The Very Rev. Shearon Sykes Williams Saint George s Episcopal Church, Arlington, Virginia September 7 th, 2014 Joyful, joyful, We Adore Thee It is such a joy to come together today to celebrate the beginning of a new year in community. After the summer when we were all in a different rhythm, with travel, time with family and friends, we are reunited today to begin again with a new song. We all look forward to summer each year and the particular blessings it brings. In addition to a different rhythm, we are given the opportunity to experience the beauty of creation more fully. One of my favorite ways to experience the gift that God gives us in creation is by hiking in the mountains. I love everything about it- the trees, the running streams, the wildflowers along the way, and finally getting to the pinnacle and looking out on the vast expanse of all that God has done and continues to do in God s infinite creativity. It is little wonder that the author of Joyful, joyful we adore Thee was a hiker as well. He was also a clergy person. Henry Van Dyke wrote the poem in 1907 when he was visiting Williams College in Massachusetts. He was there to give a series of sermons. One morning at breakfast he gave the president of the college his poem with this note: Here is a hymn for you. Your mountains (the Berkshires) were my inspiration. It must be sung to the tune of
Beethoven s Hymn to Joy. It s easy to see how Van Dyke heard Beethoven s music playing in his imagination as he gazed upon the Berkshires and contemplated the mystery of God s works. All Thy works with joy surround Thee, Earth and heav n reflect Thy rays, Stars and angels sing around Thee, Center of unbroken praise. Field and forest, vale and mountain, Flow ry meadow, flashing sea, Singing bird and flowing fountain, Call us to rejoice in Thee. Today we think of these words and the music as being inseparable. We really can t imagine one without the other. But it was not always so. The music was composed 83 years earlier by Ludwig van Beethoven in 1824, just 3 years before he died, and interestingly, Beethoven had another poem singing in his imagination when he wrote the music. Ode to Joy was a poem written by Fredrich Schiller, 40 years earlier in 1785. Beethoven took his words and rearranged them to the music that became part of the final movement of his Ninth Symphony. So, it s amazing to think about how the artistic process works God creates the astonishing beauty of the earth, a poet is inspired by it, and then that poem inspires another creative genius to set it to music years later, and then a second poet inspired again by creation s loveliness, writes another poem to be set to that music. And the final act in the creative process that led to Joyful, Joyful as we experience it today was when Edward Hodges, the organist at Trinity (Episcopal) Church in New York, adapted it to become a hymn in 1864. People loved Beethoven s music and Van Dyke s words so much that they clamored to have it become part of the Church s
hymnody. First Schiller, then Beethoven, and then Van Dyke, and finally Hodges, using their gifts for our inspiration and for God s glory. And just as Beethoven made this piece the finale of his Ninth Symphony, Joyful, joyful we adore Thee is our recessional hymn today, the finale of our service. We will sing it right before we go out into the world to love God by serving others. This hymn is the ultimate in inspiration. It touches us at a very deep level, beyond thoughts, even beyond feelings. It touches us at the level of spirit. It gives voice to a foundational joy that cannot be shaken, a joy that cannot be taken away from us because it is a gift from God. It is the joy in knowing that God s intention for us is peaceno matter what kind of strife we are experiencing- personally or globally. Today we think about everything going on in our world that brings dis-ease and un-rest and yet Joyful, joyful makes our spirits sing. Recently, a man who felt that his life had been transformed by this work created a documentary film called Following the Ninth: In the Footsteps of Beethoven s Final Symphony. In an interview with NPR s Melissa Block, the creator of the film, Kerry Candaele, describes how he wanted to study and document the affect that Ode to Joy has had on people around the world. He discovered that every year in Japan, 10,000 people practice it all year in German, and then sing it together in December to help ground them in hopefulness as the new year begins. Many described the experience as a healing one. In Chile, protestors sang it during the 1970s outside of prisons where political prisoners were being held, to let them know that a
community was waiting to welcome them when they were released. One of the men who had been tortured said that hearing all of those people singing outside the prison was like having a colorful butterfly in his heart to give him hope. In Tiananmen Square, in the 1980s, the protestors played Ode to Joy through loudspeakers to drown out negative messages. Ode to Joy takes on even deeper meaning when we know that Beethoven wrote this inspiring music when he was deeply despairing about his deafness. Here, this incredible musical genius, had lost his hearing, and yet he created some of the most beautiful music in the world, music he could only hear in his imagination. It was out of this intense suffering that this exquisite composition came forth, light out of darkness. God s work. He only knew how much people loved it by watching their applause after it was performed. Joyful, joyful, we adore Thee is a gift to the world, an expression of God s desire for all of humankind to live as brothers and sisters. And it is particularly meaningful as part of our worship as Christians. We sing it to remind us of who we are and that we are called to be reconcilers in a broken world, never despairing and always hopeful. Today, Ben and our choir will use their considerable musical gifts to lead us in song, as we become part of God s ongoing creative process. This hymn has been with us for years and yet it is new every time we sing it. Beethoven s Ninth Symphony was his greatest work and it was a gift to humankind that came out of his own suffering. Christ s greatest work was giving us life out of his suffering. So as followers of Christ,
we sing Ode to Joy with a very particular and profound sense of gratitude for all that has been done for us-the cross, the grave and the Resurrection, all gifts freely given so that we can live with joy, even in the darkest of times. We come together today, to get grounded in that ultimate love in order to be instruments of hopefulness in the world. Thou art giving and forgiving, Ever blessing, ever blest, Wellspring of the joy of living, Ocean depth of happy rest! Thou our Father, Christ our Brother, All who live in love are Thine; Teach us how to love each other, Lift us to the joy divine. Sources: The Hymnal 1982 Companion, Volume A, Hymns 1 to 384, Ed. Raymond Glover, New York: The Church Hymnal Corporation, 1994, pp. 375-376 Kavanaugh, Patrick, Spiritual Lives of the Great Composers, Grand Rapids: Zondervan Publishing, 1992. pp. 55-62 ww.npr.org/blogs/deceptivecadence/2014/01/14/262481960/the-odeto-joy-as-a-call-to-action