Divine Harmonies

MOTE Week 42

This week Padre supplied me with: The harmonies were exquisite.

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Lucas had moved into the area during the week. So now he needed to find a local church.

There was one just down the road, so he gave it a try.

The people were very friendly, and the sermon seemed good. But – and there's always a 'but' – the singing was atrocious.

Lucas was a singer, and had moved into the area to join the local Chorus, attached to the local Orchestra. He was very fond of harmonious singing to a harmonious musical accompaniment.

The only accompaniment in this particular church was a solo piano that badly needed tuning. The pianist seemed competent, but her instrument let her down. There were not infrequent discords where none existed in the music.

The congregation were hearty singers, loud but completely out of tune – neither in tune with the piano, nor with each other. To Lucas' trained ear it sounded awful. Every single hymn, including one that was amongst his favourites, was a severe trial.

That afternoon while on the phone to his parents, Lucas complained at length and with great vehemence about the terrible discordant singing.

He determined that he would find another congregation to attend next week.

That night, however, he had a dream. In his dream he was reliving the service of the morning. But this time the singing and music were different. The piano had a gorgeous sound. The choir was perfectly in tune, and the harmonies were exquisite.

Lucas heard a voice from above. "It says 'Make a Joyful Noise unto the Lord'. It doesn't say do this in tune.

"The Lord hears the heart, not the voice. If the heart sings with joy as the Lord is praised, the Lord hears the beauty of the heart's cry, not the sound of the voice.

"This beautiful choir is what the Lord heard this morn, not what your ears relayed to you."

The next Sunday, Lucas returned. The singing was, to his human ears, as bad as it had been the previous week. But this time he heard in his head an overlay of the exquisite harmonies that he had heard in his dream. This time, the singing was enjoyable, not terrible.

He would continue to attend here. Perhaps he could suggest ways to make the singing easier on the human ear – but without harming the beauty that God heard. It was something to think about and consider and pray about.

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My googly this week was bowled to nother Mike. As always I’m looking forwards to reading what everyone comes up with.