This past summer while we were in Estonia, our host Eha took us to the Tallinn Song Festival Grounds which are the venue for Laulupidu, a choral music festival that takes place every five years. (To listen and watch a really fun song called "Kikilips" from the youth version of Laulupidu in 2004, go here. It'll ring delightfully in your head for a while afterwards.)We entered the grounds at the back of a long grassy hill sloping down to a music shell of deceptively small proportions when you see it in comparison to a huge sky and the
Baltic sea stretching out behind it. The amphitheatre and shell are actually gargantuan, surrounded by park lands on either side. At the top of the hill, looking down over it all, is a sculpture of Gustav Ernesaks, a beloved Estonian composer and choral director. (That's Husband in his "lap" to the right.)Laulupidu began in 1869 when Estonia was a province of the Russian empire. Estonians were becoming more interested in music as they also experienced a "national awakening." Their choral festivals were a symbol of their growing national identity.
During the Soviet occupation for fifty years following World War II the festivals went on, monitored carefully by the censors. However, one song, "Mu isamuu on minu arm," with music composed by Ernesaks, got by the censors. (Listen to it here, from the 2004 Laulupidu.) It has, over the years, been the ending song of the festival, with everyone standing and singing. Imagine a choir of 24,500 singing their song of national identity in face of the occupying authorities! In 1969, so the story goes, the censors tried to stop it, but the people sang it anyhow, over and over, until finally the Russians sent Ernesaks up to lead the song so that it would at least look like they were approving it.
In 1988 Laulupidu became the venue for nonviolent revolution as the Estonian people essentially sang themselves free with song after patriotic song, starting the beginning of the end of Russian occupation. They regained their independence formally in 1991. My friend Laurie alerted me to a movie now out about the Singing Revolution; you can read about the 1988 event here.What does this have to do with the topic of rejoicing? Because I believe that singing is so closely related to the biblical command to rejoice, that it's almost inseparable. Singing, as you can see in the story of Estonia's singing revolution, is amazingly powerful when it's about something we love deeply, be it our country or our God. Memories are carried through singing. Walls come down when we sing. Armies are defeated when we sing.
Let's look at some biblical examples.
Miriam led the people in singing after the Israelites crossed the Red Sea. That song was a memorial to the work of God. (Ex. 15:1) Similar to the story of Miriam, the prophetess Deborah led out in a song with the general Barak after Israel defeated Sisera's army. The song remained in the national consciousness as a memorial to God's deliverance in a very strange set of circumstances (Judges 5). Musical reminders that God has been with us in the past are so strong for empowering us in the present moment.But singing is also a tool for gaining victory. Joshua instructed the people shout and blow trumpets, and the walls of Jericho came down. (Joshua 6) Did you know that the word for "shout" used in the story of Jericho is the same word used for "shout" in Psalm 66? It is akin to singing praise.
The walls of Jericho weren't down yet, but the people sang out praise in faith and hope that they would. And they did. Powerful!Many years later, king Jehosaphat was faced with a vast army of men from Moab and Ammon. He led his men into battle singing, and they defeated the attacking army (2 Chron. 20). It's another amazing story of singing to victory.
The psalms are all songs, and the lyrics serve a similar purpose: thanksgiving for God's deeds, words of hope that impossible situations will be turned around. When David sang, it was a calming influence on Saul's mercurial moods. David, who surrounded himself with musicians (1 Chron. 25:1; Neh. 12:46), continues to be the most loved king that Israel ever had. Those were the glory days of Israel. The rejoicing and praise carried the power to elevate the entire kingdom.
There was also singing in the days of the apostles. When Paul and Silas sang hymns in prison (Acts 16), there was suddenly an earthquake which freed them. But despite the open doors, something about their singing and praying caused all the other prisoners to stay where they were, and the jailkeeper
fell at the feet of Paul and Silas, asking how he could have salvation. Paul (cranky and sometimes impossible though he seems to me) was a singer who somehow recognized the power of singing, and used it to change his world. He wrote to the new Christians, "Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly as you teach and admonish one another with all wisdom, and as you sing psalms, hymns and spiritual songs with gratitude in your hearts to God." (Col. 3:16)As I mentioned yesterday, how do you rejoice from a jail cell? How can you rejoice as an act of faith and hope when you're in misery, hungry, poorly treated, suffering? The only way I can imagine it is that rejoicing must, in times of trial, take the form of singing. It is, in my opinion, the most effective way to turn things around, to put your faith and hope to work, to encourage one another, to knock down walls and overcome armies (in whatever form they present themselves), and to gain the victory. Estonia's singing revolution is just one marvelous case study of the larger principle:
Rejoicing brings deliverance.
Yes, and I will continue to rejoice, for I know that through your prayers and the help given by the Spirit of Jesus Christ, what has happened to me will turn out for my deliverance. I eagerly expect and hope that I will in no way be ashamed, but will have sufficient courage so that now as always Christ will be exalted in my body, whether by life or by death. Phil. 1:18-20[Note: To see more Laulupidu videos--which I find fascinating and energizing--go to YouTube and put the word "laulupidu" in the search box. Enjoy!]
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