• Who We Are
    • Who We Are
    • Mission
    • History
    • General Synod
    • Leadership and Ministry
    • Staff
    • United Church of Christ Board
  • What We Believe
    • What We Believe
    • Worship Ways
    • Daily Devotional
  • What We Do
    • What We Do
    • Office of the General Minister & President
    • Justice & Local Church Ministries
    • Wider Church Ministries
  • News
  • Church Finder
  • Donate Now
  • Search
UCC Logo United Church of Christ
  • Church Finder
  • Events
  • Contact
  • Store
  • Frontline Faith Portal
  • Donate Now
  • Search
  • Who We Are
    • Column
      • About
        • Mission
        • Constitution and Bylaws
        • History
          • UCC Archives
        • UCC Brand Guidelines
        • General Synod
          • Synod 33 Worship Videos
          • Past General Synods
        • Abuse Prevention
    • Column
      • Structure
        • Conferences
        • Affiliated Ministries
          • The Pension Boards
          • Cornerstone Fund
          • Insurance Board
          • The Council for Health and Human Services Ministries
          • Church Building & Loan Fund
          • Convergence
    • Column
      • Team
        • Elected Officers
        • Staff
        • United Church of Christ Board
          • Board Minutes
        • Office of General Counsel
        • UCCOSSN
    • Column
      • Career Opportunities
      • Annual Reports
  • What We Believe
    • Column
      • Worship
        • Statement of Faith of the United Church of Christ – La Declaración de Fe de la Iglesia Unida de Cristo
        • Worship Ways
        • Daily Devotional
        • Sermon Seeds
  • How We Serve
    • Column
      • Office of the General Minister & President
        • Welcome to Human Resources
          • Employee Relations Resources
        • Center for Analytics, Research & Development and Data (CARDD)
          • General CARDD FAQs
          • About The Center for Analytics, Research & Development, and Data (CARDD)
          • Authorized Minister Opt Out
          • Access UCC
          • Archived Reports
          • Assessment Resources
          • Information Policies and Requests
          • Faith Communities Today (FACT) Survey
          • MissionInsite
          • Statistics and Reports
          • Vital Signs and Statistics Blog
          • Data Hub FAQs
          • Data Hub
          • Yearbook and Directory
    • Column
      • Justice & Local Church Ministries
        • Justice
          • Faithful Action Ministries
            • Environmental Justice Ministries
            • Economic Justice
            • Racial Justice
          • Office of Public Policy & Advocacy in Washington D.C.
            • Justice and Peace Action Network
            • Our Faith Our Vote
            • Justice Training Resources
            • Action Center
          • Health and Wholeness Advocacy
            • Disabilities and Mental Health Justice
            • Encuentros Latinx
            • UCC HIV & AIDS Network-UCAN
            • LGBTQ Ministries
            • Our Whole Lives
            • Overdose and Drug Use Ministries
            • Scouting
            • Wellness Ministries
          • The Pilgrim Press & Stillspeaking Publications
    • Column
      • Justice & Local Church Ministries
        • Local Church
          • The Faith Education, Innovation and Formation (Faith INFO)Team
            • Weekly Seeds
            • Youth & Young Adults
          • Worship Resources
            • Worship Ways
            • Sermon Seeds
            • Synod 33 Worship Videos
            • Music and Liturgical Arts
          • Stewardship & Generosity Resources
          • Ministerial Excellence, Support & Authorization (MESA)
            • History, Polity, and Theology
            • Search and Call
            • Ministerial Profiles
            • Ministry Opportunities
            • Manual on Ministry
    • Column
      • Wider Church Ministries
        • Global Ministries
        • Global H.O.P.E.
          • Volunteer Ministries
          • Refugee and Migration Ministries
          • Disaster Ministries
          • Recovering Hope
        • Ecumenical and Interfaith Relations
  • Resources
  • News
    • Column
      • News
        • United Church of Christ News
    • Column
      • Columns
        • Witness for Justice
        • Into the Mystic
        • Getting to the Root of It
        • The Pollinator: UCC Environmental Justice Blog
        • UCC Roots
        • Encounters at the Well
        • Reflexiones
    • Column
      • Upcoming Events
        • Webinars
      • Subscriptions at the United Church of Christ
      • Changes & Deaths
  • Giving
    • Column
      • Donate Now
      • Ways to Give
        • Giving Tuesday
        • General Synod 2021 Thursday in Black Offering
        • General Synod 2021 Racial Justice Offering
        • Disaster Ministries: How to Give
        • Our Church’s Wider Mission
          • Our Church’s Wider Mission Basic Support
          • Strengthen the Church
          • One Great Hour of Sharing
          • Neighbors in Need
          • Christmas Fund
          • 5 for 5
    • Column
      • Ways We Give
        • Scholarships & Grants

  • Home
  • News
  • Column
  • Into the Mystic
  • The Healing Power of Music

The Healing Power of Music

by Dorhauer, John | published on Oct 11, 2021

Listen to the podcast

Read the transcript

How you ever been moved to tears by a piece of music?

Beethoven’s Moonlight Sonata, that hypnotic quietude dripping slowly into the ear and melting the heart. 

Deep meaning, righteous rage, defiance in the face of suffering all manifest as Holly Near sings “We Are a Gentle, Angry People.”

New images of a God longing to be freed from old male metaphors that no longer hold her in the Hymn “Bring Many Names.”

The pathos of Van Morrisson the silent sufferer as he confesses “I’m Not Feeling It Anymore.”

The pride of an oppressed people rising in revolutionary fervor as Sibelius’ “Finlandia” would be played by outlaws for their fellow patriots.

Rent’s “Seasons of Love”, Fiddler’s “Sunrise, Sunset”, Evita’s “Don’t  Cry for Me, Argentina”, and Camelot’s “I Loved You Once in Silence.”

Jackson Browne bearing his humiliation and regret as he sings “Don’t confront me with my failures, I had not forgotten them.”

Christmas Eve, soprano voice, dim lit sanctuary, and “O, Holy Night.”

Gladys Knight holding strong with either “The Best Things that Ever Happened to Me” or the classic, incomparable tale of commitment and love in “Midnight Train to Georgia.”

Roberta Flack’s mellifluous voice pouring lust and longing over piano chords as she sings “The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face.”

The first time I saw my child march, his trumpet proudly held aloft, a moment made by hours, days, months, and years of preparation.

Dancing with my daughter at her wedding as Paul Simon sings “never has a father loved a daughter much as I Iove you.”

That moment Mimi walked down the aisle in the wedding gown she made with her own hands as Bach serenaded her.

Earphones on, long walk in the woods, cool breeze on the cheek, blood warms and the body sweats, and then comes Nancy Griffith telling the story of her childhood friend and that opening line: “There’s a light beyond these woods, Mary Margaret.”

An outdoor amphitheater, heart pounding in anticipation of a bucket-list moment, the orchestra having tuned itself, the conductor having silenced the audience, and nary a breath disturbing the silence until those four familiar and yet mesmerizing notes strike the opening of  Beethoven’s 5th. Dah Dah Dah Dah!! Indeed.

I remember the first time I cried listening to a piece of music. I put an old .45 on the turn table and heard Peter, Paul, and Mary sing Puff the Magic Dragon. What was I? Seven? Eight. I would do it again in the back seat of the car as Terry Jacks sang “Seasons in the Sun”, Gilbert O’Sullivan sang “Alone Again, Naturally”, or the Left Banke sang “Just Walk away Renee.”

I find healing in those tears. Pain is a part of our living, and tears a part of our healing. For every artist whose voice or whose lyrics or whose melodies stir our hearts and heal our wounds I give thanks on this, our journey Into the Mystic.

Categories: Column Into the Mystic

Sign Up For Our Newsletter








Privacy Policy






Related News

The Pollinator: UCC Environmental Justice Blog

Land Acknowledgments and Churches

In recent years, it has become increasingly popular to begin public events and worship...

Read More
Into the Mystic

Kindland

Listen to the...

Read More
Witness for Justice
Witness for Justice

Climate Hope

Earlier this week, a couple of related items in my social media feed serendipitously arrived...

Read More
  • Column
    • Local Church and Conference Resource Directory
    • Mission
    • Justice & Local Church Ministries
    • General Synod Resolutions
  • Column
    • Contact
    • News
    • Store

Content on ucc.org is copyrighted by the National Setting of the United Church of Christ and may be only shared according to the guidelines outlined here.

1300 E. 9th Street, Suite 1100
Cleveland, Ohio 44114

  • Follow us on Facebook
  • Follow us on Twitter
  • Follow us on Instagram
  • Subscribe on YouTube

Donate Now


UCC Crest
© United Church of Christ 2023. Privacy Policy.
Crafted by Cornershop Creative