There’s a really powerful example of Christians calling on the music of their faith in the face of evil. In September of 2016, four men, including two pastors, were on trial in the Sudan. The government charged them with criminal conspiracy, espionage, making war on the state, and stirring up hatred. They had actually been doing two things: sharing their Christian faith and speaking out against the persecution of Christians in their country. They were trumped up charges and the men and their church had little power to defend themselves. But on one of the days of the trial, the church gathered across the street from the courthouse and they sang out their faith in a Nuba dialect. The song they are singing is the story of David and Goliath.1
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See how hopeful their faces are; how united in song and movement! Their clothing is colorful, their mood is high. In lifting their voices together, they remember their Almighty God who comes alongside the suffering, who hears every cry, who grants victory where it seems impossible. Truly, they let their spirits sing that day.
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For those poor exiles in Babylon, choosing not to sing did not change their circumstances. Neither did the church’s song save the four men on trial in the Sudan from being sentenced to life in prison for one and twelve years in prison for the others.2 Singing the psalm as Jesus rode in did not topple the Roman government. It didn’t cement real trust in Jesus’s work and mission as these same folk turned on him only days later. Yet, each of these moments of song is an opportunity. As we lose ourselves in song, we grow closer to God. We find ourselves at the edges of our understanding, peering just a little deeper into the mystery, the boundless unknown that holds the holy and awesome. Every time we sing, we have an opportunity to follow where that song leads us.
[1] https://nubareports.org/nuba-pastors-face-death-penalty-christianity-on-trial/ & https://www.persecutionproject.org/news/category/Persecution+Stories & https://www.facebook.com/100008476504870/videos/1613609755598226/
[2] https://cibedo.de/2017/02/02/gesellschaft-fuer-bedrohte-voelker-sorgt-sich-um-christen-im-sudan/