Music of the Season

With all the beautiful sacred music of the season available to us through CDs or live performances or even Pandora.com, it is sometimes easy to get caught up in the music itself, as though it is an end in itself. But it's not.

C.S. Lewis makes the following statement in The Weight of Glory:

'The books or the music in which we thought the beauty was located will betray us if we trust to them; it was not in them, it only came through them, and what came through them was longing. These things - the beauty, the memory of our own past - are good images of what we really desire; but if they are mistaken for the thing itself, they turn into dumb idols, breaking the hearts of their worshippers. For they are not the thing itself; they are only the scent of a flower we have not found, the echo of a tune we have not heard, news from a country we have never yet visited....'

That made me think of the beautiful cathedrals and abbeys I love to visit. But I am reminded that it is not the structure itself, nor the builder, nor the skill developed by the builder, nor the architect, nor the vision of the architect that should inspire awe. Rather, it is the Creator, the One who has created both the architect and the builder, Who gives the vision to the architect, the One Who gives the ability to the builder to develop the skill. The beauty, the power, the majesty that come through them through the magnificent cathedral or abbey - give us that feeling of longing that will never be satisfied by anything less than The Source Himself, Jesus Christ.


Colossians 1:16   'For by Him all things were created, both in the heavens and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities-- all things have been created through Him and for Him.'

Romans 11:36   'For from Him and through Him and to Him are all things. To Him be the glory forever! Amen.'

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