Theme Songs

Earle Hagen died earlier this year at the age of 88. You may not recognize his name, but you know his music. He played trombone with the Benny Goodman and Tommy Dorsey orchestras, and he composed the theme songs for several TV shows including "The Dick Van Dyke Show," "I Spy," "The Mod Squad," and "Gomer Pyle." Hagen composed original music for more than 3,000 television episodes and movies and he won an Emmy in 1968, but his best-known effort may have been writing the theme song for "The Andy Griffith Show." (He whistled the tune that plays while the credits are rolling.) Hagen's autobiography was called Memoirs of a Famous Composer Nobody Ever Heard of.

Theme songs have a way of sticking in our minds. TV watchers instantly recognize the signature tunes for classic shows like "Mission: Impossible" and "The Beverly Hillbillies" or the electronic twangs of the "American Idol" theme. Billy Graham used "Just As I Am" so often in his crusades that the song provided the title for his autobiography. The National Football League reaches out to its fan base every time the music asks, "Are you ready for some football?"

Movies and Broadway shows have spawned unforgettable love songs: "Tara's Theme" from Gone With the Wind. "Somewhere" from West Side Story. "A Time for Us" from Romeo and Juliet. "The Music of the Night," the dark but beautiful song from The Phantom of the Opera.

Great music sets the tone at wedding ceremonies. Who doesn't get a little misty-eyed when the bride makes her entrance while the organ plays Wagner's "Bridal Chorus" or when the father of the bride sings "Sunrise, Sunset," from Fiddler on the Roof? There's something inspiring about a great wedding song like Steven Curtis Chapman's "I Will Be Here" or Kenny Rogers' "Through the Years."

Does the music of marriage have to fade when the bride and groom grow older? Can there be a recurring melody—a lasting harmony—that holds a couple together through the twists and turns of their mutual life story?

Long ago a group of songwriters known as the Sons of Korah composed a theme song to be performed at the wedding of the king. "My heart is stirred by a noble theme," one of the lyricists began this beautiful poem, "as I recite my verses for the king" (Psalm 45:1). But the Psalm's noble theme pointed beyond any ordinary king or human marriage and prophetically honored the Lord God and his Son, the Messiah. The songwriter wrote, "Your throne, O God, will last for ever and ever"—words that ultimately find fulfillment in Jesus Christ (see Hebrews 1:8).

That's where our marriages can find lasting fulfillment, too. Christ himself needs to be our theme song through all the seasons of life. During the "spring" of giddy excitement and difficult adjustments, the Lord is the stabilizer and the foundation of the newlyweds' covenant commitment. During the "summer" of marriage, the Lord gives wisdom and direction for work, parenting, conflict resolution, and personal growth. During the "autumn" season, the Lord can fill a husband and wife with the fruit of the Spirit even as the first signs of aging appear. And during the "winter" of marriage, with each passing anniversary the Lord can fill a married couple with rich memories and hope for eternity as they conclude life's journey together.

Even when our lives hit some sour notes, the Lord provides a song worth singing. We can agree with the Psalmist who told the Lord, "Your decrees are the theme of my song wherever I lodge" (Psalm 119:54).