Article December 23, 2019 Issue

Joyful, healing music

Sheila Smith

Music and singing! They lift our thoughts, enliven our steps, and give expression to joy. I like to think of songs as poems set to music, our universal and collective language. The Bible’s book of Isaiah expresses this idea of universality and music: “You will live in joy and peace. The mountains and hills will burst into song, and the trees of the field will clap their hands!” (55:12, New Living Translation).

Many people find that the words to music can be healing, uplifting, and regenerating. I have found this to be true about the Christian Science hymns, which are all rooted in Bible truths and in the Science of being explained in Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures by Mary Baker Eddy. Raised in a musical family, I loved singing. As a young child I sang with family, in church, and in school. When I began to study Christian Science, I immediately loved the hymns. They gave me what I’d been searching for: a clearer understanding of God.

Soon my “Words Only” Christian Science Hymnal was my constant companion wherever I traveled. These poems spoke persistently to me, and phrases would often come to thought, both in the darkest hours of trouble and on joyous occasions.

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