The Red Violin-Part III

Posted on March 31, 2010 by Doc Arnett

While we were listening to the Saint Joseph Symphony’s performance last Saturday evening, with Elizabeth Pitcairn as guest violinist, I tried to comprehend the challenge and nature of what we were witnessing: a few dozen musicians, a soloist, a conductor, all of them translating into performance a concept of music written a couple of centuries earlier. Sections of violinists, cellists, bassists, wind, woodwind and brass players, and percussionists all playing different notes yet all blending into music that elevates and transcends all individual expressions.

In the midst of this fine complexity, I noticed there were often periods when certain sections did not play. In fact, I’m pretty certain that there was not a single musician whose role at some place or another was other than to be silent, to wait. Even the virtuoso.

It does not always matter how talented, how eager, nor how enthusiastic and determined we may be. There are still times when the most valuable contribution we can make is to be quiet and allow the Lord’s Spirit to move through others.

H. Arnett
3/30/10

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The Red Violin-Part II

Posted on March 31, 2010 by Doc Arnett

According to an online source, Elizabeth Pitcairn’s grandfather purchased the Stradivarius “Red Mendelssohn” for her when she was sixteen years old. The price: one-point-seven million dollars. The same source states that she is “heiress to the PPG fortune.” Their 2009 global sales are reported to have been twelve-point-two billion dollars. I suppose someone with that magnitude of wealth might well be able to purchase a Stradivarius or two and have time to practice as well.

That alone would not guarantee that she would become such a masterful player, able to move audiences with such finesse and skill and passion. But even such talent as hers cannot accomplish the full expression of the music that has been written without other musicians and conductor. And all of them are dependent upon the composers. Someone has to imagine, comprehend and express in some understandable manner the arrangements.

It is not in the strength of our own talent that we make our contribution to life but rather in the degree to which that talent blends into and helps the whole fulfill its purpose.

H. Arnett
3/30/10

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The Red Violin-Part I

Posted on March 31, 2010 by Doc Arnett

The Red Violin-Part I

Terry Brock won the Kansas state Old Time Fiddling contest when he was seventeen years old. A few years later, he earned a music degree from Missouri Western State University and now teaches violin both privately and in the Saint Joseph school district. One of the particular things that is impressive about Terry, and there are several, is that he also plays front row violin in the St. Joseph Symphony.

Elizabeth Pitcairn is a world-renowned violinist and also owner of the Red Violin, a Stradivarius formerly owned by the Mendelssohn family, a family of no small repute in the music world. Ms. Pitcairn began playing the violin when she was three years old, developing into a virtuoso player by the time of her late teens. She acquired the Red Violin in 1992, paying at auction a sum that remained a record for many years. On Saturday evening, she and Terry and the other members of our symphony performed together.

I have often wondered what there could be about a Stradivarius violin that could possibly deserve so much attention and reputation. How could a couple of pounds of wood and varnish with only four short strings merit such mythical attention? It seemed incomprehensible that any instrument, much less one so small and “simple” could be worth hundreds of thousands of dollars.

My wondering is over.

To listen to such a marvelous instrument in the hands of a marvelous musician is to be transported to another level of existence. Such exquisite tones, notes somehow rising above the sound of the orchestra, emanating radiance and depth and character evoke admiration, appreciation and pleasure. Perhaps one of discernment might detect the superb qualities of such a violin, even if it were being played by a beginning Suzuki student. In the hands of an accomplished player, those distinctions are not so subtle.

I have heard comparisons of how the master’s touch transforms even the most common instrument into a Stradivarius, that when God takes our lives we all become incredibly wonderful violins. It’s not true. We do become saved, we do become healed, we become whole. Indeed, we are transformed.

But in regard to the reason for God’s interest in us, it does not matter whether we become renowned virtuosos, talented fiddlers and or slow-learning sawyers practicing in a concrete bunker in order to preserve tranquility in the neighborhood. It was not because of our tremendous potential, not because of our capacity to become remarkable, not because we can become unique and wonderful and incredible that he saves us and renews us by the power of his Spirit.

It is because he loved us, while we were yet sinners.

H. Arnett
3/29/10

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Boiling Point

Posted on March 26, 2010 by Doc Arnett

Although I cannot document the fact for everyone that I know, it appears quite likely that we all have our limits. Some would say there’s a point at which they just can’t take another rude comment, another inconsideration, another frustration, another encounter with another “How can you be this stupid and still know how to breathe?” kind of a person. Others would say those are merely points at which we choose to abandon patience, tolerance and forbearance.

No matter how you express the thought, I stumbled upon that point last night for the young woman who rents the apartment adjacent to the one in which we had the fire. Three months of various disruptions to her serenity, privacy and desire for a quiet and uncomplicated life finally pushed that special button. You know, the button that unleashes the assertive side, so to speak.

Without being rude or crass or hateful, she vented in a couple of text messages about the noise, messes and aggravations that she had seemed to endure quite patiently ever since New Year’s Day.

Now I know. Kevin and Travis will also know. Quitting the work is not an option but we can try to avoid making loud noises inside the building until a bit later each morning. We can be more mindful about cleaning up around the building. And I can remember, yet once again, that no matter how good the reasons, how important the work nor how dramatic the improvement, there are always those who pay some cost, even when the work does not directly benefit them.

And, I can show them the consideration that I would appreciate myself.

H. Arnett
3/26/10

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Deception

Posted on March 25, 2010 by Doc Arnett

There is, in the belly of the beggar and the glutton, a constant longing and hunger. Not just a hunger for food but also a longing for plenty, for an end to the deprivation, for a confidence that one day, soon, the drought will end and there will be food not only for this day but for all days.

There is, in the heart of the lonely and the popular, a similar aching, a craving of companionship, of the sense of belonging. There is a need for knowing that there will be others, at least one, whose love and acceptance is constant, faithful, unswerving.

There is, in the body of the diseased and the athlete, a yearning for release. Not just for the cessation of pain and a freedom from suffering, but a desire for vim and vigor, for the restoration of vitality, for the surging strength of health and wholeness.

There is, in the soul of the lifeworn and the ambitious, an endless searching, a seeking of meaning and fulfillment, a sensing of purpose and value and accomplishment, a realization of dimension that cannot be fathomed by gram and meter.

What there is, at different points and different ways, is a holy and ancient notion that this world is not perfectly fitted to us, that it disappoints and fails us, that it confines us and binds us. We try to find some way of being filled in a world that empties, holding on to moments that cannot be grasped, hoping to feed flesh that is set on decay.

There was One who came, who walked upon this earth, who breathed its arid air, drank its sweat and poured his own blood into dust. It was he who showed us that it is the craving of this world’s nature that enslaves us, our attraction to its flimsy passing that binds us. In the hunger for righteousness, the longing for salvation, the liberation of forgiveness and the strength of humility, we are filled, nourished, released and made mighty.

It is always the way of this world to make snares of promises; it is always his promise to break those snares.

H. Arnett
3/25/10

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What’s Up, Doc?

Posted on March 24, 2010 by Doc Arnett

The river.
The temperature.
God’s grace.
Your intelligence.
Blue skies.
Buds on tree branches.
Blooms on the crocus.
Lily stalks.
Green on the grass.
The smell of spring.
The cost of living.
The cost of dying.
Salvation.
The wind.
The sun.
The number of cell phones.
Love.
Hope.
Faith.
Opportunities to do good to others.
Forgiveness.
Life.

H. Arnett
3/23/10

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Final Inspection

Posted on March 24, 2010 by Doc Arnett

The remodeling is just about finished in the aftermath of the apartment fire. Isn’t “aftermath” just the perfect word? As in “the math you have to do after a fire.” Figuring out the damage, listing the furnishings, calculating the costs of replacements, etc. Lots of math. The afterwork has certainly been even more extensive but now it’s nearly completed, too. Walls, ceilings, floors, cabinets, lights, switches, outlets, all wiring–everything you can see and lots of things you can’t see have been replaced. Yesterday brought about the official certification of completion: final inspection by the electrical inspector.

All of those circuits, the panel, each outlet, switch, appliance, light, and smoke detectors have now passed final inspection. The apartment is now approved for occupation. I guess I could say it looks like a new apartment but in regard to everything but the supporting framework and structure, it is a new apartment.

The “remodeling” of our souls and spirits goes a bit deeper, including the reworking of not only the surface aspects but the hidden ones as well. Such things as attitudes, beliefs, dispositions, and thinking are also reshaped by the hands of the Carpenter. One day, that work, too, will be examined and judged. But in our case, the one who has been doing the work will do the final inspection. One who does not hide faults, sins and shortcomings but rather covers them with his own blood.

H. Arnett
3/24/10

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The Long Way Home

Posted on March 22, 2010 by Doc Arnett

You would be something of a rarity in our society if you’ve never heard someone say, “They don’t build them like they used to.” It’s something of a mantra, I suppose. A car gets dented, a lawn mower quits working, a tool has to be replaced, a roof begins to sag. No matter what it is, seems like someone in the group will say, “They don’t build them like they used to,” and bystanders will nod in solemn agreement.

Well, after my forty years of remodeling experience, being in houses, under houses, on top of house, in attics, basements and crawl spaces, my response is, “Be grateful they don’t build them like they used to!”

I’ve seen old houses built with the same kind of shortcuts, cheap tricks and inferior materials that people talk about in new construction. I’ve seen two-by-fours used for rafters and ceiling joists when two-by-sixes would have been the minimum. I’ve seen studs, joists and rafters set on twenty-four inch spacing when sixteen inches would not have been any too close. I’ve seen floor and ceiling joists jointed together in the middle of a span and held together by a piece of wood with only two nails on each side of joint.

I can’t imagine that there has ever been a time in the history of humankind when there haven’t been those too cheap, too greedy, too impatient or just too contrary to do something the way it should be done. Some of those people were carpenters. And so, cheap, inferior houses were built. But I suspect there have always been those others who were too honest, too determined, too caring and too decent to take the easy route at the expense of others. They used two-by-eights when two-by-sixes might have been OK. They culled out weak lumber, put in an extra nail, added cross bracing and used supporting walls.

This is the kind of carpenter who worked out your salvation. And when it comes to building lives, he’s still doing that the same way.

H. Arnett
3/17/10

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Headin’ South to Snow

Posted on March 22, 2010 by Doc Arnett

My stepson, Jaylon, lives in Brookings, South Dakota, an area of some fame for its fine pheasant hunting and noted by its visitors during the winter months for its cold temperatures and vicious wind chills. The hundreds of miles of plains in that part of the country do very little to diminish that effect. Whenever the wind chill is at minus twenty in Saint Joe, it’s more likely minus thirty-five in Brookings. Whenever we get three inches of snow, they probably had six. Mathematically, I’d say they have winter to the next power there.

Randa, her brother and I were just up there last week to help Jay get his house ready for going on the market. Thursday’s pleasant forties plunged to the teens overnight. As we retreated south toward Saint Joseph on Saturday, we encountered an unexpected phenomenon; we ran into evidence of a snowstorm that had spared Brookings and nailed Kansas City! Indeed, we had four to five inches of fresh white stuff on the ground here with Kansas City getting an additional three to five inches Saturday evening.

Sometimes, even South Dakota is spared the expected storm. While it may be hard for those of us not spared to count our blessings while we are shoveling snow, we could start with the fact that we are able to shovel.

H. Arnett
3/22/10

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Beats Martha White

Posted on March 12, 2010 by Doc Arnett

Martha White Milling Company’s radio ads were a staple part of growing up for anyone who grew up in the Fifties and Sixties within the range of WSM in Nashville, Tennessee. With Flatt and Scruggs hammering out their jingles, Martha White was a household name across the southeast. “For the finest biscuits you can bake…” so the Bluegrass harmony admonished us, “get Martha White self-rising flour, the one all-purpose flour, get Martha White self-rising flour, for Goodness sake.” For the cornbread, the jingle included “with Hot-Rize Plus.”

While the biscuits and cornbread Mom baked seemed equally fine whether she used Martha White or Sunflour from Hopkinsville Milling Company, we could never be really sure that anything baked in the oven without the advantage of Hot-Rize Plus could possibly be quite as good. It didn’t matter that we had no idea what Hot-Rize Plus actually was; that was immaterial. It just sounded like the exactly right thing to make cornbread rise up all hot and fluffy.

Sounding like the right thing is a mighty fine commodity, whether you’re selling flour to rural homemakers, trying to elect the next resident of the White House or soliciting contributions from millions of Americans so your television ministry can continue to provide its uplifting and edifying programs. Yessir, if what you’re selling sounds like the right thing, you’re on the right track.

Trouble is, not everything that sounds like the right thing is the right thing. Cloak imperialism under the guise of “democracy” and it sounds like the right thing. Cloak indifference to morality under the guise of “tolerance” and it sounds like the right thing. Cloak materialism and greed under the guise of “the abundant life” and it sounds like the right thing. There is no religion or philosophy that is not perverted for the use of power and manipulation. One day, all of the snake oil salesmen and money-grubbers and power-grabbers will be revealed for what they truly are.

Until then, read Jesus, study Jesus and live Jesus. That, I guarantee, is better than Hot-Rize Plus.

H. Arnett
3/12/10

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