February 08, 2008
Class Act
At the Christian writer’s conference I recently attended, Randall Atcheson was the special guest musician. A Juilliard graduate, Mr. Atcheson has performed eight times at Carnegie Hall and is on the international roster of Steinway Artists. For our general sessions we sang hymns and let me assure you, contemporary praise songs can’t hold a candle to these spine tingling hymns so creatively performed. The dry cold Colorado air played havoc on Atcheson’s hands. During one performance he rubbed his hands back and forth on his trousers legs saying, “I made the mistake of using hand lotion and now I’m sliding all over the keys.” By the third day of the conference he ended with a concert and his fingers were bleeding all over the keys of the Steinway. I know many of us bleed for our ministries…I just didn’t expect something quite so literal.
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3 comments:
Gail;
-----I don’t get a chance to bleed much in my line of work. I’ve learned the conditions leading to paper cuts, and I now avoid them, so that threat rarely draws blood anymore. I’ve dropped my X-acto knife a couple times and have been poked trying to catch it. I just don’t bleed much for my work. Last week I bled at the health fair blood draw. That was deliberate. Outside of that sort of thing, bleeding is a result of injury. Mr. Atcheson incurred some physical injury doing his service. When I was young I struggled against the thought that serving the Lord had to cost you something. I wanted to believe that we went in to His service doing the sort of things we were interested in doing anyway. I didn’t understand why it should have to cost.
-----Through the ages there has been a belief that pain must be incurred in the process of approaching God. The Indians used to tether themselves to poles by hooks embedded into their chests. Muslims march through the streets beating their own backs with chain whips. Christians have whipped themselves, too, through the ages. And there is still the practice of subjecting one’s self to actual crucifixion. Not to death, but, but probably close enough to make one understand what its doorway looks like.
-----Why all the enchantment with pain for religious gain? Those who whip themselves and crucify themselves are reflecting back on Jesus’ sufferings. Evidently that is reason for them. But I think it has to do with injury. We serve a God who is merciful, kind, and loving. He does not call us to a religion of pain. He calls us to a religion of truth. If it was not necessary for truth to pierce the darkness, Jesus Christ would not have entered the world. But the world was darkness, and it was full of antagonistic ways that hold to heart the destruction of anything right. For Christ to shine the light of truth in this darkness required Him to walk the ways of truth counter to the ways of darkness. In that walk against the flow He was injured.
-----It is not that we must be hurt or receive injury to draw near to God or to serve Him. It is that we must walk in the ways of truth. The world is still dark, and those holding the light in it for the Lord are not as great as it would seem. Nearly everyone claims to hold the light, but may actually look to some Sri Bubba in India, or some hypnotic practice at home. False direction is an unlit candle, yet those fooled by it hold it high to no avail. Even among those who know the Lord and have candles lit with the truth, we find selfish ambitions that go up in front of the candle like a colored lens. The light still gets through, but without its original strength. Yet the Word still presents the truth plain and simple to those who are willing to try and practice what it says. That practice walks counter to all of the outright deceit and all of the innocent misperceptions. Maneuvering through them is like walking through the thistle and cactus.
-----I now know why one must bleed and incur pain in his service to the Lord. It is not for the sake of the blood or the pain. In fact, it has nothing to do with them. It is because, in a world still counter to Him, to walk in His direction will inevitably lead to the pokes, scrapes, and cuts one would receive from a bramble bush. It simply has to do with where we are going and putting forth the effort to get there.
Interesting to know.
Kris;
God bless you.
Love,
Steve Corey
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