The cleansing power of song

Last night we gathered to spend a couple of hours singing Christmas Carols. I went, not sure of how I would feel. Besides the fact that I have my limits regarding how many carols I can sing in one setting (what we do in Christmas Eve Services seems just about right to me), I felt reluctance going back into that room. And this surprised me.

Our Sanctuary is a multi-purpose room, so it is not dedicated “sacred space”. And being who we are, Unitarian Universalists would experience spiritual uplift in many settings so this is not the one, unique space where that would happen. But I was reluctant to go, because the last time I was in that room was a very unpleasant experience. Using the room for a meeting was not out-of-the-norm and the topic of the meeting was important. But something happened there that was very harmful to many people’s psyches and hearts.

For days since Tuesday night’s meeting I have felt wounded by the behavior of others, most of them complete strangers to me. Whether or not what these people had to say has merit is beside the point. The manner of their speaking, the insults hurled and the contempt shown to another group of people, those attempts at intimidation poisoned the room.

So it was some trepidation that I entered what is essentially “my” space – the place where I ply my skills in preaching and crafting worship for my congregation.

But in that space, last night, something wonderful happened. That small group of disparate people joined together, donned “Santa hats” and sang a variety of seasonal songs – traditional carols, Hanukkah songs, popular Christmas tunes - with much gusto, whether we “believed” them or not. I sang the ones I really liked and hummed along with ones not so beloved, all done in good cheer. The reluctance I felt upon entering dissipated.

All the negative energy generated by the churlish, rude and insulting behavior that had so marred that space was banished – and it gave way to comfort and joy.

I have long understood, in deep personal ways, how music can heal or stir the heart and feed the soul. Here, the music of piano and flute, the clear voices raised in hopeful song transformed that space, started to make it whole again.

Maybe this was my own personal Christmas “miracle”, or perhaps it is simply evidence that we humans wield great power – not just in obvious ways of bullying or aggression - but in the ways of peace, through the power of song.