Sound and Silence

Music is pleasing not only because of the sound but because of the silence that is in it: without the alternation of sound and silence, there would be no rhythm. If we strive to be happy by filling all the silences of life with sound, productive by turning all life's leisure into work, and real by turning all our being into doing, we will only succeed in producing a hell on earth.

If we have no silence, God is not heard in our music. If we have no rest, God does not bless our work. If we twist our lives out of shape in order to fill every corner of them with action and experience, God will silently withdraw from our hearts and leave us empty.

-Thomas Merton

Resurfacing

Well the spring school term ended a few weeks ago. After sloshing around in the kiddie pool of my first graduate semester, I immediately abandoned my floaties and plunged myself into the deep churning waters of a May-term class. I have since emerged refreshed but gasping for a breath of summer air.

I really enjoyed my time last week at the Baptist Church Music Conference. Shaking hands and chatting with the big names (and humble spirits) in church music is always a thrilling experience.

My free time this weekend has been graced by the presence of Sister-in-law Sarah, and her visit has been fun for me and the wife.

You may say, "Stephen, I know you can't sit idly for long. What's on the docket for the rest of your summer?" Well, says I, I will tell you!

July 18-22 will be a busy and exciting week: During these days I will be engaged in both Baylor's Alleluia Church Music Conference and FBC Mart's VBS. Before and after this much-anticipated week, I plan to plan (that's no typo) and do a good deal of reading. I have come to realize that long-range planning is key to an effective music ministry, so this is a major goal for my summer. The other is to make headway into my reading list. Let me share some of my list with you:

-H.G. Wells: War of the Worlds

-H.G. Wells: The Time Machine

(I've already finished these two and loved them.)

-Mary Glazener: The Cup of Wrath - A novel based on Dietrich Bonhoeffer's Resistance to Hitler

-James Hansen: First Man - The Life of Neil Armstrong

-Terry York: Voice of Our Congregation

-Jules Verne: Journey to the Center of the Earth

-Alexander Schmemann: Liturgical Theology

-Bob Kauflin: Worship Matters

Of course I welcome suggestions from you for additions to my reading list, particularly in the fiction department. I have always preferred nonfiction, but am coming to realize the importance of good fiction works.

Happy summer!

Is Lifeway Hung Up on Madonna?

I think Jeff Slaughter, the man who writes the music for Lifeway VBS, is a fan of Madonna. Here is a song from this year's VBS called "Live It Out."

Now listen to Madonna's "Hung Up." Start around 1:03, and you'll hear the comparison.

Interesting, no? Now, I'm not a big fan of Lifeway's VBS material (music included), but I'm really not sure I want to teach the kiddos Madonna. Although maybe I can borrow some of her legendary dance moves...

When the Church of Jesus
Shuts its outer door
Lest the roar of traffic
Drown the voice of prayer:
May our prayers, Lord, make us
Ten times more aware
That the world we banish
Is our Christian care.

-Fred Pratt Green

Ed Bacsi

Many of my friends and family are Christians. Among them are several really faithful believers, folks who I can pinpoint as excellent examples for me to follow. One of them, Ed Courtney, passed away on Tuesday. I met Ed and his wife Syble during my second summer in Hungary, where they were the pastors of an international church. As I write this post, I am watching a Celebration Service in Ed's honor via a live internet stream. I'd like to share, mostly as a reminder to myself, some of Ed's attributes that reflect our Lord.

His sense of humor could light up a room. Most of the photos I have of Ed show a twinkle in his eye and laughter on his lips.

His wife, Syble, was truly the love of his life. They were always together, ministering alongside one another, and welcoming people into their home with profound hospitality. A person could tell by looking at Ed and Syble that they were waaaay in love with each other, and their love grew day by day.

He had a gentle spirit that made everyone around him feel so comfortable. In fact, everyone in Hungary called him Ed Bacsi, a term of affection similar to "Uncle."

Ed took a personal interest in everyone he met- old or young; Hungarian, American, Nigerian, or Cuban; church members or visitors; Baptist or Pentecostal; believer or nonbeliever. I believe this is what made him an great pastor.

He didn't work to spiritualize everything, nor did he hand wisdom out like gospel tracks. Yet everything about Ed was spiritual, and each time I spent a few minutes with him I came away wiser.

After living in Hungary for about seven years, Ed and Syble moved back to Jackson, Mississippi. I know from reading obituaries and comments from his friends that he served wholeheartedly as associate pastor at a church there. I also know from his friends' comments that Ed was exactly the same in Mississippi as he was in Hungary. His identity went beyond location or situation.

Ed's greatest desire was not anything magnificent or impossible; it was simply that all his family and friends would know Jesus Christ.

I thank the Lord that I knew Ed, and I ask Him to ease Syble's grief and the grief of her family and friends. I hope that in the years to come, God will transform my character to reflect His, like He did for my friend Ed.

Cowden's Confessions: Crafty Crafts

Heather and I visited a couple of craft stores today. We didn't intend to buy anything, just scope out some candles for the church. We left Hobby Lobby okay because we went in knowing that we were just looking. But then we went to Michael's.

Turns out craft stores know how to get money from people like us.

See, there was this wonderful mixture of Fall and Christmas decor all over the place. It even smelled like Fall-Christmas in there. After the initial Fall-mas feeling wore off, Heather discovered the first round of dollar items. They were small games and crafts for kids. She provides childcare for a family at our church now; she watches their three elementary-aged girls after school. They are pretty rowdy when they come home, so the craft store's cheap entertainment section caught her eye. We walked away from there with four items.

Right across the isle from that were the photo frames. We have most of our pictures on our computers, but we've discussed getting a collage frame to display our close friends and family. Guess what? These frames were 50% off! Who can resist, right? So we got one of those. Looks nice.

As any good store supervisor knows, you should arrange all the cheap clearance merchandise in an unavoidable area at the front of the store. It was there that we encountered 50% off Fall decor. At this point, I asked Heather to go get us a shopping cart. This should have been a warning sign. Heather got excited at the idea of making an autumnal centerpiece for our kitchen table (complete with plastic food and leaves). I found a clearance shelf of baskets a few feet away. Now we have our centerpiece.

Just in case a customer could avoid the clearance Fall stuff, some employee had put a bunch of $1 Christmas nicknacks right by the registers. I bought some Christmas notecards to give to folks at church.

Then we began to feel guilty for our impulsiveness, so we wandered slowly backward through the store. Did you know that these scheming merchandisers even put cheap stuff on the opposite sides of the shelves??? We bought a wonderful-smelling fall candle for $4.

After placing the candle in our shopping cart, Wife and I turned to each other and said simultaneously, "Let's get out of here!" So we ran the cart up to the register bobsled style, and as the cashier rang up our purchases, we mumbled things like, "Sales... clearance... good deal... we're suckers..."

Does anyone else have these experiences at craft stores?

Move over, Michelangelo

In our Wednesday night children's worship time, we are discussing the names of God. The kids have been drawing pictures showing the names of God, and the symbolism that goes with them. One of my favorite drawings was done by a boy named Daniel:

I asked Daniel to explain his drawing to me. He told me that one arm was God's, the other was man's, and their hands are touching. I asked what the shiny gold part was, and Daniel couldn't explain that part as easily. He said it is what happens when the two hands touch.

As soon as I saw Daniel's picture, it reminded me of another famous piece of art. This one, of course, painted a few hundred years ago on the ceiling of a church:

Perhaps the most fascinating part of this painting is that Adam (on the left) is so lackadaisical about reaching toward his Creator, while the entire body of God is stretched as far as it can go. Well done, Mr. Michelangelo.

Maybe I'm influenced by the five-month sermon series of Revelation that our church is finishing up, but I like to think of this painting and Daniel's drawing as a before-and-after sort of thing. Imagine the shiny golden glory that will occur when God finally obliterates that space between his hand and ours. Our pastor told us this morning that many scholars find it difficult to distinguish when John, in Revelation 21, is writing about believers and when he is writing about the New Jerusalem itself. It seems that, when God creates the new world, He, the saints, and the City will all be united perfectly.

That's a lot of shiny-golden-goodness. Looking forward to it.