It is sometimes a help to take a step back, to see why people do what they do in order to renew the purpose for making music Sunday by Sunday, for singing hymns and anthems, for playing instruments and making music for worship.
            A surprising number of references to music are found in the Bible, from references to the singing and music making of the Israelites to the specific songs of David - the Psalms - to Jesus’ hymn singing at the Last Supper, and the new testament quotation of a hymn by Paul.  
            Paul’s exhortations about music and worship are worth keeping in mind:
To sum up, my friends: when you meet for worship, each of you contributes a hymn, some instruction, a revelation, an ecstatic utterance, or the interpretation of such an utterance. All of these must aim at one thing: to build up the church. 1 Cor. 14:26
            And:
Speak to one another in psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs; sing and make music in your hearts to the Lord; and in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ give thanks every day for everything to our God and Father. Eph. 5:19
            “All of these must aim at one thing: to build up the church.” Quite a mandate! Equally strong, “Give thanks every day for everything.”
            Martin Luther wrote a great deal about music used in worship. “After all,” he said, “the gift of language combined with the gift of song was only given to man to let him know that he should praise God with both word and music, namely by proclaiming the Word of God through music and by providing sweet melodies with words…Let this noble, wholesome and cheerful creation of God be commended to you.”
            And following on this strong affirmation of singing, J. S. Bach believed that the whole purpose of music was to focus attention on God. He said, “The aim and fundamental reason of all music is none other than to be the glory of God and the recreation of the spirit.”
            Harry Maier, associate professor of New Testament at Vancouver School of Theology, has written:

Christian worship is a revelation. Sunday by Sunday we gather to hear revealed to us who we are, whose we are, where we have come from, where we are, and where we are going. We gather regularly because we know how easy it is to forget. The trials and vicissitudes of our daily lives, as well as the seemingly insurmountable difficulties facing our world, regularly tempt us to give up hope or lose our focus. In worship we confess and sing and speak and thereby overhear ourselves caught up in the peculiar intonations and grammar of Christian witness. In doing so we discover…the fierce truth of God’s passionate love for us…We go forth to be a continuing revelation of God’s presence in the world.

           Take away the memory of the lessons for the day, the ideas gathered from the sermon just heard, the grace in the Eucharist received. And the hymns playing in the background of the mind’s ear are carried as people go through the day, guiding everyone to the truth of the moment, and the presence of God in the everyday things accomplished; guiding people to speak and write and act to build up the Church and God’s realm, and to give thanks to God every day for everything.