“Living in Harmony”
Fall Celebration and Communion
Thomas B. Cundiff
Romans 12: 6-16
We have gifts that differ according to the grace given to
us: prophecy, in proportion to faith; ministry,
in ministering; the teacher, in teaching; the
exhorter, in exhortation; the giver, in generosity; the leader, in diligence;
the compassionate, in cheerfulness.
Let love be genuine; hate what is evil, hold fast to what
is good; love one another with mutual affection; outdo one another
in showing honor. Do not lag in zeal, be
ardent in spirit, serve the Lord. Rejoice in hope, be patient in suffering, persevere in
prayer. Contribute to the needs of the saints; extend hospitality
to strangers.
Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse
them. Rejoice with those who rejoice, weep with those who weep.
Live in harmony with one another; do not be haughty, but
associate with the lowly; do not claim to be wiser
than you are.
I.
I am a “Dactylonomist”. Does anybody know what I am talking
about? I learned “dactylonomy” from my
mother. I used “dactylonomy” throughout
elementary and high school to get through many classes.
So what am I talking about? Dactylonomy.
Simply, I am a person who learned how to do simple arithmetic using my
fingers. I use my fingers in doing
simple calculations. While my brain can
do these same calculations, my fingers help confirm my results.
Using my fingers to do simple
math used to drive my mother-in-law, Janet Kraus, absolutely crazy. No wonder.
She was a high school math teacher.
My wife Nancy, also a math major, laughs at her crazy husband when she
sees the fingers moving--knowing I am adding or subtracting something! I try not to use my fingers publicly or in front
of members of the Management Team!
I have also learned, over the
years, to use my fingers with music. A
long time ago I learned how to play the trumpet and baritone and valve
trombone. I even played the tuba for a
short time belonging to a group in High School called the Tijuana Tubas! I have also been amazed at how similar the
use of fingers in doing simple math has become in doing simple work on the
piano.
This being said, I have been
thinking about the relationship between math and music. On piano or organ keyboards and wind and
brass instruments the fingers are used in a coordinated – almost automatic
way. I sometimes think my fingers have a
mind of their own. Amazing how quickly
the brain can communicate with our fingers when playing a musical
instrument….or in doing a simple calculation.
All of a sudden I’m not embarrassed at all to be a dactylonomist!
I use this illustration because
there is a sense of balance when it comes to the correlation of music and math.
I’ve told you the story before of
PYTHAGORAS, a Greek mathematician and philosopher who lived around 570 BC. The story is told that he was walking past a
blacksmith listening to the sounds of hammers and anvils – when he realized
that all but one of the hammers was sounding in harmony. Curious as to the reason, Pythagoras made a
thorough examination of the hammers and discovered that when their masses were
simple ratios i.e. 2:1 or 4:1, then the respective notes produced were in
harmony. When there was a discordant
note, he found that the mathematical ratio was off. Aha! When
there is a 1-3-5 ratio between notes on the piano
you have music. There is discordance
when the ratios are off. It is rather
simple—hearing sounds that are in harmony and those discordant sounds that can
be rather irritating (illustrate?)
Going even further with this
illustration: The orchestra or band
conductor coordinates the work of many hands and instruments or voices in
creating beautiful music. The last thing
any band or orchestra or choir needs is a bunch of discordant tones. And what’s amazing to me is again the
coordination between our minds and hands and fingers….and in community the ways
God coordinates what we do with our minds, hands, fingers and bodies!
And this is where I am going with
this analogy!
In
life, what is harmony but perfect ratios between each of us and God! We are God’s musical instruments and Jesus
Christ is our conductor! The
problem? Sometimes the ratios are
off! There is sin in the world. There are times when we are out of tune with
God….discordant tones disrupt the music God is calling us, together, to
make.
So what is our fall celebration
all about? This is the time of year
after a long summer break we gather to
get organized for the year in making beautiful music as Christ’s church.
II.
There is a lot of love in this
church for music. I can tell many of you
love to sing the hymns in celebrating the life that God has given us. “Praise God from whom all blessings flow”. We sing this each week for a reason. God has gifted us in special ways matching
our various talents with needs so that we can live in harmony with God.
Yet what I have discovered as a
pastor—is the reality that much in life is “out-of-tune” – or disconnected with
God. With the global issues of the use
of Chemical weaponry and the colossal number if complicated issues that exist
between nations in a world filled with discordant tones. This disconnection filled with discordant
tones if found in our nation’s government.
When is the last time we have heard the congress, both the republicans
and the democrats speak in harmony or concert with the President?
A simpler illustration:
When there is a
conflict between a parent or child or spouse or neighbor, the feeling is not
good. There are times when there is a
lack of harmony in personal relationships.
None of us like arguments. It’s
not natural to like the discordant tones in life that leave us feeling empty
and down. The same is true with God!
God wants nothing but love and peace and harmony for all of us -- all creation—all
humankind!
We live in a world where there
seem to be more stories about the discordant notes than harmonious ones. Yet with precision we try to do all we can
do to live with balance and harmony with God and family and our neighbors. As a church we are in the harmony
business. Jesus is our conductor. Scripture and God’s Word and the Sacraments
feed us in helping us stay in tune – focused on what God would have us do in
harmony as a church and in the world around us.
The context of our scripture today has Paul speaking
to the Romans – a discordant/disharmonious community. Paul makes reference to divisive factions of
those strong willed people who
threaten to create disharmony by insisting there is only one way of doing things. Paul is talking with those who feel there is
no room for negotiation or change. In
fact, we see this all the time in our world as well: people set in their ways fixated in believing
they have the only “right path” to getting something done.
We also experience these discordant tones in the
modern church. Why do you think there
was a split with the Roman community in the 15th century creating
what we now have as two major branches of the church, Protestant and
Catholic? Why do you think we have so
many different brands of Christianity—so many denominations—because there are
ways of worshipping, ways of reading scripture and doctrines that separate
us. So many in the church are guilty of wanting
unity but on “my terms only”! There are even those who will “quit one
church and join another church” because of a disagreement. Now to be perfectly honest about this
church:
I
would like to believe we strive to accept different views and approaches to
getting things done. We listen to what
others have to say. We have found,
through the years, some wonderful ways to work together. We are not perfect, but we try to be a church
where listening for the voice of God is paramount.
Paul talks about genuine love
that helps to bring about harmony and peace in the community. Paul is searching for the harmony God wishes
for all of us in community.
So my message today: It’s time to re-group in preparing for
another fall season in the life of the church.
It’s time to re-envision where we want to go in doing Christ’s
work. It’s time to assess where we are
with all our different gifts and talents.
It’s time to remember that “genuine love” will help us in using our
various gifts to get through all the things we feel called to be doing. It’s time to renew our commitment to work in harmony
in serving our Lord in a variety of ways.
Gifted with an abundance of blessings, it it time again to synchronize
all we do in serving Christ in this community.
As a symbol of our unity, we will
be invited in a few minutes to receive communion. As we look forward to the year ahead for us, we
partake of the bread and cup knowing that Jesus wants to be his “orchestra”—his
“church”! Jesus Christ, our conductor
and Savior will lead us in everything we do in making beautiful music
together. In receiving communion it’s
important that we keep our eyes on the conductor all the time. If our eyes or hearts slip, re run the risk
of going off in different directions in playing discordant tunes in our
ministries.
Symbolically, it’s important that
we take the bread and the cup together.
Sure, we can each decide to eat the bread and drink from the cup at any time
we like. But today we invite you to hold
the bread. Contemplate what the part you
can play as a member of the church as a disciple of Jesus Christ. When we eat the bread together, we become the
unified body of Christ. When we drink
the cup together, we make music for God in our commitment to use all God has
given us to build up the church in the name of the living Christ.
Again, we are not perfect. But today is special. Today and in this hour of worship Jesus
invites us to make beautiful music….enriched the spiritual food and genuine
love Paul talks about.
Now -- let’s make music together. Because we won’t be singing it after the
offering, let’s sing the DOXOLOGY (#592).
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