“How to Face Shipwrecks and Prisons”  10-19-08 I Cor. 11:22-31; Acts 16:22-29 (Choir Appreciation Day) Dr. J. Ben Sloan

Singing is a great blessing from God.  Hearing our singing is not always such a great blessing from God.  But the singing itself- making the joyful noise, so to speak, is a wonderful tool from the Lord.  C.S. Lewis said that before he believed in Christ he would make fun of the hymn singing in the church, noting the sometimes poor rhyming, and the sometimes off-key singing of the church people.  But after he believed he began to see that the hymns sung were not sung simply for their beauty but also as a deep sigh from the soul.  He said that the farmer next to him, singing off-key, was singing despite his hardship and with sincerity.  Lewis said he was not worthy to polish his boots.   Luther said that “the devil takes flight at the sound of music.” 

            It is easy to see that singing is great when we are happy and things are going our way- blue skies shining on me, nothing but blue skies do I see- is a happy, easy song.  It is also not so hard to sing the blues when you are sad.  There are some but not that many Christian blues songs.  There might should be some more- for the Psalms are full of blues- “why are you downcast O my soul why so distressed within me?”  Precious Lord.

            But there is something about our faith that enables us to be inspired even in the worst times.  Some misinterpret that inspiration, that encouragement as being naïve, shallow, or oblivious to reality.  But I would take issue with that.  Being able to have hope in the midst of despair can be a very serious, deep, and true response to the absolute reality of life. 

            My mother taught me this.  When she didn’t feel good, she would sing a hymn, and it would lighten her load.  She always sang when she did dishes.  I don’t think she like doing dishes much.  When her twin sister died she cried a lot, but she also sang a lot. Singing comes out of our hope, but in some ways it brings out hopefulness too. 

            Paul was in prison in Philippi. His feet were in chains- all because he believed in Jesus.  They weren’t supposed to beat, chain, or imprison a Roman citizen without a hearing- so this was done unjustly and illegally.  Yet he wrote to the Philippians these words- “Rejoice in the Lord always- again I say, “Rejoice!”  Not, rejoice in the Lord when things are going great for you- but always.  Paul shows us this example.  He and Silas weren’t singing “The Folsom Prison Blues” either.  They were praising God.  In some ways they were praying when they were singing.

            Hebrews talks about the sacrifices of the Old Testament and how they are replaced with the ultimate sacrifice of Jesus on the cross for our sins.  But Hebrews also amazingly says, “Let us continually offer the sacrifice of praise to God, that is , the fruit of lips giving thanks to His name” (13:15).  That is what Paul and Silas were doing.  They were making a sacrifice of praise to God in prison.  Their faith did not stop because something bad happened to them.  Their courage did not give way because their enemies had put them in chains.  The chains were there, but they could not chain their soul.

            When things go bad for you, do you stop singing?   When life gets hard does your faith disappear?  I would say that when life gets hard you need the Lord the most.  If we are good Christians during the good times and bad pagans in the hard times, then we are pretty shallow.  We are like a boat on Lake Murray without a motor, sail, or rudder.  We may be afloat but we are powerless, aimless, helpless.  Our help- our rudder, our power is from God!

            When these prisoners began singing, it affected everyone.  The other prisoners wondered how they could be so hopeful. The scriptures say they were listening.  You can bet it affected the jailer as well (as we’ll see in a minute).  They were teaching while they sang.  They were teaching faithfulness.  Today is Choir Appreciation Day.  The really great thing about the choir is that the choir is always here.  Nobody pays them to be here.  They show up every week for practice, and every week for worship.  They sing about their faith whether things are going well in their lives or not.  Our choir has had some tough times.  Some of them have cancer.  Some of them have had spouses die.  Some of them have watched their children go through tragedy and sadness.  But they are still here- and they are still here singing to the Lord.  African American spiritual arose out of singing in the hard times.  Many of the psalms are laments- written in the midst of suffering.  I have often felt that even the best of any kind of music is inspired by pain.  Mozart’s requiem for example.  I was a fan of Fleetwood Mac, but their best album was written when five of the band members were going through relationship break-ups and divorce.  There is a place for expressing sadness in song.  I would say there is a time when you are almost too sad to sing- and you need a community of faith to sing for you.  But there is, as Paul illustrates here, a time when our faith gives us perspective on our pain, and even a song to sing in the midst of the pain.  It doesn’t deny the pain, or the reality of suffering- it only makes it easier to bear. Some of you are in your own prison.  Let me say that there is still a reason to sing.

            What happened in our story next is really interesting.  God responded to their singing with an earthquake.  Maybe their singing was so bad that God had to do something!  But more likely, God was so pleased He wanted to do something.  An earthquake happened- but it was a special earthquake.  It happened in such a way that none of the prisoners were hurt.  It happened in such a way that their chains fell off of their hands and feet.  It happened in such a way that the doors to the jail flew open.  That’s a pretty special earthquake! That is a God-sent earthquake.  The jailer had been specially charged with guarding these prisoners.  If they escaped, it would be his life for their life.  When the jailer saw the earthquake, he went into pagan thinking and started to take his own life thinking it would be better for him to die than to face the pain of disgrace and then be killed.  He was panicking worst than the people on Wall Street these days.  But Paul called to him and pleaded with him to not harm himself, because they were all there.  The jailer went from despair to joy.  He went from the meaninglessness of suicide to the meaningfulness of faith. 

            There are many today like that jailer.  They think that things are worse for them than they really are.  The jailer could have thought about how he had cared for the jail cell, worked on it, cleaned it, and now it was destroyed and gone.  He could have been worried to death about how his officers might react to the prisoners escaping.  Or he could have thought about how there is a God who responds to singing in prison.  He chose to focus on God.  Many today are focusing on what they have lost, or what they may lose financially. Many are afraid of what might happen to them.  But God is, I believe, calling for us to look to Him. 

            The really great news is that jailer was as good as dead, and he was given the gift of eternal life that night.  He wanted their faith that enabled them to sing in prison   He wanted the kind of faith that opened prison doors but left them unharmed.  He asked, “What must I do to be saved?”  Paul said, believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved- you and all your household. The jailer washed their wounds, then he was baptized.  He hadn’t washed their wounds before.  He was repenting- changing the way he did things.  His whole family- his wife, his little children, were baptized.  He then fed them. All this happened between midnight and daylight.

            Now Paul, before he had ever gotten to the jail in Philippi had been beaten, stoned, left for dead, shipwrecked, lost sleep, in real danger, but he says he was not in despair.  He was able to sing.  He was able to have peace.  He said in his letter to the Philippians (4:12) he had learned the secret of being content whether well fed or hungry, living in plenty or in want.  We need to re-learn that secret.  Our marriage vows come from that verse- richer for poorer, sickness or health, plenty or in want.  Many marriages break up because the couple can’t handle the good times or can’t handle the bad times together.  Maybe they can’t adjust to the changes.  We need in our marriages, in our faith, in our human relationships to learn the secret of contentment- even if you lost it all, or are shipwrecked.  The secret is believing deeply that God is on the throne.  From that deep faith comes a sense of thanksgiving for all that you do have and do not deserve. 

Judaism and Christianity are singing religions.  Atheism is songless, and full of hopelessness.  When Robert Ingersoll, the noted agnostic died  he said he wanted no singing at his funeral.  The Bible says that before Jesus was arrested in the garden that they sang a hymn.  So it has been with the church through the ages.  The psalm singing of Christians going to the deaths in the arena made a tremendous impact.  The pleasure-bent populace could not understand how Christians could be singing with hope when the lions awaited them in the amphitheater.  The blood of the martyrs was the seed of the church- but the songs of the martyrs was the inspiration of the church.  Today there are Christian martyrs in North Korea still singing as they are being tortured or executed.  I heard a song of an Iraqi priest murdered by Al Qaeda who left his song on U Tube.   The song goes on.  No one can kill it- no shipwreck, no economic downturn, no prison can squelch it. 

            When I was just out of college, I attended Walhalla Presbyterian Church.  Kay and I often stood beside my uncle singing.  I loved my uncle- he was a regular there, despite his polio, and he also was half-deaf.  Since he was half deaf, he sang extra-loud.  Since he couldn’t hear well, he mostly sang off-key.  So we would stand beside him as he sang loudly… off key.  I remember once starting to giggle, and I giggled and I shook, and I could hardly control myself.  I have had great guilt about that giggling over the years.  My uncle was singing to the Lord, and I couldn’t appreciate it.   He was making a joyful noise despite his pretty devastating problems. 

            You and I, Christian, have a song coming from deep down in our soul.   Do not squelch it.  Do not snuff it out because your circumstances are not wonderful.  Lift every voice and sing as we fight against the hardships of life.   

May the God of peace give you peace at all times in every situation. The Lord be with you all. 2 Thess. 3:16