+ Johann Sebastian Bach, 1685-1750 A.D.
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"Pursue peace with everyone, and holiness — without it no one will see the Lord." + Hebrews 12:14
Here are some recent highlights:
When we handed these books out to our congregation, this is part of the note we included inside each one:
This might seem at first to be a peculiar Advent devotional. But saints often are peculiar people who stand out in a particular time and place. In fact, the times when saints shine the most are times of darkness. They give glimpses of Jesus’ Light, which darkness cannot overcome.
And we, as part of Jesus’ Church, are called to live as Advent people who anticipate Jesus’ coming into our darkness today to overcome it. Ultimately, our hope rests in the God of Advent who drew near to us in Jesus’ first coming and will come again to take away the darkness forever and be our eternal Light. That hope is what saints have embodied as our sisters and brothers across time, ethnicities, Christian traditions, nationalities, and more.
As we step into this next year, our prayer is that we will shine all the more with the holy light of Christ in us and through us. And we pray that we “being rooted and firmly established in love, may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the length and width, height and depth of God’s love.” After all, “the Father has enabled us to share in the saints’ inheritance in the light. He has rescued us from the domain of darkness and transferred us into the Kingdom of the Son He loves.”
This post features an excerpt from Our Church Speaks so that you might also walk some of this journey with us with reflection, prayer, and anticipation for how the Light of the world might shine in your life during this season.
Johann Sebastian Bach Composer
Johann Sebastian Bach's music
has long been considered
among the greatest artistic expressions
in human history.
When eminent scientist Lewis Thomas
mused about what was the
greatest testament of earth's achievements
to send into deep space, he replied,
"I would vote for Bach, all of Bach,
streamed out into space,
over and over again.
We would be bragging, of course.
In his lifetime, Bach was not one to brag. He lived a quiet life of hard work and dedication to his art, his faith, and his family. He received little recognition for his work in his lifetime, and he demanded little acclaim. Driven by a quiet, Lutheran piety, Bach worked as a church organist while he raised a large family and supplemented his income tutoring young students in music and Latin. He worked not for fame, but for God. Many of his music sheets were used as wastepaper after the performance. Of his one thousand known works, only 10 percent were published during Bach's lifetime. "I was obliged to work hard," Bach said. "Whoever is equally industrious will succeed just as well."
But Bach's compositions — such as the Brandenburg Concertos, the Cello Suites, the Mass in B Minor, and the Goldberg Variations — are evidence of a composer so profound that he shaped all subsequent Western music. Jazz musician Charles Mingus said, "Bach is how buildings got taller. It's how we got to the moon."
Bach's music speaks of an inspiration that was dynamically tied to faith. Whether Bach was writing a profound religious work like the St. Matthew Passion or a comedic musical like the caffeine-laden Coffee Cantata, Bach considered all of his art for the glory of God.
On his blank music sheets, Bach was known to write, At the end of each finished composition, he would sign his works, Soli Deo Gloria — "Glory to God Alone."
Prayers and poems of praise were scribbled on Bach's manuscripts, revealing a joyful delight in his life and in his God. "On land, on sea, at home, abroad," Bach wrote, "I smoke my pipe and worship God."
music which continues to speak of the transcendent truths and to such a profound degree that Bach has been nicknamed
Scripture
"The LORD said to Moses, 'See, I have called by name Bezalel the son of Uri, son of Hur, of the tribe of Judah, and I have filled him with the Spirit of God, with ability and intelligence, with knowledge and all craftsmanship, to devise artistic designs ... " + Exodus 31:1-4a
Meditation: Cocreating with God
He speaks the universe into existence: spiraling galaxies, crystalline ice, erupting heat vents beneath the oceans, kingfishers in flight, ripening peaches, bellowing bison, hanging orchids, all pinnacling in the wonder of a human face. God is the master sculptor, composer, painter, scientist, gardener, rancher, chef, and architect. All the fearsome beauty of the natural world flows from His creative fingertips.
There is the music of Johann Sebastian Bach. Therefore there must be God.
Let that settle for a moment. This is the kind of argument that can only be accessed as the instinctive or gut level.
As British philosopher Alain de Botton once quipped, "Although I don't believe in God, Bach's music shows me what a love of God must feel like." His mind is not convinced (yet), but his heart is wooed.
This is what the beauty of God, His world, and the God-like creativity of His image-bearers does to people. Every atheist must gaze out over the vastness of the Pacific or peer deep into the night sky or listen to Bach's Cello Suites and wonder if they've missed something.
When you create something good and beautiful, you are cocreating with God. You are bearing witness to the existence of God.
Prayer
O God, who inspired the worship of your servant Johann Sebastian Bach, who now delights to worship You in heaven, with saints and angels: be ever present with your servants on earth who seek through art and music to perfect the praises of Your people. Grant them even now true glimpses of Your beauty, and make them worthy at length to behold it unveiled forevermore, through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
pgs. 133-135
Additional Advent Resources:
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Many blessings of peace and presence,
Rev. Mike “Sully” Sullivan
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