II. Sour Notes

the noisy sea of tones comes to a standstill almost instantly as the Composer taps the podium with his baton. the hall is dark, save a lone spotlight illuminating the Maestro Himself. there is an anticipatory hush that holds the audience, as well as the orchestra, captive. the silence is thick and eternal. and then, with one sudden flick of His hand, the music begins.

in the act of creation, God simply began to conduct His masterpiece. creation was not the actual process of composition. in the silence and darkness of eternity before creation, that place our temporal minds cannot comprehend, the Maestro had already written His symphony. when the word "Light" shone from His lips, He was only beginning to perform the music that was already written down. He took up His baton, and the cosmological orchestra played the notes that were in front of them. the first movement was performed immaculately, without a flaw.

but part of the beauty of this symphony was the allowance by the Composer Himself for improvisation. the melodies, the dynamics, the time signatures were all scrawled down in His unmistakable handwriting; but every member of the orchestra was given the freedom to stray from the score. and almost immediately, they did.

yet every time a sour note is hit, or an instrument comes in late, the Composer somehow, miraculously, works the mistake into His composition. it is not clumsy or unpleasant on the ears, but rather intensely purposeful and artistic. it's as though He knew where the orchestra would occasionally wander from the written score. and in His genius He made accommodations for error. no matter how badly an individual player stumbles over the piece, every flub and shrieking violin is worked into the beauty of the music. it is nothing short of masterful.

the music never stops. the Composer continues to tirelessly, effortlessly, direct the orchestra. and the music will continue, despite incompetent instrumentalists and grating blunders, until the Maestro reaches the finale of His masterpiece. and no eyes but His have seen that part of the score.

the echo of a tune we have not heard

I. Overture

the purpose of this composition is to put thoughts into words, in such a way that will hopefully benefit and encourage the reader.
the goal is to write a series of short essays that, although diverse, will carry a common thread.
the project seems daunting. only time will tell if i possess the stamina and/or skills to see it through to completion.
the writing is as much an exercise in my own spiritual growth and compositional refinement as it is an intended aid for the reader.

the idea of God as the Great Composer has been boiling in my mind for a long time now. my love of orchestral music and my adoration of composer John Towner Williams made the comparison inevitable: creation and redemption as the composition, us as the musicians, and He as the composer and conductor…the Maestro.

i hope that the analogy is not perceived as irreverent or silly. i do not believe that it is. like everything else in our lives, God created music. every tune, every note, every scale, every harmony comes from the Creator’s imagination. He has entrusted musical talent to some – not all – and has given exceptional genius to only a handful of men throughout history. music is, in its purest form, of God.

yet music differs from other elements of creation. like the lightning storm in the night sky and the vast expanse of a natural canyon, music is a product of the Maker’s limitless and breathtaking imagination. music is so often the vehicle of man’s worship to his creator. we express our gratitude, our longing, and our sorrow to God through song. music, it seems, is a language more divine than words.

and so, in these essays, music is both the literal subject and a metaphor for the subject.

literally:
i believe that we can glorify God through music, that we can communicate with God through music, and that He can communicate with us through music. a beautiful melody has the power to provide a glimpse into the heart of God, simply because that is where the melody originated. the heart and imagination of God can penetrate our own hearts through music where no letter or doctrine could; there is a place for both. music is both emotional and cerebral, evidence of both the simplest part of our humanity and the highest part of our intelligence. it is inside of us because He put it there. it is the passage through which He can reach us when all other entries are obstructed. it is the place where we meet.

metaphorically:
long ago, God put pencil to paper and orchestrated the most beautiful work conceivable. every note, every chord, every instrumentation – from beginning to end – was perfect. and then, In The Beginning, He picked up the conductor’s wand and the music started. it began very dark, and then suddenly became blindingly bright. the opening passage was simple and beautiful, but soon fell into a minor key. and yet, hidden in this tragic turn was a quiet hope…the hint of musical resolution. it twisted and turned, escalating to near resolution and then plummeting down into the depths of despair. and then, at the very center of this masterpiece, the music exploded into glorious triumph. the minor key resolved into a major key.

but the piece was not over. the Great Composer knew that this composition needed to continue. and, through more twists and turns, the central theme kept reappearing in variations. all building up to some sublime climax…

forgive me if i am being indulgent.

just as God has placed eternity in the hearts of men, He has also placed music in my heart. it is where i see Him most clearly, where i know Him most intimately. His beating heart is hidden in the melodies and harmonies of every beautiful song. and it is my deep desire that i can use the written word to capture at least some of these abstract ideas. may God breathe purpose into these silly essays. may traces of the Great Composition be heard in my pitiful experiment.

i must acknowledge the sources of the inspiration for this experiment. besides the Composer Himself, i have been inspired by the music of John Williams and the writings of C.S. Lewis. it was, in fact, Lewis who planted the seed in my head; the idea of meeting God in music and touching the eternal:

“In speaking of this desire for our own far-off country, which we find in ourselves even now, I feel a certain shyness. I am almost committing an indecency. I am trying to rip open the inconsolable secret in each one of you – the secret which hurts so much that you take your revenge on it by calling it names like Nostalgia and Romanticism and Adolescence; the secret also which pierces with such sweetness that when, in very intimate conversation, the mention of it becomes imminent, we hide and cannot tell, though we desire to do both.

We cannot tell it because it is a desire for something that has never actually appeared in our experience. We cannot hide it because our experience is constantly suggesting it, and we betray ourselves like lovers at the mention of a name. Our commonest expedient is to call it beauty and behave as if that had settled the matter...The books or the music in which we thought the beauty was located will betray us if we trust to them; it was not in them, it only came through them, and what came through them was longing.

These things – the beauty, the memory of our own past – are good images of what we really desire; but if they are mistaken for the thing itself, they turn into dumb idols, breaking the hearts of their worshippers. For they are not the thing itself; they are only the scent of a flower we have not found, the echo of a tune we have not heard, news from a country we have never yet visited.

Do you think I am trying to weave a spell? Perhaps I am; but remember your fairy tales. Spells are used for breaking enchantments as well as for inducing them.”

the next movement will commence shortly.