Dear Friends,
Perhaps as you read this, the hot cross buns will have been eaten aplenty! (although it’s easy to have them all year round now, I remember when it used to be only on Good Friday that they were eaten) and the Easter Eggs are now but chocolatey crumbs and screwed up foil wrappings.
At least this year, we have been able to celebrate Easter more traditionally than last, even if it has been with social distancing. But like Christmas, Easter doesn’t end with a Bank Holiday.
Easter is a season which goes on all year round, because every Sunday is thought of as a Resurrection Day. Through Christ’s resurrection, Christians believe life has triumphed over death, good over evil, hope over despair. The resurrection is a sign of God’s great power. Nothing is too great for God to achieve, and this is comforting and encouraging for Christians in difficulty.
And that is what we celebrate each Sunday in our churches. We celebrate the joy of the Easter story through our prayers and praises, and especially through music and the singing of hymns. Sadly, because of the pandemic, hymns have had to be put on hold, but we are all looking forward to the day we can lift our voices together in song and hymn.
Singing God’s praise has taken place throughout the ages. The Book of Psalms, contained in the Bible, generally believed to be the most widely read and most highly treasured of all the books in the Old Testament. It is a collection of beautiful poems, hymns, and prayers that express the feelings of faith for God’s peoples, whether it be joy, fear, despair or hope.
The most famous and perhaps best known of the psalms is the 23rd psalm, which begins with the words “The Lord is my Shepherd, I will not want”, written by a young shepherd boy David, who slayed a giant and went on to become a great King. The pop group Boney M made a hit record of Psalm 137, “By the rivers of Babylon” which tells of the yearnings of the Jewish people during their Babylonian exile.
One of my favourite psalms is Psalm 100, “Make a joyful noise unto the Lord, all ye lands. Serve the Lord with gladness: come before his presence with singing”.
It is one of shortest psalms and I always have to smile when we read it because, if you have ever heard me singing, then you know it is just that – a noise!! But whether it’s a joyful noise or not…well, that would have to be up to you to decide!!
Singing is good for the spirit and the soul, so, hopefully soon, we will all be able to make a joyful noise together.
Love and blessings, Rev Mandy Xx