A Violin’s Music of Faith
written by Rev. Dr. Scott Paczkowski
“What should I do then? I will pray with the spirit, but I will pray with the mind also I will sing praise with the spirit, but I will sing praise with the mind also. ”
I am writing this devotion a few hours after the Westminster Choir presented their Spring Cantata. I sat behind the violin players during their performance and could view their music. I caught myself following note by note as they played. What impressed me was how the first violinist, in at least two songs, played a complex series of 16th and 32nd notes for pages at a time. The notes were at a lower register and provided a complex and beautiful foundation for the selection. Even my untrained ear could hear how challenging the music was for the violinist. The viola and cello added a deeper sound, and the other violinist played high soaring notes over the top. Yet, when you listened to the piece, the consistent, pages-long series of 16th and 32nd notes held the glorious music together.
The power behind the composer’s intention for the composition suddenly hit me. Everyone can only appreciate the screaming high notes and their emotion if they are grounded in the consistency and haunting beauty of the lower hum of the fast and unswerving 16th notes. Life isn’t about living from one high emotion to the next. Instead, a strong tonal foundation should be our focus, so whether we are in dark low moments or screaming our high joys, our life remains controlled, with the tonal hum of consistency.
As people of faith, we are called to be the violin responsible for playing the foundational life notes. If we trust God to keep us focused on the foundation of life, we will experience daily control and balance. Our lives will allow others to soar and darkness to not overcome us or others around us. When God is invited into our lives, the faith notes we play will calm our hearts and restore us to a life of meaning and joy within our hearts and those around us.
