A Song For Eternity

This blog post was shared as the closing comments to Doxa Dance Ministry's Measures of Grace performances, May 1-3, 2025.

It is interesting to think on the role of music in our existence. The range of emotions that can be evoked by listening to different melodies. If I asked you to put together a playlist that reflects the moods and circumstances of your current season of life, many of us could do it in a heartbeat. You may already have song titles coming to your mind - the songs that resonate with us, laugh with us, groan with us. And I don’t know how you feel about musicals - some people inexplicably hate them, but as a young person I certainly wouldn’t have minded at all if everyone had spontaneously broken out in synchronized singing with a choreographed dance. Sometimes it seems the only way to explain, well, anything. Music has a way of meeting our experience head on, even helping us make sense of it. What a gracious gift from our Creator,  music is.

In the Psalms, we have a treasure trove of such songs. Even though the melodies have been lost to history, the words contain a soothing balm for a vast array of life’s ailments. Reminders of God’s steadfast love enduring forever, prescriptions for joy in the midst of suffering, appropriate channels for our grief and anger…all pointing us to the One who gives the breath needed to sing them.

Each of the women you met in Movement I responded to God working in the circumstances of their lives by singing. In the wake of their unimaginable deliverance from slavery, the only life she’d ever known, Miriam takes her tambourine and bursts into song and dance. She leads the other women to verbalize their thanksgiving and abundant joy to God who saved them.

For Deborah, the occasion to sing comes when the battle is won - a battle against an oppressive nation, stronger and more technologically advanced than Israel could ever hope to be on their own. But with God fighting for Israel, Sisera’s iron chariots prove a futile object for reliance and hope. No one and nothing is stronger than the God of Israel. He can do anything.

But for Hannah, that power becomes deeply personal. Mercilessly mocked for her barrenness by her rival each year on their family’s faith pilgrimage, Hannah undoubtedly wonders if God has utterly rejected her. Not only a blessing but also a culturally revered sign of God’s favor, motherhood and all of its joys have escaped her. Her prayer is one of desperate, uninhibited grief. But once God answers her prayer, her joy cannot be contained. Sometimes our greatest joys are forged in the times of our deepest sorrows.

And then we arrive at Mary’s Magnificat. With quiet confidence and in humble submission, Mary’s song recounts God’s promises made and kept to His people. Her relative Elizabeth is also experiencing in real time that nothing is impossible with God. In response, Mary’s rejoicing bubbles over with praise and exultation.

But all of their songs, and ones we sing with our lives, are temporary. Finite. As the music fades, we find ourselves still living in a sin-ridden, all-creation-groaning world. We live in kingdoms of shakeable things. Few things last, seasons come and go, heartaches run deep and moments of triumph seem so fleeting. But this is why we need Movement II. The churches in John’s day needed it, too - these visions of unearthly proportions, laden with symbolism. They needed it, and we need it, because it lifts our eyes from what we can see to what we can know by faith. It rekindles the embers of our imagination and reminds us of the grander redemption that is in progress - a rescue plan of which no literary master could conceive.

That the Creator of all would love His rebellious creation so much, that He would take the punishment for their sins against Him, upon Himself and die in their place. This is the Lamb who was Slain - Jesus, the Son of God - the atoning sacrifice. The one sufficient solution to our deepest need — reconciliation with our God. And not only is He paying our debt when He gives His life on the cross, He is granting His own righteousness to any who believe, and securing for them everlasting life. A people for God redeemed by the blood of the Lamb; a promise to be fully realized when He comes again.

If you have questions about what it means to have faith in Jesus and follow Him, to be counted among the redeemed and have eternal life, please know we would love to talk with you more about that and will be down front after we dismiss.

Because amidst the many-winged creatures and the shimmering imagery, the message is clear - only Christ is worthy and able to mend what has been broken, to restore you, me, all of creation. Let us give Him all the glory, and with all of heaven lift our voices to sing - Holy, Holy Holy is the Lord, God Almighty - who was, and is, and is to come.

Written By Brittanie Wooten