Meaning and Music

As Christians, we say in our hymns and elsewhere that "God is glorious," or "glory to God in the highest." 1 Peter 4:11 says (in part) "To him be the glory and the power for ever and ever." But what does "glory" mean to us?

One of the first things I think of when I heard the word "glory" is a Renaissance painting with light engulfing the main figures. C.S. Lewis suggested that one of the primary purposes of nature is to give us a meaning for "glory" -- stunning, grand vistas can give us a small sense of the vastness of our God. But I think, when I really come down to it, what represents glory best for me is music.

To illustrate my point, the piece at this link is, to me, transcendentally beautiful. It's what I imagine Heaven sounds like.

What fascinates me is the thought that once, there was no such thing as music. It wasn't always there -- it was created. This, to me, is an example of God's glory that I can wrap my head around.

The most creative, fantastic musician in the world may invent a genre of music. But the thing about music is that it feels more like physics than painting -- it's as though the melodies and harmonies were there, we just had to discover them. So even the great musician who starts a new category of music is really just a trailblazing explorer, mapping out new territory which existed long before he did. By comparison, the musician is providing a drop in the bucket, while God provides the ocean the drop came from.

So many things about God are shown by the existence of music. He is unimaginably creative, because he invented the entirety of music from Himself -- salsa and classical, rock and R&B. He's fond of consistent rules, because music, though artistic, has many rules which govern it. Finally, it shows that He is merciful: Music serves no "practical" purpose in our lives. We don't need it to live. How great is our God, who gave us such a tremendous gift! Who chose to make something so beautiful, even though it wasn't strictly necessary. Who loved us enough to grant to us an ability to appreciate it, even though we didn't deserve it.

To me, this is the glory of God: all the music that ever was, every song that transported us, every melody which haunted us, is the tiniest drop in the ocean of His creative power. There was no such thing as music until He spoke, and saw that it was good. And through His great mercy, we were given ears to hear it.

Perhaps glory is perceived differently by everyone. Lewis saw it in the grandness and uniqueness of nature, and for me it's represented by the beauty of music. We should all work to try and understand God's glory in our own way.