The sound of music
A couple weeks ago I shared with you my experience at a rural church near Portland, ME. There our ukulele group “Ukuleles Heal the World” provided worship music. I remarked on the simplicity of the cross at the front of the church, it being made of two moderately sized tree branches connected in the shape of a cross, held together at ninety degrees by simple twine at the juncture of the branches.
At that time some additional thoughts stirred. They may tread on some deep theological disagreements so let’s not go there. Instead, let’s open our minds to the possibility that the simple wooden cross is as a work to be viewed as inspirational, not definitional.
When I looked at the horizontal branch, it suggested our humanity, society, the Pharisees during their lifetimes, feeling the existence of God on high yet focused on our following His teachings in this world as primary. This could be thought of as the importance of what we do, how we live our lives during our lifetimes and the need to repair the world. When I looked at the vertical branch, it prompted looking up, toward God up there, and down, making me think of Yeshua descending from Heaven, He literally being bound on that cross. This could be thought of as the importance of having faith, in God above and as experienced through Yeshua’s Divine Presence with us as well. Yet the two branches, horizontal and vertical, are inextricably bound together at their center, that binding necessary as the heart of the matter.
No suffering Jesus appeared on the simple cross at that church. Yet in my mind I pictured Him there. It was only through His suffering that God’s Divinity through Yeshua could be felt, palpably, intimately by us. Both branches united create our ability to feel His Presence in these multi-faceted ways. Without that physical connection at their intersection, at the heart, we are often blinded and cannot see the need for both pieces of the whole. Although this truth was always there, the cross symbolic even in other cultures and religions, God met us where we were through His Son, Yeshua to reveal His Presence even moreso. It took Yeshua’s suffering and death on that cross for us to even begin to understand the mystery, to get it even rudimentarily. It took His suffering and death on that cross for our sins to be taken on and forgiven.
I didn’t share these thoughts with you in the previous encouragement though they were inspired by that church visit. My forgetting to share them at that time now seems providential.
This past Sunday, in God’s perfect timing, as our ukulele group led worship in another rural church, additional inspirations arose that beautifully connect the two church experiences. This week I was reminded of how healing and uplifting music is to our spirits, our souls. It’s actually quite a miraculous healing that I, who prior to finding Yeshua, was not even comfortable saying the name “Jesus” and had only been in a church a handful of times for weddings and funerals. Yet in these days, especially with the opportunities to play with “Ukuleles Heal the World” at churches, I feel so comfortable there as a Jewish believer in Yeshua. Love for my Christian brothers and sisters has replaced memories of fear, persecution, and anti-Semitism that I had previously felt when seeing a cross in a church.
When listening or creating music, if we don’t let our differences divide us, we can feel His Presence through music that is not even part of our own cultural or religious experience. As we learn to love others and appreciate the differences, our Abba fills us with even more of His Love and so expands our ability to love others who are different than us. What a blessing to be open to His teachings throughout life’s journey. What a blessing how He grows us.
As if to punctuate the musings, as I was getting ready for our uke group to play I was listening to Chagigah Radio, the Sunday morning Jewish music show, on WERS. Of course I couldn’t help dancing to the many upbeat Klezmer, Israeli, and American Jewish selections as I was doing so. Music just does that to me. Then our Abba provided the song on Chagigah that sums it all up:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fmfxlzqEucY
May our hearts be blessed with the sound of music, an instrument of love of the Great Healer.
Shabbat shalom.
Diane