatness! 3 Praise him with trumpet sound; praise him with lute and harp! 4 Praise him with tambourine and dance; praise him with strings and pipe! 5 Praise him with clanging cymbals; praise him with loud clashing cymbals! 6 Let everything that breathes praise the Lord! Praise the Lord!

Thessalonians 5:4-11

4 But you, brothers and sisters, are not in darkness, for that day to surprise you like a thief; 5 for you are all children of light and children of the day; we are not of the night or of darkness. 6 So, then, let us not fall asleep as others do, but let us keep awake and be sober, 7 for those who sleep sleep at night, and those who are drunk get drunk at night. 8 But since we belong to the day, let us be sober and put on the breastplate of faith and love and for a helmet the hope of salvation. 9 For God has destined us not for wrath but for obtaining salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ, 10 who died for us, so that whether we are awake or asleep we may live with him. 11 Therefore encourage one another and build up each other, as indeed you are doing.

Soli Deo Gloria: The Music & Message of Johann Sebastian Bach - Part I

Our scripture reading from Psalm 150 teaches us that we should praise God, not only with our words, but also with the trumpet, the lute and the harp, with the tambourine and strings, and pipes, even with loud clashing cymbals. In other words, music IS a way of speaking OTHER than with words. Music has a way of speaking directly to our hearts--it has the power to proclaim God's message and God's love, to teach and instruct us just as powerfully as any story in the bible. And in every age, God has gifted people with the skill and talent to speak to our hearts in exactly this way.

In 2019, the editors of BBC Music Magazine asked 174 of the world's best composers living today, who THEY thought was the greatest composer of all time. They asked them to choose on the basis of originality, impact, craftsmanship and enjoyability. When the votes were tallied, Johann Sebastian Bach was number one, ahead of Beethoven, Mozart, and composers from every era and every corner of the world. Bach is the musical composer that musical composers love best. And I find it fascinating (but not surprising!) that the greatest composer also happened to be one of the most devout and faithful Christians in that list--Albert Schweitzer once called Bach "the fifth evangelist" after Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. And of course, Bach signed most of his compositions with his personal motto: Soli Deo Gloria, which is Latin for "Glory to God alone."

Today's sermon approaches Bach from a very personal standpoint--my own, and how Bach's music and message has connected with me at some key points of my life. Next week, we're going to broaden that a bit, and look at how Bach's music and message has connected with all of us, culturally and historically. Finally, in the last sermon, we'll look at how Bach's music and message connects us with God, which I believe was Bach's greatest desire and ambition.

But today is my story, my connection with Bach, and as you heard earlier, it all started when I was five years old, with that new piano, and a melody stuck in my head.

• Minuet in G major

If the internet had existed back then, and if I had known how to look up that melody, back in the 1980's I would have learned that the piece was called Minuet in G major, composed by Johann Sebastian Bach. And eventually, without the internet, that is what I discovered, and what I believed for years... what in fact most musicians believed, until the 21st century, when it was correctly identified as a piece written by Bach's friend and contemporary, Christian Petzold. Bach had hand-copied the piece into a notebook of music intended for his wife, Ana Magdalena, and later editors of that notebook simply assumed that Bach had written it himself. When I learned this story (honestly, a few weeks ago preparing for this series) I was a little disappointed that my very first encounter with Bach wasn't really with Bach.

On the other hand, I'm pretty sure that piece would never have achieved the fame it has without Bach's name attached to it. So perhaps it's fair to say that the world was gifted a beautiful piece of music by Christian Petzold, thanks unintentionally to his famous friend, Johann Sebastian. And I think Bach would have appreciated that--because he actually did something similar (but intentionally) all the time. Some of Bach's most well-known compositions are actually adaptations of old Lutheran hymns that he loved, reworked, harmonized, and improved with intertwining melodies of his own.

The first time I heard the song we call in English "Jesu, Joy of Man's Desiring" I was a teenager sitting in the pews at St. Mark's United Methodist Church on a Sunday morning. At the time, I was way more interested in Van Halen, Bon Jovi, U2 and The Cure than I was in Johann Sebastian Bach. But as I listened, there was something captivating about this flowing, never-resting melody line, alternating with this slow, majestic swell of notes... and then at the end, they came together! I waited until after the service was over, and went up to the organist (his name was Craig Hoover) to ask if I could make a copy of the music so I could learn it. I wasn't that good at reading music (I was a drummer in band) and eventually got frustrated and just figured it out by ear, adding my own (incorrect) harmonies, and I've been playing it that way ever since. Probably in the wrong key, too. But as Vanessa plays it, listen for the two parts--the flowing, dancing melody line is Bach's, and the stately, drawn out notes are the old Lutheran hymn around which he built his version:

• Jesu, Joy of Man's Desiring

Bach was a church musician--for most of his life, he composed music to be performed in worship. Just like a preacher begins with a biblical text appropriate for the time of year in the church calendar and then elaborates on it, Bach would often begin with a biblical text appropriate for the time of year, and then start composing, elaborating, drawing in different musical themes to tell the story.

When he sat down to write Wachet auf, ruft uns die Stimme (in English: Wake up, the voice calls to us!) the text for the day was Thessalonians 5:4-11 (our second scripture reading today) and also the parable of the ten virgins in the gospel of Matthew. Here again, Bach drew on an old Lutheran hymn (that's the horn part in what you'll hear next) and wrapped it in a beautiful, flowing melody.

But when I hear this piece, I think of something entirely different, though deeply moving and spiritual, something that happened in a church just down the road from here on July 8th, 2000. On that day, I was standing at the front steps of the chancel area at First Baptist Church, with the Rev. Levi Price. The organist (Bruce Nehring, who for many years was the music director here at First Presbyterian Church) began to play Bach's cantata, "Sleepers Awake" on the organ, and Steve Haddad played the horn part on the euphonium, and my lovely bride, Amy, began to walk down the aisle to me. I was wide awake that day. And once again, there was Johann Sebastian Bach, introducing me to something beautiful, something divine, something far beyond words. Soli Deo Gloria. Glory to God alone.

• Wachet Auf (Sleepers Wake)