God is love. If God cannot be defined or objectified, neither can love. We all know what love it is, though. We’ve all experienced it, yet each time we try to define it – it dissipates! Every time you try to pin down a spiritual concept, by using words or images, it evades you. Music is exactly the same way. It’s the most spiritual of all the art forms because as soon as sound emerges into the atmosphere, it’s gone like a soap bubble. Music is experienced in real time, as it’s happening – but it vanishes, almost as soon as the sound is created. And it has to be recreated each and every time you want to experience it. Recordings aside, there is no substitute for the experience of music in real time, as there is no substitute for the experience of God’s love, in real time.

Today’s communion anthem does a great job of highlighting the evasive nature of God and love itself. How? Through the energy that it evokes. Did you know that music is actually energy? Sound itself is vibrational. That vibration translates into a form of energy that you perceive with your ears (and your soul). It’s an inner feeling, more so than an aural sensation. The indisputable fact that God is love is echoed in the energy of the melody; the flow of the supple harmony; and the corrective tenderness of the dissonance. Yes, there is musical dissonance in this two-part anthem, but the clashing of harmony that you hear is a direct reflection of the human experience. We live in a contrasting universe – good and bad; light and dark; and so on. So how can dissonance reflect love? It’s easy – it’s a reminder that opposites (contrast) are helpful to us in perceiving spiritual concepts like love, compassion, gratitude, and eternity. Without contrast, the human mind could never even begin to understand spiritual concepts.  

The rapid alternation of silence and sound is what music actually is. These contrasting elements (sound and silence) teach us to see beyond the physical, to “see” what heaven might be like, and to sense God’s elusive presence. Music is the trough (silence) and the crest (sound) of every wave of energy. It’s both ends of the same stick – spiritual and physical. But in its combined form, it’s the perfection of God’s love. The sound of God’s love speaks through the meaning of the music. You’ll know it when you hear it – but as soon as you do, it’s gone in a flash. What a beautiful way to allow music to teach, and to comfort. But most importantly, music like this anthem is a beautiful tool that reminds us of whence we came. And from whence we came was directly from the love of God, who created each and every one of us, unconditionally and with an intention of blessing and abundant joy.  Soli deo gloria!