While you know you're still living

Holy, holy, holy! Lord God Almighty!
Early in the morning our song shall rise to thee.
Holy, holy, holy! Merciful and mighty,
God in three persons, blessed Trinity!

Holy, holy, holy! All the saints adore thee,
casting down their golden crowns around the glassy sea;
cherubim and seraphim falling down before thee,
which wert, and art, and evermore shalt be.

Holy, holy, holy! Though the darkness hide thee,
though the eye of sinful man thy glory may not see,
only thou art holy; there is none beside thee,
perfect in power, in love and purity.

Holy, holy, holy! Lord God Almighty!
All thy works shall praise thy name, in earth and sky and sea.
Holy, holy, holy! Merciful and mighty,
God in three persons, blessed Trinity.

How majestic in its melodic simplicity, this song resounding from myriads of hearts through the generations of saints! I sing or whistle it as I work. Happily no longer a ‘manager’ trapped in an office cubicle, though the work is humble and at time physically challenging, I can ‘whistle while you work’ and can ‘sing, sing while you know you’re still living.’ I began my working career this way when I was a traditional furniture maker, and now, forty years later, finishing it as an aluminum machinist, still singing, still free to ‘make melody.’ The workshop is for me the home of song, another temple and place of worship to hymn my God, the unearthly, divine Triad who has earthed Himself in my world, and even, when I sing, in me.

Captain Antonio Corelli, an unwilling Italian officer stationed on Kephaloniá in occupied Greece, could also not restrain himself from singing, and his spontaneous songs infected his whole company of fellow soldiers. When reproached for this by Pelagía, the serious young daughter of the physician in whose home he was sequestered, ‘What's there to sing about? We are in the middle of a war, not an opera house…’ he responded, ‘There is singing when babies are baptized. When you celebrate a marriage. Men sing as they work. Soldiers sing as they march into battle. And there is singing when people die. I've always found something in life worth singing about. And for that, I cannot apologize.’

I have found that music, like love, is medicine to the soul. It lightens or at least comforts grief. It supplies strength and courage when one is feeling weak or downcast. It really does heal us from the inside out, as anyone who stands for hours and sings along with the Divine Liturgy can probably testify. I both listen to, and sing, the songs that restore me, and I have always chosen these carefully. No, actually, I think they have chosen me. Music seems to partake of the Divine Nature Himself, and I have found Him in many songs that I love and sing. In fact, I think it is because I want to feel His touch on my tongue and lips, and welcome Him by my ears, that I sing. And I also sing for the sake of others, as Corelli did.

Whistling too, yes, and because I could whistle where I could not sing, or where it would be inappropriate, such as while shopping in the supermarket, I have learned to whistle, and I find that rather than annoy others, it seems to soften them. Of course, I whistle hymns, mostly, old and well-known hymns like the one at the head of this testimony. I whistle hymns because inside my heart is singing the words, and praying too. Walking forward into the sea I find it parts, and into battle I find my allies walking beside me. As I mentioned earlier, Music itself seems to partake of the Divine Nature and also to assist us in partaking of the Same. One of my favorite ‘secular’ songs, called Music, expresses this.

Yesterday I was on the edge
hoping everything was going to work itself out
A good honest man doing the work of God
Trying to make things better for Him
A lover of life in a school for fools
Trying to find another way to survive

New Music, new Music, new Music
Sweet Music can lighten us
Can brighten the world,
Can save us

My friend said, ‘Well, I think I found a way
To help make myself richer’
I said, ‘Don't you know, well, it won't be too long before
The bad ol’ debil will get you back’
‘Back,’ I said, ‘put back your heart and sing, sing while
you know you’re still living,
Sing, sing, sing, while you know there’s still…’

New Music, new Music, new Music
Sweet Music can lighten us
Can brighten the world,
Can save us

Take a look at the world
Think about how it will end
There’d be no wars in the world
If everybody joined the band
Think about the light in your eyes
Think about what you should know
There’d be no wars in the world
If everybody joined in the show, oh, oh

Think about the light in your eyes
Think about what you should know
There’d be no wars in the world
If everybody joined in the show
In the show

I sing this song a lot. Can you tell? It’s just one of many songs that I sing every day, as I walk into the wave that God sends towards me, walking on the wave, by His grace.

Yes, ‘sing, sing while you know you’re still living…’

Holy, Holy, Holy…