As we start our exploration of the 1932 Christian Science Hymnal this month, isn't it lovely that music and harps appear in this week's Christian Science Bible Lesson.
I wondered what David's harp might sound like. UK composer Michael Levy's discussion on the topic is helpful.
When I looked up the word harp in the Concordance to Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures by Mary Baker Eddy (actually Concord online) i found this interesting passage in the essay "One Point of View - the New Woman", re-printed from The New Century, Boston Feb. 1895:
"She is as full of beautiful possibilities as a perfect harp, and she realizes that all the harmonies of the universe are in herself, while her own soul plays upon magic strings the unwritten anthems of love." (Pulpit and Press, Mary Baker Eddy, p. 81: 20-23)
The stirring melody and emphatic rhythmic pulse, along with the rousing lyrics of hymn 200 provide an example of the blessings of music. This hymn includes a "harp" reference in the third verse:
O daughter of Zion, the power that hath saved thee, / Extolled with the harp and the timbrel should be;
Then shout, for the foe is destroyed that enslaved thee; / Th' oppressor is vanquished, and Zion is free.
Let's all sing today.
Julie Swannell
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