Journey to the Cross and Empty Tomb: A Musical Perspective

JOURNEY TO THE CROSS AND EMPTY TOMB

A Musical Perspective

By Pastor Eric Mathis

If someone created a soundtrack for your life, what music would it include? The first soundtrack I vividly remember was the one that accompanied the 1994 film, Forrest Gump. I used my summer lawn mowing money to purchase the twovolume compact disc set that included every song in this iconic movie — from Elvis Presley’s “Hound Dog” to Aretha Franklin’s “Respect” to Alan Silvestri’s Forrest Gump Suite. Every time I played this music, my mind recalled with impressive acumen scenes from the movie. Now, when I listen to the music, I not only remember the now classic movie, but I also recall key moments from my freshman year in high school when the movie was released. I also know the history to some of the music, which adds another layer of meaning.

Music forms us. It shapes us. It reminds us of who we are, and it tells others something about who we are. Music also forms our spirituality and our faith. This is why many Christ-followers have a soundtrack that accompanies their faith journey. My soundtrack includes hymns like “Jesus Loves Me” and “Holy, Holy, Holy.” It includes contemporary Christian artists and modern worship music. It includes Black spirituals and gospel songs, and it includes psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs I learned while traveling to Nairobi, Mexico City, and Paris.

If someone created a soundtrack for your faith journey, what music would it include?

Lent and Easter follow Christ’s earthly ministry, journey to the cross, crucifixion, death and resurrection. It is no surprise that these seasons, which include the full range of human experience and emotion, have their own soundtrack. From J.S. Bach’s St. Matthew Passion to the African-American Spiritual “I Want Jesus to Walk with Me” to the Argentinian tango Tenemos Esperanza/We Have Hope by Federico J. Pagura, the music of Lent and Easter provide rich sources of music that have become central to the Christian life.

As faithful, worshiping Christians, how do we create a soundtrack for our individual and communal Lent and Easter journeys? I might offer three suggestions as starting points. 1. Recall a psalm, hymn, or spiritual

song that has formed your spiritual

journey. Journal about it. Share it with a friend or family member, and tell them how it has formed the soundtrack to your faith. 2. Use familiar psalms, hymns and

spiritual songs to shape your

prayer life. As you engage these pieces, thank God for the role they have played in your faith journey and ask God how they might deepen your spiritual life now. 3. Engage a faith community that is

different from yours, learn a song that is important to them, and find opportunities to sing it with them.

If you aren’t sure where to start, find a friend or congregation that represents a different ethnicity than yours and say, “I’d love to know more about the music that forms the soundtrack to your faith.” Just as music forms a soundtrack that makes a good movie great, so too does music create a soundtrack that adds depth to a rich life of faith. This Lent and Easter, may you be aware of that soundtrack, may you add to that soundtrack, and may you experience the cross and tomb more fully as a result.

Eric Mathis is the Associate Pastor for Worship Arts, Faith Formation, and Young Adults at the First Baptist Church of the City of Washington, DC.

This Photo by Unknown Author is licensed under CC BY-NC

2022 ANNUAL GATHERING

Samford University | Birmingham, Alabama, USA July 10-15, 2022

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