This week I stumbled across a video on YouTube that has captured my attention like never before. I don’t know if it’s a good thing or a bad thing as for the first time in my life I’ve watched the same video a shameless number of times. It’s a musical duet with a famous performer and an ordinary soul and at the end of it, I smile every single time. And then I watch it “one more time” and I do so for hours.
The result though is that it lifts my spirit every time. I smile every time. I’m filled with a strange happiness every time. And life looks a little different because of that increased joy.
It was then that i began to think on the role of music/arts/sports/entertainment in times of national distress. Especially now as we are entering a season where all of those areas are struggling along. And it won’t “be the same” for quite some time I think. Even just being together or being in close proximity to one another will have us ask whether it’s safe or not, and it removes the magic of it all. But in many cases necessarily so.
But throughout history when hard and difficult times have come (and I believe we are yet to see the really hard yet but it’s imminent), the music begins to fade. The sports and entertainment fall to the wayside. And the arts are set on the back burner.
“Like one who takes away a garment on a cold day, or like vinegar poured on soda, is one who sings songs to a heavy heart.” (Proverbs 25:20)
With the election looming next week and political unrest happening around the world, I think more and more the music will be stopped. The gaity of life will be reduced. Just this year at least in the US we’ve gone from police departments having dance-offs to police being defunded. We’ve gone from spontaneous duets of great musical artists with the common person to not even being able to have concerts. We’ve gone from magical sports victories (Superbowl was AMAZING this year) to sports barely happening and when they do, they have become laden with political and social messages and become something beyond just sports. I’m sure other nations are facing similar, though perhaps lesser versions of this picture.
So what is the role of the musicians and entertainers? In terrible times their work and contribution gets put on the back burner. Music and sport still persist but in a different way. It’s definitely a loss to humanity but it’s true what the Scripture says. In times of war, famine, or other things such as this happy music is hard on the heart. Musicians, consider it like a musical rest in a great orchestral piece.
But while the music goes into hibernation during times of distress, when a nation begins to experience a measure of peace, restoration, it is the artists whose craft actually is then used to heal nations. We saw this in the US.
The early 1900’s were about WW1 and when that was over, the Big Band music of the 1920’s brought life and dancing into the soul of America. In the 1930’s with the Great Depression and 1940’s with WW2 the times were hard and the music unknown. But the 1950’s brought some of the best music and musicians that once again put America back on her feet with healing, song and dance.
Music, sport, arts and entertainment have their purpose and their season. I believe we are going into a season of hibernation and the reduction of how we engage musically. But make no mistake musicians, your time to sing will come again. And when it does, what you do can bring healing, restoration and hope like nothing else can.
