Martin Luther’s elevation of music went far beyond his personal, artistic preferences. Singing had its subversive uses too. Since the fateful day the young monk had posted his inflammatory Ninety-Five Theses on the Wittenberg church door, then refused to recant, the church in power had outlawed him as a heretic and banned his writings. But where books could not go, pop songs readily could. Luther combined familiar German tunes with catchy, theological lyrics to broadcast the Reformation message of God’s liberating grace. Regardless of listeners’ ability to read, their social standing, or even their location, the songs went viral; literally everyone was “gladly singing” Martin’s infectious songs – collapsing the old divide between the secular and the sacred, the domestic and the public, the here and now and the eternal.
As this new community made music together, they were converted into a lyrical culture of resistance, Scripture and worship. “The Word of God should be read, sung, preached, written and set in poetry,” Martin wrote. “Wherever it may be helpful and beneficial, I should gladly have it run out by all bells and pipes and proclaimed by everything that makes a sound.”
This message is excerpted from “Sing out loud” by Karen Wright Marsh in the July/August 2023 Gather magazine. Today is the 20th Sunday after Pentecost and Reformation Sunday. Today we commemorate Philipp Nicolai, 1608; Johann Heermann, 1647; Paul Gerhardt, 1676; hymnwriters.
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