When one reads the title of this inspirational piece, many things must go through the mind. If I am into revivals, some form of this experience must be the reference. Maybe if I am a scientist, others kinds of converting come to mind. Neither of these were in my mind when these two words jumped into my mind. Instead, I thought about this as I sat listening to my friend from the Conservatory of Music describe his experience. Let me elaborate.
My university is fortunate to have a first-rate Conservatory. We have access to high class music and theater that would be rare for a smaller campus like ours. The Conservatory brings some musical talent to our campus that typically we would have no reason to expect or even dream of enticing here. Since I claim not to know that much about music, it has been a wonderful place to get to know and to explore. It always has something to reveal to me.
Because the Conservatory is here, I have some friends, the kind of which I probably would never otherwise seek out. It is as if a gift were dropped into my lap and I am left with the charge to make of it what I will. And I have tried to benefit from it and to find ways to share it with some whom I know would not likely take advantage of such a wonderful resource. One of the groups like this would be athletes.
I don’t intend to stereotype athletes, but I do know most of them are not going to find their way to the Conservatory. Of course, college-age athletes always have music pods in their ears, like all of their peers. But you never know whether they are listening to some recent rap song or talking to their friends. All you know is they are connected to a world in which you are not! Sometimes I feel like I have to knock to get their attention.
And so recently I decided to invite one of my friends from the Conservatory to a class on leadership I teach to a group of student athletes. After spending some time listening to them try to guess who our guest was, they settled back to listen to my friend talk about how he composes music. He is not just any kind of composer. He is world-renown. He literally has orchestras from around the world playing his music. When it comes to faculty on my campus, he is a star. People actually pay money up front to get him to write some music for an event or for their particular group. I kid him by saying he creates for money!
I am intrigued by his creative process. How does he get ideas? How does he convert ideas into music on a page? I am particularly interested in how he converts emotions into music? I am confident that even most musicians cannot compose music. They are expert in playing it, but they are working with someone else’s ideas converted to music. And so, I listened intently when one student asked the simple question: “how you get an idea for a piece and then write it?”
He told us he tries to stay attentive to himself and others around him---and to his world. He makes notes and revisit those notes from time to time. I liken this to a fermenting process. I can relate to this process in my own way. Sometimes I simply write words on a paper. If a particular word or idea seems to be central to what I am thinking, I may circle that word on the paper. For example, more than once I have circled the word, God, or maybe the word, love. I know that of all the ideas I get, God and love are central to my thinking.
My friend also tries to think about the people for whom he is writing music. He wants to be in dialogue with them. If possible, he wants to be face-to-face with them. He wants to read their body language. If he suggests something and they lean back a little, he can probably dismiss that idea as having no interest to them. If they lean in, he may be on to something. Often when someone asks for something, they do not know exactly what they want.
So much of this reminds me of ministry I have done. I, too, need to be attentive to the context of ministry. In a particular context I am looking at how I can convert my ideas---often my theology or spirituality---into a situation that makes it somehow better. Ministry asks for creativity, just like composing music. Ideas are simply the starting point. By themselves, they are useless except as a matter of self-satisfaction.
I know my composer friend has spent a great deal of time learning techniques and the fundamentals of music. It is difficult simply to be creative in the abstract. Creativity normally has a context and there are techniques that match a context. So, it is with ministry and even the individual life of the Spirit. For example, I think of the creativity of the Psalms. The Psalmist was quite attentive to the situation, mood and need of Israel’s people. The Psalmist then created a kind of music or poetry to minister to this situation.
I love hanging out with people who are not like me---people who have different gifts and talents. I love being able to ask them questions and try to learn from them. I can then try to figure out how I can use what other people share with me in my own life. For example, I know that I can be creative. But my friend helps me think about what creativity is and how the process works.
If I throw the Spirit into the mix, then it gets exciting. Add the Spirit to my own process of creativity and neat things can happen. I can then be of real service to the Lord!
My university is fortunate to have a first-rate Conservatory. We have access to high class music and theater that would be rare for a smaller campus like ours. The Conservatory brings some musical talent to our campus that typically we would have no reason to expect or even dream of enticing here. Since I claim not to know that much about music, it has been a wonderful place to get to know and to explore. It always has something to reveal to me.
Because the Conservatory is here, I have some friends, the kind of which I probably would never otherwise seek out. It is as if a gift were dropped into my lap and I am left with the charge to make of it what I will. And I have tried to benefit from it and to find ways to share it with some whom I know would not likely take advantage of such a wonderful resource. One of the groups like this would be athletes.
I don’t intend to stereotype athletes, but I do know most of them are not going to find their way to the Conservatory. Of course, college-age athletes always have music pods in their ears, like all of their peers. But you never know whether they are listening to some recent rap song or talking to their friends. All you know is they are connected to a world in which you are not! Sometimes I feel like I have to knock to get their attention.
And so recently I decided to invite one of my friends from the Conservatory to a class on leadership I teach to a group of student athletes. After spending some time listening to them try to guess who our guest was, they settled back to listen to my friend talk about how he composes music. He is not just any kind of composer. He is world-renown. He literally has orchestras from around the world playing his music. When it comes to faculty on my campus, he is a star. People actually pay money up front to get him to write some music for an event or for their particular group. I kid him by saying he creates for money!
I am intrigued by his creative process. How does he get ideas? How does he convert ideas into music on a page? I am particularly interested in how he converts emotions into music? I am confident that even most musicians cannot compose music. They are expert in playing it, but they are working with someone else’s ideas converted to music. And so, I listened intently when one student asked the simple question: “how you get an idea for a piece and then write it?”
He told us he tries to stay attentive to himself and others around him---and to his world. He makes notes and revisit those notes from time to time. I liken this to a fermenting process. I can relate to this process in my own way. Sometimes I simply write words on a paper. If a particular word or idea seems to be central to what I am thinking, I may circle that word on the paper. For example, more than once I have circled the word, God, or maybe the word, love. I know that of all the ideas I get, God and love are central to my thinking.
My friend also tries to think about the people for whom he is writing music. He wants to be in dialogue with them. If possible, he wants to be face-to-face with them. He wants to read their body language. If he suggests something and they lean back a little, he can probably dismiss that idea as having no interest to them. If they lean in, he may be on to something. Often when someone asks for something, they do not know exactly what they want.
So much of this reminds me of ministry I have done. I, too, need to be attentive to the context of ministry. In a particular context I am looking at how I can convert my ideas---often my theology or spirituality---into a situation that makes it somehow better. Ministry asks for creativity, just like composing music. Ideas are simply the starting point. By themselves, they are useless except as a matter of self-satisfaction.
I know my composer friend has spent a great deal of time learning techniques and the fundamentals of music. It is difficult simply to be creative in the abstract. Creativity normally has a context and there are techniques that match a context. So, it is with ministry and even the individual life of the Spirit. For example, I think of the creativity of the Psalms. The Psalmist was quite attentive to the situation, mood and need of Israel’s people. The Psalmist then created a kind of music or poetry to minister to this situation.
I love hanging out with people who are not like me---people who have different gifts and talents. I love being able to ask them questions and try to learn from them. I can then try to figure out how I can use what other people share with me in my own life. For example, I know that I can be creative. But my friend helps me think about what creativity is and how the process works.
If I throw the Spirit into the mix, then it gets exciting. Add the Spirit to my own process of creativity and neat things can happen. I can then be of real service to the Lord!
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