Parashat Beshallach: Shabbat Shira
This shabbat in Parashat Beshallach we read "The Song of the Sea," Exodus 15, the triumphant exhalation of released slaves relievedly witnessing their captors drown on their chariots as the hand of God once more protects the Children of Abraham and Sarah. This famous section of the portion, often celebrated in congregations with special music programs, we recite liturgically daily and as the mainstay of the Torah reading on the seventh day of Pesah. 
Here the Song comprises part of the chronological history of The People of Israel as they turn their backs on slavery and turn toward Sinai and the Promised Land, escaping the enemy. It's literally a turning point in the narrative, as slaves begin to confront their destiny as God's people and the meaning of their story in world history. The God of Israel has defeated the human Pharaoh who thought himself God, a demonstration project for all the world to see. We read this parashah in the context of the unfolding events determining the destiny of the Jewish people.
But we will read Shirat Hayam, the Song of the Sea, again as the Torah reading for the seventh day of Pesah (the final day for Reform and Israeli Jews, who celebrate the biblical counting of seven days for Passover). The Torah calls the first and seventh days Mikrah Kodesh, a holy occasion, not simply part of the chronological narrative of Jewish history, but an event that occurs seven days after the new moon of spring, the day on the calendar in which Israel completed the exodus and turned toward the Land of Israel, the day when the sun and moon stand in the same position as when the event first occurred over 3 millennia ago, as the blessing says, "... who did wonders for our ancestors in those days, at this time." No longer an account of chronological history, the seventh day of Passover represents cyclical sacred time, occurring annually, in which Israel proclaims itself free from the physical and spiritual oppression of Pharaoh and chooses instead servitude to God. 
The Hebrew word for servitude avdut, a form of avodah, which is also the sacrificial system and the word for prayer. We substitute voluntary servitude to God for involuntary servitude to Pharaoh. 
Thus, The Song of the Sea takes on a different meaning when we read it the last day of Pesah. Rabbi Morris Adler wrote, "Religion at its best is an exaltation, an elevation, an inspiration, a transforming of the prose of life into poetry and song. The tradition is saying to us, 'Make of your religion a song to God.'" (The Voice Still Speaks, p. 149) 
We live in a Jewish world that primarily judges religiosity on the basis of adherence to legal formulae. But the Talmud rightly says, "Rahmana liba m'baye," "The Merciful desires the heart." When people are moved to song we witness touching God, the divine at work through the human to the world. 
Service to God is indeed work. It's difficult making God's will your will, God's desires your desires, God's vision your vision. But when that occurs, you'll stand and look back and sing, heart elevated, outside of time, and know that you have touched the eternal.