THE POWER OF MUSIC

“Praise Him with the sounding of the trumpet,

praise Him with the harp and lyre,

praise Him with timbrel and dancing,

praise Him with the strings and pipe,

praise Him with the clash of cymbals,

praise Him with resounding cymbals.

Let everything that has breath praise the Lord.”  (Psalm 150:3-6 NIV)

One Sunday morning in September 1993 I attended a lively Latino pentecostal church housed in a former synagogue in what had once been the German-Jewish section of Chicago. While the mostly Puerto Rican worshippers were singing “Dios Esta Aqui” (“God Is Here”), I spotted a small sticker. It was attached to the gleaming red and white mother-of-pearl trap drums a young devotee was beating with an astonishing series of slams, rolls, and paradiddles. From my location, about a third of the way back, I could see the first word on the placard was “Music” and the last word was “Jesus.” But the intervening words were in smaller print, and no matter how hard I squinted I could not quite make them out. My curiosity had been piqued, so after the service I slipped up to the band area to take a closer look. Now I could see the whole message. It said, “Music Brought Me to Jesus.” 

-- Harvey Cox, as quoted in “When in Doubt, Sing: Prayer in Daily Life” by Jane Redmont

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