Come to me, all whose work is hard, whose load is heavy;

and I will give you relief.

Bend your necks to my yoke, and learn from me,

for I am gentle and humble-hearted;

and your souls will find relief.

Mt 11.28-29

 

Human existence, rich in events, stories, gain and loss, is yet not saved by technical achievement. Only in Jesus Christ can we be recreated, made whole and saved. We long for beauty, goodness and perfection with Him. But perfection of the Kingdom is not of this world. Our very nature is an ensemble of deeply rooted contradictions, misapprehensions, dependencies. In truth, to attempt to reach perfection on earth is more of hell than of paradise!

We humble ourselves standing at the cross.

We rejoice beyond description in the morning of the resurrection.

Essence of Music: Re-enacting the drama

 If you have ears, then hear.

How can I describe this generation?

They are like children sitting in the market-place 

and shouting at each other,

“We piped for you and you would not dance.”

"We wept and wailed, and you would not mourn.”

Mt 11.15b- 17

 

Music is to be grasped as spiritual in essence. It is not only sound, notes and rhythm. Inseparable from human interpretation, it is unique as a means to utter and reveal man’s drama: his story is told, his spirit, soul and heart respond. When drama depicts authentic portrayal of human search, it reaches its goal, spiritually. When truth is cut off from drama, it becomes sentimental. Sentimentalism is void and cruel, it does not tell about the human story, but only some of the easy effects are selected. Art deprived of truth becomes decorative, superficial, cliché, stereotype. Collections of effects are today computerized and replayed on the market-place to work on human emotions emptied from their real life content.

Music and youth : The meeting point:

[My servant] will not strive, he will not shout,

nor his voice be heard in the streets.

He will not snap off the broken reed,

nor snuff out the smouldering wick,

until he leads justice on to victory.

In him the nations shall place their hope.

Mt 12.19-21

 

We should depart, adults and youth, from our meeting point: a place where we start the journey together. Not a selective, but only a real human musical journey. Open the way with prayer: pray about our different values, about real wood, iron, water, electricity… Pray about our differences, our similarities, our reactions, our understandings, our uniqueness, our identities. Pray for inclusiveness, togetherness, compassion, acceptance, forgiveness. Pray about our hope: that house, that home, that church we want to build, that Name we want to confess. Forget about our own great cleverness and rich knowledge, and go with empty hands to those who thirst. Rejoice and weep with them. Instruct them of God’s Word, and show them the music in it.

Wait for the natural selection of singers to work itself out.

You will then see fresh waterfalls after a while.

That musical phrase: A mystery of good or evil

For John came, neither eating nor drinking, 

and they say, “He is possessed.”

The Son of Man came eating and drinking,

and they say,

“look at him! a glutton and a drinker, a friend of… sinners!”

And yet, God’s wisdom is proved right by its results.

Mt 11.18-19

 

As a first step, accept their music and work it out. Experiment with them if it is good stuff, good drama. See if it is workable. If it is drama, if it will portray joy, tears, hope, despair, tenderness, love, hatred, the Kingdom…? Good music should! Then, when they ask you for new music, take your musical phrase and work it out. Work at it the same way, musically, hum it, clap it, say it out loud, play with vowels, consonants, high pitch, middle pitch, low pitch, melody, harmony, rhythm. Bring forth the drama. Turn that phrase in all possible ways until it becomes integral part of intellect, heart and soul. Constantly adjust, improve, and link it to its expressive power. Human beings are more fulfilled by dramatic utterance than by perfection of art. The choir will become more and more happy with good music.

If there is lack of repertoire, create, invent, adapt, translate, research, listen!

If there is no practice room, use the church kitchen. Sound needs to be uttered first; comfortable sitting comes next.

Use all your talents, intuition, imagination, abilities, to make things work.

Believe in your choir, build up their confidence, their beauty, their needs for beauty. Love each other.

Build the liturgy: this is real drama.

Truth, goodness, beauty, and post-modernism

… The kingdom of Heaven has been subjected to violence and violent men are seizing it.

Mt 11.12b

 

We need to explain, lecture, preach, pray and create awareness about changes in our Western culture today. Help them discuss about,

Decline of creativity; impurity is privileged; sensorial stimulation dominates as a value; common and artistic spheres have ceased to be separated; marketing pushes to choose, to take responsibilities; recognition of hedonistic ethics; identity is reinforced by consumption; valorization of narcissistic logics; equality of values is legitimized and tends to be placed on the same plan; truth is questioned as being an intangible value; in an over-informed society, the individual is challenged to conform at all times to changing models…[2]

 

Post-modernism is one of the most powerful cultural conditioning to subvert moral and spiritual values in our society.

The musical offering

…The deaf hear,

the dead are raised to life,

the poor are hearing the good news.

Mt 11.5b

 

When at long last, simple music, or complex music, will be publicly presented, you will all together recognize in your common efforts that music is only great when made of hard work and humility. And it is only a tool, a fantastic and powerful tool, an infinite gift, to sing the story of God’s kingdom to the poor.

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