They shall grow not old, as we that are left grow old, age shall not weary them, nor the years condemn. At the going down of the sun and in the morning, we will remember them.
The poem ‘For The Fallen’, by Laurence Binyon, will be read and sung on Remembrance Day, which, as I write this, is the next Sunday on the horizon. Binyon’s poem is a testimony not only to the many lives taken in war but also to the power of memory to overrule the power and loss of death in keeping our loved ones before our imaginations. Music has much the same power. At its best, it has the capacity to soothe and console, to stir and remind. That is why it is such a powerful tool in the hands of Christ, and a gift to be used wisely. Week by week our hymns and songs can teach our hearts how to feel towards Him. Our sung worship can keep the power and realities of Christ’s own death and resurrection before our imaginations, those historical events that turn back the horror of death and enable the sun to rise again in new life. May you be encouraged by the gift of music this season, both as a tool of encouragement in the face of human frailty, and a gift to reawaken your love for Christ.
George Parsons