Will your anchor hold?

An emphasis on rights leads to a disregard for duties. Duties set a limit on rights because they point to the anthropological and ethical framework of which rights are a part, in this way ensuring that they do not become license. — Adrian Pabst

“Will your anchor hold in the storms of life, when the clouds unfold their wings of strife?”

So goes the first line of a tune I’ve been singing a lot recently. It’s a total banger—a hymn from the 19th century with a deliciously singable chorus, which I hope you’ll join me in singing!

I’m traveling by myself for a few weeks and find myself turning to songs as if they were friends to keep me company. What a marvelous thing to be able to make music, even by yourself, even if it isn’t very good :))

But singing this old hymn is also a reminder that singing has long been the most effective mode of spiritual communication. Sure, preaching a good sermon is good—but writing a hummable tune with a punchy chorus is a lot better.

There’s a reason we learn little songs like the alphabet song when we’re small—it’s easier to remember information when we sing it. Indeed, ask caregivers who support the elderly and they’ll tell you that the last thing people remember is music.

Songs are never just decorative, they are formative. The music we learn helps us become who we are. The American jazz singer and poet Jeanne Lee once said that the Black musical tradition gave her “a ground to stand on and move from.” Music can be the method of communicating and embedding a moral foundation that enriches and enlivens us.

Shouldn’t that mean we are intentional about the music we learn? Might we not need new songs to help us find our way together?

I’m all ears if you have any new moral foundation songs that you’re singing…