"My soul, give praise to the Lord; I will praise the Lord all my days, make music to my God while I live" (Ps. 146:1-2)
When you get a chance, listen to the Andante movement of Mozart’s piano concerto # 21 (Alfred Brendel recommended). I write even now as I listen, noting something subtle and sweet about this piece of classical music for piano and orchestra which opens with a bass line and violins that is both lyrical and lulling. An added lilting salvo of horns introduces a theme that inspires promise. And then the piano introduces its honeyed melody with clarity and precision, moving one to marvel at the delicate balance of artists and composer, instruments and audience, music and life. By chance, it may dawn on you as it has on me that here one is symbolically experiencing the metaphoric artistry of God in the acts of creation, redemption and sanctification.
Father God brings into being all of creation. A steady beat of artistry with space and time, stars and planets, filling the void and spilling out with a superabundance (see Dan. 3:57-88) of material where before--when there actually was no before--nothing existed. Light and dark, symmetry and balance poise as God then brings about creatures that live, imbuing them with motion and growth, sustenance and reproduction. He looked on his creation and saw that it was good (Gen. 1:18).
Then the Son, through whom and for whom all things were made and exist, brought about, to my thinking, creatures in God’s own image, with intellect and will, spunk and vivre, enthusiastic yet incomplete, awaiting perfection while learning and living out their mundane existence with the Lord guiding and carrying us in our struggles and tribulations (Isa. 46:4) until we achieve the glory of heaven.
There is an almost sorrowful richness in Mozart’s music as this particular piece plays out, reminiscent for me, of perhaps the dark just before the dawn, when man had lost his friendship with God through Adam’s fall, until the Lord’s wondrous resurrection changed the warp and woof of that fabric which is our existence, restoring the balance that was lost and has once again been regained. And just as Mozart’s second movement contemplatively closes, a bright and daring dash of sprightly music comes on the scene, as I imagine the Holy Spirit dancing with joy seeding new life and hope in the human race. Good triumphs, eternally, as we are restored the ability to once again love as we were made to love in the holy way that is God’s alone.
Ah! The wondrous effects of music, art imitating nature, beams of light refracted through glistening webs wet with the dew of grace and peace which knit together all in the divine Trinity. Words fail me at this moment because I am but a creature reflecting on creation, an image reproducing the greater picture of what is. Thank God that He fills us with insight to share the marvels of His Majesty! All power, honor and glory to Him who was, is and ever shall be! "Sing to the Lord with grateful praise; make music to our God on the harp" (Ps. 147:7).
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