The Music In The Middle

-

There is an old story that I read recently about the semi-mythical Middle Eastern "wise" man Nasr-ed-Din--a character who often exhibited bizarre behavior in order to convey a larger truth about life, God and the universe.  

 It seems Nasr-ed-Din was sitting in the village square playing his guitar, but only playing one note--over and over again.  

 Finally, after hours of this, a man from the village approached Nasr-ed-Din and said:  "That's a nice note you are playing Mullah, but why don't you vary it a bit the way other musicians do?"  

 Nasr-ed-Din paused for a moment, gazed at the man and then said shortly:  
"Those fools, they're searching for the right note. I've found it."

 The point of the story is one that we all should take to heart:  While it's wonderful to be right and certain---sometimes our certainty sounds like one note playing over and over again... and not really at all like music.  

 I  read this bit of a poem by Wallace Stevens a few days ago, and it has been circling around my mind ever since.  He writes:  
I  do not know which to prefer,
The beauty of inflections
Or the beauty of innuendoes
The blackbird whistling
Or just after... 
How amazing is that?  

 The poet confesses that he finds just as much beauty and resonance in the unknowing as the knowing... in the middle spaces... the liminal moments in between things where nothing is all that certain.  

 It's hard for us to find beauty in uncertainty when we have a great deal at stake, isn't it?  When our future is uncertain... our feelings about God... our finances... relationships... that is when it easy for us to long for the solitary note of rightness, certainty and knowing.  

 But if there will be music in our life... if we would live in the midst of in-between moments of symphony or foot-stomping dance tunes... if we would hear in our unknowing the crunch of guitar and driving bass... if we would be thrilled by the sing-song, beats of hip-hop liminality... 

 Then we need to admit that the middle spaces are beautifully filled with a melody and rhythm all their own. 

 And maybe that is where the most incredible music is created and performed.  

 May you discover the beauty of uncertainty and find music there that fills your soul with joy.  And may the grace and peace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you now and always. Amen.  

Comments

Post a Comment

Thanks for leaving a comment! If you comment Anonymously, your comment will summarily be deleted.

Popular posts from this blog

Rapha & Yada - "Be Still & Know": Reimagined

-
Image
One of the most well-used verses in the Bible comes to us from Psalm 46:10, which reads like this:  He says, “Be still, and know that I am God;     I will be exalted among the nations,     I will be exalted in the earth.” That one line---"Be still, and know that I am God"---finds its way into greeting cards, wall art, church signs and the like.  And it sounds so nice, doesn't it?  But what does it actually mean ? What does it mean to be still  and know  that God is God?  Well, to dig deeper into that phrase to see what it's really saying, I'm going to have to bust out some Hebrew--so, don't hold it against me. The Hebrew word that's used here for the phrase "be still" is the word  rapha. And get this... It means "to hang limp, sink down, be feeble."  That's a heckuva lot different than what we usually take the phrase "be still" to mean, right? I don't know about you, but whenever I have heard that verse
Read more

Wuv... True Wuv...

-
Image
Go ahead. Ask me what my favorite "chick flick" is. The Princess Bride , that's what.  The pic at the top of this entry gave it away, I know. There are three reasons why it is my favorite "chick flick." 1. It's not a chick flick.  2. The only kissing is at the end of the movie... where it's supposed to be. 3. It has Andre the Giant in it. Any of these reasons could stand alone in their own right as pretty dang valid reasons why The Princess Bride is atop my list of romantic films.  But when the aforementioned reasons are lumped together, I don't see how anyone could argue against it. There is a scene in The Princess Bride that makes me giggle a whole lot...the wedding scene where Peter Cook, playing a priest with a speech impediment presides over Princess Buttercup's almost wedding to the evil Chris Sarandon (and I hear he's still pretty evil).   Here it is. Wuv...  true wuv...  gotta love that. I've been reading and re-re
Read more

The Lord Needs It: Lessons From A Donkey

-
Image
This Sunday is Palm Sunday---the beginning of Holy Week. It's also one of those Sundays when you can't ignore the church calendar and just preach whatever you want.  I am sure that some people do just that, but they probably aren't Presbyterian, and I am sure that the liturgical rhythm of the Church is not first and foremost in their mind. And they probably have had no trouble at all working on their sermon this week. I'm not one to blindly follow tradition, but there are some things that you just don't do---and you can't just ignore  the story of Jesus' Triumphal Entry into Jerusalem on Palm Sunday.   But this leads to a bit of a quandary...  In the short time I have been doing this whole preaching thing I have gone through the Palm Sunday story a few times.  After a while you sort of wonder if your congregation has heard your Palm Sunday riff a few too many times. That sermon needs to get preached, though.  While we celebrate the cheers and pal
Read more