What Does Joy Sound Like?
About a month ago, I picked up this new CD by Page CXVI entitled “Hymns”. It could be described as old hymns for modern ears. The name, as it says on the website, comes from:
a reference to page 116 in our copy of The Magician’s Nephew by C.S. Lewis. It is a poignant passage where Aslan begins to sing Narnia into creation out of a black void.
It starts, ‘In the darkness something was happening at last. A voice had begun to sing. It was very far away and Digory found it hard to decide from what direction is was coming. Sometimes it seemed to come from all directions at once. Sometimes he almost thought it was coming out of the earth beneath them. Its lower notes were deep enough to be the voice of the earth herself. There were no words. There was hardly even a tune. But it was, beyond comparison, the most beautiful noise he had ever heard. It was so beautiful he could hardly bear it.’
~ C.S. Lewis
I would recommend supporting this project and getting a copy. While I claim no musical ability or gifting, I do love music. But more than my love for music is my love for solid theology. This is why I am so blessed by hymns. A good hymn, to me is the place where the grandeur of artistic beauty (music) meets the wonder of Christ-exalting study (theology).
So while I was excited to listen to the Page CXVI album, when I first heard their arrangement of “Joy”, I was initially quite disappointed. The song has a mood that is more severe than just melancholy. In a somewhat depressing tone, the vocalist sings, “I have the joy, joy, joy, joy down in my heart.” And I was thinking, “yeah right!” Truthfully, I just skipped over it and listen to the other six tracks again.
A few days later, I was listening to the album in my car and let the song “Joy” play all the way through. Now, I know that the track didn’t change, but my view of it did as I listened to it. The vocals aren’t depressing, they are haunting. They are a reminder of what it truly is to be a Christian in this sin-soaked world. Truly, you would have to hear the song to get a deeper understanding of its irony. I started asking myself, “What does joy sound like to a Christian?”
People experience tragedy all the time. I’m not trying to minimize this. Pain and suffering hurt, and are real. Perhaps it is from some sin committed against us or maybe it is the results of our own sinfulness. Attempting to dismiss this pain would be, in my opinion, foolish. And as a Christian, I don’t have to try to explain it away or distract myself with platitudes and lies. The pain I feel, the pain you feel, is due to sin and experiencing pain and heartache should drive us to loathe sin all the more.
Sure, lots of people might hate sin but for the believer in Christ, the story does not end there. Through the gospel of grace we can see that no matter how devastating the effect sin has had on us, it is no match for the unfathomable power of the gospel. And through this gospel our sin is atoned for, we are washed clean and Christ’s record is given to us! One of the result is that no matter how badly things are going, sin does not have the power to steal our joy. We can truly be sorrowful yet always rejoicing! That is what I was reminded of while listening to Page CXVI’s version of “Joy”. We can sing of our great joy, even when we don’t feel joyful (or sound it) because the truth is the truth whether we feel it or not! As believers, we can and should set our hope on things above and can be firmly rooted in the truths of the gospel.
So, I think joy sometimes “sounds like” being enabled to stand, and through the tears, proclaim the joy we have in our heart even though it may not look or sound like it. Perhaps joy isn’t just heard in the sound in our voice but in the weight of our words. Jesus, through his glorious gospel, infuses our sorrow with an abiding hope here and now. And even still, promises an eternity without sorrow when he returns to set things right and make all things new!
Joy, sounds a lot like the gospel.
