Greetings! 
john
John Kuzma

Minister of Music 

 

Choir membership - how to know the artifact as a redemptive force.

 

We hear it so often - "these brave men and women are fighting and dying to protect our freedom." Isn't it true that those who live after hostilities end feel that their lives are owed to those who did not survive the battle? And isn't it true as well that this gratitude extends to all who fought and died, no matter on which side they fought? The battlefield soldiers thus make an artifact, a graspable reality that changes lives. And for those on the artistic battlefield, the struggle is with forceful, but not deadly materials.

 

Artifacts are not always so complexly made, but nevertheless carry complex information, like knots, for example. A knot is the simplest kind of metaphysical reality. As pure idea, the knots that bind our shoes add no mass to the shoestring, but add a wealth of usefulness. A tune is to a knot as noise is to cotton fibers in a shoestring.

 

Artifacts are always objective, and can contain genius, even though we, their creators, are flawed, and might be unaware of the objectivity of our own artifact. We musicians make musical artifacts of course, and like all artists, in the act, make a personal, spiritual artifact that survives as a residue of our work: a byproduct of the journey. Artifacts as objects of our focus can constellate new energies in us as well. I call these "artifacts as redemptive force" in that they beckon us into new pathways, unbidden and unexpected, emerging from the common prima materia in each spirit. And as the alchemists of old knew, this produces gold in our spirits.

 

Young musicians come to me from time to time and ask how music is composed. "I don't know," I say to them, "but I've been there many times when I've done it." Heaven's door is always open, and miracles happen in the Montview choir rooms all the time.

 

Peace,

John

 

 


The Rev. Ian Gregory Cummins

Lead Pastor of Spiritual Life
 
Dear Friends,

"Praise the LORD from the earth, you sea monsters and all deeps, fire and hail, snow and frost, stormy wind fulfilling his command! Mountains and all hills, fruit trees and all cedars! Wild animals and all cattle, creeping things and flying birds!
Kings of the earth and all peoples, princes and all rulers of the earth! Young men and women alike, old and young together!"
Psalm 148: 7 - 12

On this week that we celebrate Earth Day, let us remember the Psalmist's words from this week's lectionary and 'praise the Lord' for this astonishing, mysterious, healing creation. For today's reflection, how about a poem from Mary Oliver, one who truly loves the natural world, as she encourages us to slow down and come alive. 
 
Peace,
Ian

When I Am Among the Trees
By Mary Oliver, from her book Thirst

When I am among the trees,
especially the willows and the honey locust,
equally the beech, the oaks and the pines,
they give off such hints of gladness.
I would almost say that they save me, 
and daily.

I am so distant from the hope of myself,
in which I have goodness, and discernment,
and never hurry through the world
but walk slowly, and bow often.

Around me the trees stir in their leaves
and call out, "Stay awhile."
The light flows from their branches.

And they call again, 
"It's simple," they say,
"and you too have come
into the world to do this, 
to go easy, to be filled
with light, and to shine."


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