August 15, 2016 (Monday)
Every time I listen to one of the works of the great master musicians, I am amazed at the genius and almost miraculous ablities of the composers like Beethoven. I listened to his Seventh Symphony again recently, and felt so very fortunate to be living in a time when recordings of such masterpieces can be heard these many years since the passing of their creators.
As you know, a symphony has four movements. Audiences today are trained to hold their applause until the end of the fourth movement. When Beethoven introduced his Seventh Symphony in 1813 in Vienna, the audience was overwhelmed and called for an encore to the second movement.
Beethoven offered no explanation for possible meanings of the music. When you hear “Peter and Wolf,” you know that the composer, Prokofiev, is telling a story with the instruments and the score. Beethoven would not offer a hint of what the Seventh Symphony might be representing, such as a story of some kind. Many people stepped up through these many years offering their own ideas, but apparently Beethoven had nothing in mind in his Seventh Symphony except the music itself.
I suppose this means, then, that the listeners are free to have their own ideas of what the music means to them. Hardly anyone is able to listen to the music without feeling emotions. What are those emotions? That depends upon the hearer, who knows that in some mystical way, his heart has been touched.
I believe that on any given Sunday the Lord uses every part of the worship service to speak to the worshipers. Everyone in the congregation is hearing and feeling something different from that which is heard and felt by others. The Lord uses the fellowship, the prayers, the privilege of giving, the reading of God’s Word, the sermon, the hymns and songs, the instrumental music–all these and possibly other things as well. The Holy Spirit leads me to speak and He also leads those listening to hear. I am convinced that when we go home at the end of the service, everyone has heard and felt a unique and personal message the Lord intended for him or her.
May I suggest, then, that the next time you attend a worship service, ask the Lord to help you understand that everything going on during that time can be important and meaningful to you. The Lord will speak to you in some way; you just have to listen to Him.