Music is good for us and God

This past Sunday, we had the opportunity to enjoy the community ecumenical concert for the first time in about 10 years. It was the first one for me, and what a joy it was to experience the gift of music in Christian community!
Thankfully for everyone there, I was in the audience, enjoying the singing, and not ruining the concert for everyone else by trying to perform! I certainly enjoy music, but my best singing is in the shower, and I will keep it there as much as I can.
As Thanksgiving approaches, I have been examining my life for reasons to be thankful.
Music is one of those reasons. Psalm 81 is only one of many places that reminds us of the gift of music.
It begins: “Sing for joy to God our strength; shout aloud to the God of Jacob! Begin the music, strike the timbrel, play the melodious harp and lyre. Sound the ram’s horn!” (verses 1-3).
That sounds like quite a joyful celebration to me. One question we could ask ourselves is, does that sound like the music in my church? We have many ways to praise the Lord and give him thanks, and song is one of those.
We certainly appreciate good music like the music we heard Sunday afternoon, but do we experience that in our churches? And if we do not, what can we do to change that? Even if I can’t carry a tune, Psalm 110:1 encourages me, “Make a joyful noise to the LORD, all the earth!” So even if I struggle to stay on tune, my off tune noise can be used to praise God. John Wesley, the founder of Methodism, offered this advice for singing: “Sing lustily and with a good courage. Beware of singing as if you were half dead, or half asleep; but lift up your voice with strength.
Be no more afraid of your voice now, nor more ashamed of its being heard, than when you sung the songs of Satan.” The songs of Satan would have been any music that is not used in worship of God.
We should certainly sing as well for God as we do for something else!
In Psalm 81, many reasons are given as to why we should sing to the Lord in praise and thanksgiving. Verse 10 sums it up well: “I am the LORD your God, who brought you up out of Egypt.” In other words, God is saying, I brought you from slavery to freedom. I took you from nothing to something.

I found you in a low spot and put you on a high mountain. You were lost and I found you. Why should we sing to the Lord? Because we owe him everything. As the song we sing this time of year reminds us, “All good gifts around us are sent from heaven above; So thank the Lord, O thank the Lord for all his love.” Folks, we should not have to think that hard about how good God has been to us. If you struggle with that, here are some suggestions. When you go grocery shopping, remember that 34 million, including 9 million children, are food insecure.
That includes families and children in Perry County. When you put gas in your car and pay your bills, remember that over half a million are homeless, including people in Perry County.
When you look at your retirement and investments and worry about them, remember 13% of Americans live in poverty.
Music, besides being good to offer up to God, is beneficial to us as well.
A study suggests that some sounds, such as lullabies, may comfort premature babies and their parents, and even improve the infants’ sleeping and eating patterns, while decreasing the stress of their parents. 
Researchers studied 272 premature babies 32 weeks gestation or older in 11 mid-Atlantic NICUs.
They studied the effects of a lullaby selected and sung by the baby’s parents and of musical instruments that mimicked the sounds of the womb and the rhythm of a heartbeat.
The music therapy also lowered the parents’ stress
So the next time you feel stressed and overwhelmed and not at all thankful, turn to music!
Kevin Barron is the pastor of Perryville and Crossroads United Methodist churches. He can be reached by phone at 573-547-5200 or via email at kdbarron@gmail.com.