Songs that take you back
Psalm 101:1 I will sing of steadfast love and justice; to you, O Lord, I will make music.
The car I drive is old enough that it has a CD player, of which I often take advantage. But I usually listen to the radio when I’m driving these days. Sometimes it’s Talk Radio, but often it’s the satellite radio. I like that fact that I can choose channels based upon a certain genre or a particular era.
Those of you who have satellite radio probably also know that you can select a rather large number of favorite artists and a large number of favorite songs. The radio will then let you know when they’re coming on. I take advantage of this feature, too.
Songs have an ability to take us back. By that, I mean they can trigger memories of certain people. They can trigger memories of certain experiences. When Styx is playing I think of high school and college years, as well as attending their concert one snowy evening, the night before Thanksgiving. (If I had been my parents, I wouldn’t have let me go. It was snowing that hard!). With ABBA or Boston, it’s more junior high as well as trips with the family – ABBA was welcome, but Boston sometimes got the 8-track removed from the player and thrown into the back seat.
With our entry into the season of Advent, we have moved into “The half-year of our Lord”; the season of holidays based on the life of Christ Jesus (e.g. Advent leading to Christmas/the Nativity of our Lord and Epiphany, Lent leading to Easter and Pentecost). I certainly am not disparaging the wonderful songs and hymns we use in worship during the Sundays after Pentecost – they are plenteous and meaningful. But the songs in this half year tend to bring back more memories for me.
Advent hymns bring reminiscences of evening worship services and sitting around the Christmas tree at night, it being the only light in the room while music played on the stereo. Lent also reminds me of worship services. Easter’s memories are of singing in the balcony with the choir my mother led, standing next to Luke and Don (guys who helped teach me to sing the bass line), playing the trumpet with the Groth brothers while Frosty Ferstenau played trombone, and serving the Easter breakfast for the congregation, which we the youth provided.
God bless your singing and memories as we move closer to celebrating the birth of our Savior, Christ Jesus. God bless, as well, those who continue to make music that warms our hearts and stirs our souls.