Often, as I sit at my computer, there is music playing in my office: classical, rock, blues, ragtime, golden oldies, some Christian groups, and new age are among the genres which most often fill the walls of my 'cave' (there are no windows). Beethoven's Moonlight Sonata, though, is one of those selections whose melody I most rely upon in times of grief, conflict, trial and wonderment. The Moonlight Sonata, for me, quiets, challenges, stills, lifts, washes, renews, comforts, eases, and leads to prayer. The romantic in me imagines the process of writing a sonata to the moonlight, bathed in the moonlight, looking into the moonlight, and being birthed in the moonlight. The theologian in me considers the Source of the moonlight and how the light of the moon has played a role in all of God's people throughout history. The philosopher in me ponders the function of the moonlight and how life ebbs and flows according to the amount of moonlight shining in the darkness of humanity's soul. The farmer in me smiles at the very thought of moonlight, noting the number of calves born when the moon is full, the smell of crops being harvested in the light of the moon, the 'voices' of God's creatures crying out in the fullness of the light, and the fear which is harbored when the dark of the moon is all there is to see.
All this because one person listened to his soul and wrote, Moonlight Sonata.
Which makes me wonder what would be written or spoken or prayed if I would just listen to my soul . . . if you would listen to your soul. Maybe that is a part of listening to Moonlight Sonata, as well . . . considering the one who birthed it from the depths of his conviction: What inspired him? What opened his heart to hear what music he composed? What led him to share that composition in the form he did?
In daring to spend time in the simplicity and splendor of such holy work, one is likely to find the root of one's own life, to be touched by the Holy, to be guided by the Mystery, to be comforted by the Grace, to be gifted by the Mercy, and to be used by the Peace of God's own Being. It it risky stuff, if you dare to really listen, to really ponder, to really be filled, to really be emptied, to really be accessible to God.
Beethoven, I think, chose well: He listened to his soul and wrote. I pray my life will be a composition of faithful choices, as well, humbly allowing God's moonlight to flow through it, pointing to the One from whom light emerges that all might find themselves wrapped in Wonder.
Your servant in Christ,
Pastor Don
2 comments:
Made me think of seeing the moonlight we have experienced over Lake Max in Culver, Indiana. Nothing quite as beautiful as that! Actually inspired a song all of its own.
But what if one writes the most beautiful music with the most meaningful words and never shares it? Is it like the tree falling in the forest with no sound? or is it like hiding the candle under the basket so no one can see the light?
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