The Messiah

For the last three years, I have played The Messiah by Handel. It's most famous song is the "Hallelujah Chorus." I'm always playing so I never really pay attention to the words. This year I tried to pay more attention. This is an awesome and inspiring piece of music that tells the story of Christ's birth, death, and resurrection. I have to say, it is hard to play with gladness when you lose your music right before a performance. But God's grace abounds, especially when one of the other cellists runs to retrieve an extra copy from the music building (which is located across campus) in a tux. He made it back right before we tuned.I had friends and family show up, and in my opinion, this was the best performance we've done since I have been playing with this group.It was beautiful. I feel encouraged.

Practice

I had a friend ask me how I'm doing spiritually this week. Instead of answering the question directly, I kind of made up some excuses that did not really answer his question. I guess I was dodging the question because I was hiding the truth.

The sermon tonight at church was about God's comfort. The pastor told us that if we feel God's absence, that is evidence of his presence at other times in our lives.

I think this gave me hope.

Tonight, I got to play cello with a band that I absolutely love. They lead worship on Sunday nights at the church I attend. I have to admit that worship is definitely a state of mind, and it is difficult for me to truly worship God when I play cello. The reason is because I'm thinking more about the music than my state of mind. I can count on my hand the number of times I have truly worshipped God using my cello. But I can say that those times were some of the most meaningful experiences I have ever had as a musician. They come few and far between, but because music is a discipline, the more I practice, the better I become, the better my fingers remember their positions, the less I have to think about what I'm doing, and the more likely it is that I start to think outside of what I am doing physically and move in to a state of meditation. In this state of mind I am able to think beyond the music and think about what the music means. It is in this state of mind that I am able to worship God with all my heart. Like music, worship is a discipline. This is why I practice.