Wednesday, March 24, 2010

Devotional for Music Majors

h/t to Bob Moody from the PIPORG-L listserv.

THURSDAY, March 18 (Cyril of Jerusalem)

1 Corinthians 12:12-26. For just as the body is one and has many members, and all the members of the body, though many, are one body, so it is with Christ. For in the one Spirit we were all baptized into one body.

Watching an orchestra, I noticed three things. First, the unchangeable oboe sounded the pitch and all the other players tuned to it. Second, the musicians each concentrated on their own instrument. Third, they watched the written score before them but played according to the interpretation of the conductor. What a fine parable for the church! Composers writing for an orchestra don't want a hundred clarinets. They call for families of varying voices, in groups both large and small--all playing in harmony. In the church it doesn't matter whether all think alike, but that we love one another, find our own faults rather than our neighbor's, be in tune with the congregation, and follow the score as directed by our conductor.

We must practice alone, but in a concert only one score can be played at a time. Someone must arrange the program if the church is to produce harmony and not discord. Let us keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace, rather than the uniformity of our opinions in the bond of prejudice. (1937)

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