How can you make a joyful noise when your heart is breaking?

In the fall of 2001, my mother came to visit us in Iowa. On April 4 of that year, my dad had tragically collapsed and died in her arms. She was inconsolable. This visit was the first time she had left home since his death. I cast around for something she would enjoy doing. She was a devout Christian and I remembered she had once asked if I knew where ‘The Little Brown Church in the Vale” was located in Iowa. It was the beloved song that prompted her:

“Oh, come to the church in the wildwood

Oh, come to the church in the vale

No spot is so near to my childhood

As the little brown church in the vale.”

The Little Brown Church in the Vale is located in Nashua, IA, about two hours from our home at the time in Cedar Rapids. It has a fascinating history, as it came about by a coincidence--- or a miracle. In 1856, a young music teacher named William Pitts happened to travel through the community. He walked down Cedar Street and noticed a beautiful wooded empty lot. The thought came to him that it would be the perfect setting for a church. Inspired, he wrote a poem titled “Church in the Wildwood.” Later, he set it to music. Pitts moved on, married and settled in Wisconsin. In the years following, the community actually built a church on the site with donated products and labor. When they were ready to paint the church, the least expensive paint available was brown. And so, it became a “little brown church in a vale.” In 1864 William Pitt moved back to the area to teach in a local academy and discovered the church on the site. He rushed home to his desk drawer and pulled out his song. Pitts had written a song for a church that didn’t exist until nearly a decade later. In the early years of the 1900s, the song was popularized by a traveling singing group and put the little brown church on the map. With the help of the song, which became famous, the little brown church has achieved the status of a perfect setting for a wedding. In the years since its beginning, over 76,000 weddings have taken place there.

That Fall day, when we arrived, the church site was sunny and peaceful. The church was open, and we went inside and sat in silence. My mom was very quiet, but tears rolled down her face. We walked back outside and ate a picnic lunch on the grounds. And then we sang the song together, “Oh come to the church in the wildwood, Oh come to the church in the vale. No spot is so dear to my childhood as the little brown church in the vale.” We made a joyful noise, and my mom was serene all the way back home. I will always be grateful to the little brown church in the vale.

Pray with me: Dear God, your presence can bring us joy in the most sorrowful times. You remind us that you are our parent and, whenever we enter into the gates of your courtyard, no matter the circumstances in our lives, we are thankful and blessed. Amen.

This devotion was written by Laura Derr and read by Judy Wilson.

Grace for All is a daily devotional podcast produced by the members of the congregation of First United Methodist Church in Maryville, Tennessee. With these devotionals, we want to remind listeners on a daily basis of the love and grace that God extends to all human beings, no matter their location, status, or condition in life.

If you would like to respond to these devotionals in any way, we would enjoy hearing from you. Our email address is: podcasts@1stchurch.org.

First United Methodist Church is a lively, spirit-filled congregation whose goal is to spread the message of love and grace into our community and throughout the world. We are located on the web at https://1stchurch.org/.

In the broader passage from which this is excerpted, Paul is writing to the church in Ephesus about morality and behavior that reflects someone who is following Christ, discussing such heavy issues as sexual morality, greed, purity of the words we speak, and avoiding drunkenness. A person might think that singing together seems kind of frivolous or at least out of place by comparison. On the contrary, singing is an important way we connect with God. Saint Augustine is often attributed with the expression, “To sing is to pray twice.” When we sing rather than just saying the words of our prayers, we often connect more deeply with them. Music has great power to stir our emotions, activating parts of our brains and, I believe, our souls that aren’t as activated when speaking those words alone.

Science confirms this — singing is good for us. It lowers cortisol and blood pressure, and it releases endorphins and oxytocin, reducing stress levels. It’s good for our cognitive health both by focusing our brains through engaging in the activity itself and by quieting the “noise” of our minds. By engaging the lungs, it improves breathing, and by stimulating the vagus nerve, it might even improve digestion! Some studies even suggest that singers have a higher level of the antibody Immunoglobulin A, meaning that it could be good for our immune system. Others suggest it might help with pain management.

Notice, too, that Paul doesn’t say “sing psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs by yourself.” He specifically encourages us to sing together. When we sing with others, we intensify further that expression of Augustine’s — we not only pray twice, we share in an emotionally intensified prayer with others. This connects us in ways that are crucial to the communal aspect of our lives of faith.

And when we sing together, research bears out that pure magic happens. Our heartbeats actually start to sync to others’ with whom we are singing, and our sense of community increases by strengthening our social bonds. Studies have shown singing in groups to be helpful for those with mental illness, creating a sense of inclusion. It has been proven to increase self-confidence and to help us process and cope with emotions, too.

Of course, Paul didn’t have all this data when he wrote his letter. But the placement among these other behaviors seems conspicuous. It turns out that choosing good or “pure” words has physical effects on our bodies. Not engaging in sexual immorality or lots of drunkenness similarly does. Greed destroys our mental health. So, given all of this, it makes perfect sense that Paul placed singing together — an activity that can improve our lives individually and collectively — as an alternative to more harmful ones he’s cautioning against.

So friends, let’s sing.

Thank you God, for the songs we sing, the opportunity to sing them, and the people with whom we share them. May our songs praise you always. Amen.

This devotion was written and read by Dwight Dockery.

Grace for All is a daily devotional podcast produced by the members of the congregation of First United Methodist Church in Maryville, Tennessee. With these devotionals, we want to remind listeners on a daily basis of the love and grace that God extends to all human beings, no matter their location, status, or condition in life.

If you would like to respond to these devotionals in any way, we would enjoy hearing from you. Our email address is: podcasts@1stchurch.org.

First United Methodist Church is a lively, spirit-filled congregation whose goal is to spread the message of love and grace into our community and throughout the world. We are located on the web at https://1stchurch.org/.

Welcome to the Saturday episode of the Grace for All podcast. Thank you for joining us today.

Saturday is a special time when we take a few moments to review the scriptures that we have cited in the episodes this week.

If you missed any of those episodes, you might want to consider listening to them today. And even if you heard them all, there may be one that you might want to listen to again. We hope that each of these scriptures and podcasts will bring you a full measure of joy, peace, and love.

Now, let's listen to the scriptures that have been on our hearts this week.

Grace for All is a daily devotional podcast produced by the members of the congregation of First United Methodist Church in Maryville, Tennessee. With these devotionals, we want to remind listeners on a daily basis of the love and grace that God extends to all human beings, no matter their location, status, or condition in life.

If you would like to respond to these devotionals in any way, we would enjoy hearing from you. Our email address is: podcasts@1stchurch.org.

First United Methodist Church is a lively, spirit-filled congregation whose goal is to spread the message of love and grace into our community and throughout the world. We are located on the web at https://1stchurch.org/.