Sing over me

Another look at Ephesians 5:18-19, with Kevin Antlitz

Ephesians 5:18-19 Don’t be drunk with wine, because that will ruin your life. Instead, be filled with the Holy Spirit, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs among yourselves, and making music to the Lord in your heart.

Zephaniah 3:17 The Lord your God is with you, the Mighty Warrior who saves. He will take great delight in you; in his love he will no longer rebuke you, but will rejoice over you with singing.

Life has been crazy. I simply haven’t kept up with everything, including this blog. The last time I posted was April 29, with a poem written by our daughter Rachel after the shocking death of our son’s best friend, Silas. Rachel’s poem witnesses our uneasy relationship with time, a struggle not one of us can escape.

Today’s post will be a bit longer than usual for me, but I hope you’ll take a couple of extra minutes to read it all.

Marsha’s roses

Ironically, traveling yesterday from Pittsburgh to Meridian, Idaho has given me a sort of reprieve—a chance to walk into a slower rhythm, a slow dance with time, if you will. I came to visit my sister Marsha, who lives in a different reality than I do. Delightfully, Alzheimer’s has not robbed her of music and praise. She seldom speaks. But she often sings! Her lovely voice captures a range of emotions, often acknowledging the tender care offered by her husband Vance. “He does all the things, alleluia!” she sings, gazing lovingly at him.

Yesterday Marsha surprised me by singing over me. I didn’t expect her to recognize me. But at one point she looked at me and sang, “My mother and my sister, alleluia!” Somehow, she seems to know I’m her sister and blessed me with her love.

It’s such a precious thing to witness Marsha’s repeated alleluias. There is so much she can no longer do or communicate. Yet her soul still resonates in harmony with her Lord.

On Pentecost Sunday, our church bid farewell to our assistant pastor, Kevin Antlitz, and his family. He has accepted an invitation to be senior pastor at a church in Atlanta. I will especially miss his thoughtful sermons.

I just did a search of this blog and discovered that I have recommended one of Kevin’s sermons six times. So today is number seven. You can listen here to “Why We Sing,” Kevin’s unusual discussion of the importance of singing together in praise to the Lord.

Kevin notes three reasons why Paul tells us to sing:

It’s evidence of the Holy Spirit active in our lives, drawing us into praise. The Spirit fills us with song. When we’re filled with the Spirit, love overflows. “Only the lover sings” (St. Augustine). A Christian is someone who sings.
Singing knits our hearts together into one heart and mind and soul.
Singing gives us an opportunity to bless and encourage and teach each other.

Sometimes we lose our voice, whether in grief, discouragement, or shame. Sometimes we need others to sing over us, helping restore our faith, our hope, and our love.

As Marsha is doing for me.

I invite you to let Sing Over Me (The Porter’s Gate) touch your soul:

1.When I am lost inside my mind, Sing me the hope I cannot find

When my despair has left me blind, Sing me the tune I’ve left behind.

[Chorus] Will you sing over me? Will you sing over me?

Sing of the goodness I cannot see. Will you sing over me?

2. When all the grief pours through my hands, When I’ve forgotten who I am

I can’t feel anything but shame, Sing out and give me back my name.

[Bridge] When I sink down beneath the fear, The weight is more than I can bear

Keep singing though I cannot hear. Someday I’ll sing for you, I swear.

[Chorus] Will you sing over me? Will you sing over me?

Sing of the goodness I cannot see. Will you sing over me?

In our hearts

But God’s Spirit inspires us to sing

Ephesians 5:18-19 Be filled with the Holy Spirit, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs among yourselves, and making music to the Lord in your hearts.

Revelation 5:9 And they sang a new song, “… You ransomed people for God from every tribe and language and people and nation.”

I’m home from a too-short visit to our daughter Valerie’s family in summertime Brazil in time for the biggest winter storm in recent memory! A bit of the whiplash we experience both directions.

A view of part of São Paulo our “hometown” in Brazil for twenty years. About 22 million people call São Paulo home.

Singing is one of the ways we express our gratitude to the Lord for his “But God” interventions in our lives. Worshiping again in Portuguese with our church in São Paulo last Sunday delighted my heart. Worship feels different to me in every culture and language I’ve been privileged to experience.

Someday we will all worship together before the throne of our Lord, people from every language and culture down through the ages. Try to imagine that incredible moment. I think I’ve touched the edge of that experience, in international settings. But the reality will be breathtaking. I’m already asking God to enlarge my heart’s capacity to hold such enormous emotions, such awe of our Lord. I think part of that training is to engage as fully as I can with worship now.

Following up on our look at the recorded biblical songs related to Jesus’ birth as a human baby, I want to look at the references to songs in the rest of the New Testament. As I’ve studied them, each one has something special to offer us. I’m also asking a friend who regularly writes worship music to tell us what that is like for her, and what inspires her most in using her gifts this way.

While writing this series, I want to pay more attention to the role and impact of singing and worship in my own life. I invite you to do the same!

Meanwhile, here is one of my favorite worship songs in Portuguese, about the river of life, as Jesus described the work of the Holy Spirit in John 7:38-39. Enjoy!

Águas Purificadoras, by Ana Paula Valadão, Diante do Trono

(We’ve known Ana Paula since she was a child—God used her father to inspire Dave to move to Brazil way back in the 1980s. Because of Karis’s illness, we were only able to move there in 1990.)

If you want more of Diante do Trono, try here and here.

Here’s an English translation of the lyrics:

There is a river, Lord, that flows from your great love
Waters that flow from the throne
Waters that heal, that cleanse,

Wherever the river passes, everything will be transformed
For it carries the life of God Himself
This river flows in this place

I want to drink from your river, Lord
Quench my thirst, cleanse my heart
I want to flow in your waters
I want to drink from your fountain
Fountain of living waters

You are the Spring, Lord.

An abundance of flowers!

But God’s vision is joy!

Isaiah 35 Even the wilderness and desert will be glad in those days. The wasteland will rejoice and blossom … There will be an abundance of flowers and singing and joy! … With this news, strengthen those who have tired hands, and encourage those who have weak knees. Say to those with fearful hearts, “Be strong, and do not fear, for your God is coming to save you. … The lame will leap like a deer, and those who cannot speak will sing for joy! … Those who have been ransomed by the Lord will return singing, crowned with everlasting joy. Sorrow and mourning will disappear, and they will be filled with joy and gladness.

Luke 7:22 “Tell John what you have seen and heard—the blind see, the lame walk, the lepers are cured, the deaf hear, the dead are raised to life, and the Good News is being preached to the poor.”

1 Peter 1:6 So be truly glad. There is wonderful joy ahead, even though you have to endure many trials for a little while.

In my Bible beside Isaiah 35:2 I noted in 2012, “Val’s wedding!”

I’ve never attended an event with such an abundance of flowers. The wedding was held at a campsite outside of Joinville, in southern Brazil. The decorators did such an amazing job with flowers, linens, crystal, china, and candles that you would never know you were in a plain camp dining room.

I was as surprised as any other guest when I walked into this gorgeous setting. Though mother of the bride, I was unable to participate in the planning of this milestone in Valerie’s life because I was in Pittsburgh caring for Karis. She (Karis) had planned for months to travel to Brazil for her beloved little sister’s wedding, but an untimely accident left her in the hospital instead of on an airplane. That’s another whole long story. Karis called it the biggest disappointment of her entire life.

I left Karis in the care of my beloved younger sister and traveled to Brazil with no idea of the beauty that awaited all of us. I experienced in my own small way the joy foretold in Isaiah 35. For that day, I was able to set aside my “tired hands, weak knees, and fearful heart” for Karis and let my soul absorb the loveliness and joy of Valerie + Cesar. A celebration that renewed my strength for the long days awaiting me in Pittsburgh on my return.

Maranatha. Come, Lord Jesus, and fulfill in some measure today your promises of future joy.