Rain and Shine

Isn’t it nice to have a little rain these days? As I’ve mentioned before, we Californians desperately needed some drought relief, plus rain is a useful image used throughout the bible. In Isaiah chapter 55, verses 10-11, for example, rain is used to better understand the impact in spreading God’s word. “For as the rain and the snow come down from heaven and do not return there but water the earth, making it bring forth and sprout, giving seed to the sower and bread to the eater, so shall my word be that goes out from my mouth; it shall not return to me empty, but it shall accomplish that which I purpose, and shall succeed in the thing for which I sent it.”

When we as a choir proclaim the word of God, we sing with the confidence that like rain from heaven, it will foster growth among those who hear it, according to God’s purpose. This becomes especially true since our presentation of God’s word consists of more than text alone. According to our composer, Zoltán Kodály, text set to music is very important in promoting this type of spiritual growth, though his metaphor is more about light than rain. In his words, “There is no complete spiritual life without music, for the human soul has regions which can be illuminated only by music.” While we may not know who specifically will be “watered” or “illuminated” by what we present as we sing, we do know that work we put into our pieces will bear fruit – the Holy Spirit will use both the rain of God’s words and the light of God’s music to promote growth in listeners’ souls. Thus we as a choir get to deliver this message, not rain OR shine, but with rain AND shine. Praise be to God. Let’s bow our heads.

Holy God, we give you tonight’s rehearsal, and all that we do in preparation for our upcoming concert. We thank you for the rain, and for the privilege of proclaiming your word. We also thank you for music, and the light that it can provide. Be with us tonight as we rehearse. In your loving name we pray, Amen.