[Propertalk] 5 Epiphany a 2017 - part 2

[Robert P Morrison]

Second part of the draft,
Bob

	 But here’s an interesting thought. If the pianist is invisible, if
the conductor and the other players cannot be seen by the player of
the piano, then a way has to be found to coordinate the two so that
the sound may blend into a complete whole. Nowadays, that’s done by
having a camera focussed on the conductor and a screen in front of or
near the pianist. Electronic gear is marvelous. But that may not
always be readily available, so each must learn to be sensitive to the
other. The conductor – God, if you will – has to give the signal,
producing music from those who can see God. Meanwhile, the off-stage,
invisible pianist has to listen and be able to react even in that
instant before the conductor’s baton has reached its mark.

	 Obviously, we are not God. Well, maybe I shouldn’t say
“obviously”, but it’s true, regardless of what some people may
think. But we’re NOT! That means that are musicians, hidden or not,
who have to learn to be so sensitive that we can respond at the speed
of light, or faster.

	 John Stott wrote that we as the church have to be aware of “the
standards, the values and the priorities of the kingdom of God. Too
often,” he said, “the church has turned away from this challenge
and sunk into a bourgeois, conformist respectability. … Only when
the Christian community lives by Christ’s manifesto will the world
be attracted and God be glorified.” 5

	 The Gospel IS supposed to shock us as well as inspire us. It’s not
intended to be comfortable reading and while, superficially, it may
appear to be quite readily understood – like “unless you’re
better than the authorities, you won’t get to live in the kingdom”
– there’s so much with which we must continue to wrestle in order
to find out, for instance, just what righteousness entails.
Unfortunately, though, Jesus said that He didn’t come to tell us to
put away all thoughts about the prophets. What we heard in Isaiah’s
prophecy, then, is all too relevant. The ancient servant of God
pointed out quite plainly, speaking for God “ … I choose: to loose
the bonds of injustice, to undo the thongs of the yoke, to let the
oppressed go free, …” We are “to share (our) bread with the
hungry, and bring the homeless poor into (our) home.” I mean, any
more blunt than that and we might need to have a couple of physicians
and medics on duty every Sunday morning.

	 Righteousness, according to God’s call, is to stretch us almost to
the point of breaking, something we’re SO uncomfortable to address,
because it seems so extreme.

	Jonathan Sacks, the retired Chief Rabbi of Britain, pointed out that
Judaism is the rarest of phenomena: a faith based on asking questions,
sometimes deep and difficult ones that seem to shake the very
foundations of faith itself.” 6 I’d say that Christianity is built
on its share of questions too. Jesus waits for our questions, so that
He can point out what it is the God requires of us. Yet, when we hear
the answers, or wonder whether we hear the answers, we get vague. We
look for ways to be less challenged. If at all possible, we want to
slow down, whatever it is we may have to consider. 

	 Which brings me to the second headline of last week: “The Unlikely
Comeback of New Zealand's Weirdest 'Living Fossil'” 7 I thought the
article WAS talking about the church, but then the word “reptile”
turned up. Still, that might not disqualify it.

	“Cold-blooded and slow-moving, the ancient reptiles—picture a
sort of chubby, thick-tailed iguana about the length of your
forearm—can only move at top speed for short bursts, after which
they have to stop, winded and panting. Their hearts beat just six to
eight times a minute, and they can go for years without eating. In the
winter, they descend into hibernation so deep they seem dead.”

	Maybe I shouldn’t be suggesting this so soon after a pretty good
Annual Meeting, but isn’t that how we respond to calls for
righteousness? If we’re asked to take in the homeless, to give
spiritual, emotional and physical help to folk whom we may not know or
want to know.

	But then, it’s back to a matter of choice. Do we WANT to enter the
kingdom of heaven?

	NOTES:

	[1]  [1]https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alfred_Schnittke [2]  (Russian
[3]: Альфре́д Га́рриевич Шни́тке, Alfred
Garrievich Shnitke; November 24, 1934 – August 3, 1998)

	2 Alfred Schnittke: Concerto Grosso No. 5 for Violin, an Invisible
Piano & Orchestra

	 [4]http://www.classicalarchives.com/work/161251.html [5] 
[6]https://www.amazon.com/Glass-Concerto-Orchestra-Schnittke-Invisible/dp/B000001GH8
[7]

	3 Oxford English Dictionary, page 678

	4 At the Edge of the Enclosure, SoulWork Towards Sunday: Liturgical
year as a Mystical Journey Epiphany 5 Year A 5th February, 2017 “Let
Your Light So Shine” Suzanne Guthrie 
[8]http://www.edgeofenclosure.org/epiphany5a.html [9]

	5 _“Christian Counter-Culture”_ by John R. W. Stott InterVarsity
Press, Downers Grove, Illinois. © 1978, quoted by Suzanne Guthrie,
Op. cit.

	6 _“The NECESSITY OF ASKING Questions” Bo_ – Covenant &
Conversation 5777 / 2017 by Jonathan Sacks 1st February, 2017 The
Necessity of Asking Questions (Bo 5777) - Rabbi Sacks [10]
rabbisacks.org

	7 _“The Unlikely Comeback of New Zealand's Weirdest 'Living Fossil'
_Meet the tuatara, a three-eyed reptile with a 200-million-year-old
lineage.” _By__ __Amelia Urry [11]_ JANUARY 31, 2017 
[12]http://trib.al/nsXxzT4 [13]



Links:
------
[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alfred_Schnittke
[2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alfred_Schnittke
[3] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Russian_language
[4] http://www.classicalarchives.com/work/161251.html
[5] http://www.classicalarchives.com/work/161251.html
[6]
https://www.amazon.com/Glass-Concerto-Orchestra-Schnittke-Invisible/dp/B000001GH8
[7]
https://www.amazon.com/Glass-Concerto-Orchestra-Schnittke-Invisible/dp/B000001GH8
[8] http://www.edgeofenclosure.org/epiphany5a.html
[9] http://www.edgeofenclosure.org/epiphany5a.html
[10] http://rabbisacks.org/necessity-asking-questions-bo-5777/
[11] http://www.atlasobscura.com/users/ameliaurry?view=articles
[12] http://trib.al/nsXxzT4
[13] http://trib.al/nsXxzT4

-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://stsams.org/pipermail/propertalk_stsams.org/attachments/20170202/b2b7d145/attachment.htm>