Dr. William A. Ritter
First United Methodist Church
Birmingham, Michigan
Scripture: John 20:24-31
May 4, 2003
Given the incredible talents Chris and Doris Hall possess, along with the incredible blessings Chris and Doris Hall bring, I would not….even for a moment….seek to be frivolous at their expense. Meaning that this morning’s title (“Are Chris and Doris Hall in Their Right Minds?”) is a serious question rather than a tongue-in-cheek quip. A question I intend to answer. With an answer that is chock-full of meaning.
The question assumes that you know who Chris and Doris Hall are….namely, the marital duo of Director and Organist who have given us 13 wonderful years from the choir room to the console. And the question also assumes that you care about their mental state. Because, if you don’t, my answer is meaningless.
For sake of argument, there are a number of ways in which Chris and Doris could be in other than their right minds. They could be feverish, given the recognizable connection between high temperatures and delirium. They could be drunk but, in paraphrasing the Pentecost story, it is only the third hour of the day (and each has performed flawlessly to this point). Or they could be sliding slowly into senility, but we wouldn’t have let them come out here if we believed such to be the case. So let us assume that none of these things is true, even as we dismiss those few of you who believe all musicians have a screw loose, and who wouldn’t want your daughter to marry one….or become one, for that matter.
By now, most of you have surmised that I am using the phrase “right mind” as a synonym for the more technical phrase “right brain.” Which means that my title should read: “Are Chris and Doris Hall in Their Right Brains?” Thirty years ago, that would have made no sense. But it makes a great deal of sense now, given fairly common agreement that different hemispheres of the brain specialize in different kinds of thinking….especially the so-called “higher parts of the brain” known as the left and right hemispheres of the cerebral cortex. All of us have both a left brain and a right brain. And all of us use both our left brain and our right brain. But each hemisphere has its own style and, to the degree that we are either left or right brain dominant, we will reflect those styles in the way we think, perceive and interpret the world around us.
For example, it is the unique ability of the left brain to think about thinking. To whatever degree you are mildly interested in the argument I am building (and can’t wait to see how it comes out), you are probably most at home in the left hemisphere of your brain. But to the degree that you are feeling lost, falling asleep, or couldn’t care less, you are probably right-brain dominant and wishing I could show you how all of this fits some bigger picture.
For those who want this whole thing capsulized in a sentence, Robert Ornstein maintains that the left brain hemisphere is typically involved in rational and propositional functions, while the right brain hemisphere is involved in aesthetic and intuitive functions. Broken down further, the language of the left hemisphere is linearity, rationality and logic, while the language of the right hemisphere is pictures, symbols and dreams. Left brain thinking is reality-grounded and oriented toward problem solving (“step one, step two, step three”), while right brain thinking is holistic, intuitive and visual (as in “what’s the big picture here?”). But of even greater interest is the fact that right brain thinking is often associated with singing, music, dance, color sensitivity and feelings.
Ask a left-brained person why something is true, and she will say: “Because it has been demonstrated (proven) to me.” Ask a right-brained person why something is true and he will say: “Because I just know it….get it….see it….grasp it.” Ask yourself: “Which contains more truth, a lab report or a poem?” Right-brain dominant people will almost always say: “A poem.”
Over the years, I have sensed a movement in my own life toward right-brain dominance. Which explains why I tend to preach in images, word-pictures and stories. You have probably noticed that I talk a lot with my hands, as if trying to draw for you what I am saying to you. The funny thing is, I am a terrible artist. But I love Paul Pearsall’s line when he says that “us hand-gesturers may simply have a brain with more to say than the mouth can handle.” Notice how often I say to you: “I want you to see this.” And notice how seldom I say to you: “I want you to follow this.”
So let’s get biblical. Consider the Greek mind versus the Hebrew mind. Greek thinking was propositional….philosophical….carefully rooted in logic. Hebrew thinking was visual….image driven….creatively rooted in stories. More to the point, consider the Christmas truth….the truth of the Incarnation….the idea of God becoming embodied (as in taking on a body).
In the Gospel of John, the writer is addressing the Greek mind….a logical, propositional mind…. a left-hemisphere dominant mind. So he argues thusly:
In the beginning was the Word.
The Word was with God.
The Word was God.
(and) The Word that was God made everything.
(meaning that) Nothing you can see was made in any other way….or by anyone else.
(therefore) All life was traceable to Him.
(but) All life did not know Him.
(so, in order to address the problem) The Word, which was God, became flesh.
All told, a good, step-by-step, left-brained speech. But the Jewish mind, being different, required a right-brained speech. Fortunately, we have one.
How did God become incarnate? Well, let me tell you. There was this 13-year-old girl….see….who was engaged but not married. And she was told by a voice that she was going to become pregnant. Even as her boyfriend heard another voice (in a dream, no less) which told him: “Son, don’t listen to your head and divorce her. Listen to your heart and hang in there with her.”
But left-brained people hear that and say: “That’s really quite lovely, but it doesn’t make sense.” Leading right-brained people to say: “But can’t you see what it’s trying to say?”
Thomas, of course, is the patron saint of all left brainers. Jesus says to him: “I’ll be going soon (meaning, I’ll be dying soon). But I’ll prepare things, so that (in time) where I am, you’ll be. And you know the way where I am going.”
To which Thomas says:
I don’t. Know the way, I mean. But I have an idea. I have a magic marker in my pocket. Better yet, we’ve got a white paper cloth on the table. I don’t think they’ll mind if you draw on the cloth, given that they’re just going to wad it up and throw it away when we leave. So draw me the way. Sketch me a map, a graph, a chart. Make me an outline. Create a blueprint. Better yet, take my laptop and generate a print-out. Mapquest, I think they call it. Better yet, let’s both of us go down to the office of the AAA lady. She knows where everybody is going. Once we walk out of her office with that little trip-ticky thing, there won’t be any mystery at all. The Way will be clear.
To which a left-brain dominant person would say: “Exactly.”
Which is why Thomas can’t accept the Resurrection without physically confronting the holes in Jesus’ hands and feet, thereby proving that the story his friends told him is true. Which is also why Jesus said to Thomas: “All right, I proved it. You got it. Blessed, however, will be those who ‘get it’ without my needing to prove it.”
Why is all of this important? Because the Bible is far more visual than logical, that’s why. Except for the Apostle Paul, the Bible does not argue its case. The Bible is largely content to tell its truth in stories. Isn’t it ironic that virtually every time Jesus says something about the Kingdom, he begins: “Well, you could say it’s like this.” Then he tells a story about a lost coin, a wayward kid, a sower seeding several samples of soil, or some silly women who allow their lamps to go out while waiting for a groom to show up. But if you are right-brain dominant, those stories make perfect sense to you.
“Well,” you say, “what has any of this to do with Chris and Doris Hall? Did you forget about them?” No, I didn’t forget about them. And yes, they are in their right minds….much of the time. Thankfully so. Because music….don’t you see….communicates a right-brained gospel….in a right-brained manner….to right-brained people….in ways that nothing else can or does. Which is why, when you leave the service and say, “The music this morning was heavenly,” you are not saying “I liked it,” or that (technically speaking) it was a nine on a musicologist’s scale of ten, so much as you are saying: “As a result of this morning’s music, I experienced heaven.”
Which is why Amos Wilder once wrote: “Before the message must be the vision. Before the sermon, the hymn. And before the prose, the poem.” And which is why it has become clearer and clearer to me that good musicians….and good instruments for musicians to play….are not so much luxuries for the church as necessities. For as much as I lament the disappearance of good preachers coming down the pike, I absolutely anguish over the fact that good musicians are evaporating at a faster rate than the preachers.
But apart from the issue of good musicians, the place where right-brained religion begins (in virtually every church) is with its hymnal….to the degree that I have had preachers tell me they got into far more trouble over the hymns they chose than the texts they used. As a case in point, every church I have served has had people in it who left some other place and joined my place because, in the other place, the preacher wouldn’t let them sing Christmas carols until Christmas Eve. The preacher’s argument ran something like this: “Advent comes before Christmas. And Advent carols express the theology of expectation, while Christmas carols express the theology of Incarnation.” Which is a good left-brained argument. And may well be the correct left-brained argument. Those preachers learned that argument in seminary where they were taught by left-brained professors (because who other than the left-brainers could successfully navigate a Ph.D. program in theology?). But which leads angry right-brained congregants to respond: “I don’t know the Advent carols. I don’t like the Advent carols. I can’t sing the Advent carols. And I can’t get ‘into’ Christmas by means of the Advent carols.”
Hymnal fights are often horrible fights. Because, in a world where control of things is increasingly being turned over to professionals….including control over how to read and interpret the Bible….the hymnal is the closest thing we have to a “Handbook of People’s Religion.”
But let me close by returning, one last time, to Chris and Doris Hall who, make no mistake about it, work out of both sides of the brain….along with both hands….and (in Doris’ case) both feet. But if, musically speaking, they didn’t have highly-developed right brains, we wouldn’t love them like we do. Given that in a world filled with note writers, note readers and note players, they are also note feelers. They feel the composer’s intent. They feel the choir’s capabilities. And they feel the congregation’s need. So that the music derived from their leading is not only played as it is meant to be played….and sung as it is meant to be sung….but felt as it is meant to be felt.
Chris and Doris are many things to us. Composers. Performers. Directors. Programmers. Administrators. Pastoral befrienders. Not to mention wet nurses to a large number of egos (including their own). But they are also responsible for no small number of shivers in this room. Which, when I feel them, I choose to identify as movements of the Holy Spirit. I am talking about shivers that go right past my ear (made of tin) to touch my heart (made of tissue).
And because they are here, there are even Sundays when I sing better than I am able to sing…. believe more than I am prone to believe….and “know” that it is well with my soul, when all outward appearances would suggest it is not.
Note: This morning’s sermon was delivered following a performance of Leonard Bernstein’s Chichester Psalms, sung in Hebrew by our Chancel Choir and accompanied by a 15-piece orchestra. First Church is blessed by great music every Sunday, but this was a truly special occasion. It seemed to call for an appreciative response, suggesting the wonderful ministry provided by church musicians.
