Not About Show Business
Read: Matthew 6:1-6
I’m pretty busy most Sunday mornings. Lots to do, little time to do it. I’ve sung in the choir for years and I am never nervous about a choir anthem. After all, if I don’t know a passage well, there’s always somebody next to me who will sing it right, and I can jump back in when I am more sure of my part.
Once in a while, added to other things on my Sunday morning agenda, I play in the bell choir. I am almost always nervous before we play bells. In the bell choir, there’s no safety net. The person next to you is playing completely different bells, so they can’t cover for you. Now, if I get a little confused and fail to play a note, probably no one will notice BUT, if I play a WRONG note, everybody will hear it. Short of shooting an irritated look at the person next to me (implying THEY had rung the wrong bell) there’s no defense. I have to be extra careful to keep my place and have the right bells in my hands.
The bell choir played last Sunday, the day after this year’s “Palooza” event. I was tired, I had missed a couple of rehearsals, I was playing one more bell than I usually do and I was nervous. As I often do, perhaps with extra fervor this day, I said a silent prayer, asking God to keep me mindful that what we do is not a performance but an offering to the congregation in His name. You know what? As usual, I felt better after that silent prayer and played well, or at least well enough that nobody noticed a couple of omissions.
So there’s an answer to prayer? It would seem so but, in case I had any doubt, let me quote from Judy May’s sermon that very day: “Christianity is not about show business. . .” Her context was different than mine, but she had spoken the very words I needed to hear that particular morning. As far as I’m concerned, God answered my prayer TWICE that morning, and perhaps Charlie van Becelaere’s too, as I was inspired by these events to write this devotion.
Fred Van de Putte
Read: Matthew 6:1-6
I’m pretty busy most Sunday mornings. Lots to do, little time to do it. I’ve sung in the choir for years and I am never nervous about a choir anthem. After all, if I don’t know a passage well, there’s always somebody next to me who will sing it right, and I can jump back in when I am more sure of my part.
Once in a while, added to other things on my Sunday morning agenda, I play in the bell choir. I am almost always nervous before we play bells. In the bell choir, there’s no safety net. The person next to you is playing completely different bells, so they can’t cover for you. Now, if I get a little confused and fail to play a note, probably no one will notice BUT, if I play a WRONG note, everybody will hear it. Short of shooting an irritated look at the person next to me (implying THEY had rung the wrong bell) there’s no defense. I have to be extra careful to keep my place and have the right bells in my hands.
The bell choir played last Sunday, the day after this year’s “Palooza” event. I was tired, I had missed a couple of rehearsals, I was playing one more bell than I usually do and I was nervous. As I often do, perhaps with extra fervor this day, I said a silent prayer, asking God to keep me mindful that what we do is not a performance but an offering to the congregation in His name. You know what? As usual, I felt better after that silent prayer and played well, or at least well enough that nobody noticed a couple of omissions.
So there’s an answer to prayer? It would seem so but, in case I had any doubt, let me quote from Judy May’s sermon that very day: “Christianity is not about show business. . .” Her context was different than mine, but she had spoken the very words I needed to hear that particular morning. As far as I’m concerned, God answered my prayer TWICE that morning, and perhaps Charlie van Becelaere’s too, as I was inspired by these events to write this devotion.
Fred Van de Putte
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