“Humble” was the first word that came to my mind as our team arrived in a Haiti preschool classroom to find 50 preschoolers sitting on wooden benches to learn vowel sounds.

Hundreds of school children from some of the poorest communities and villages gather in the five Harmony Ministry schools across that country. The largest school is in the slums of Port au Prince where 200 students learn in the brand new school building rebuilt following the 2010 earthquake. Three village schools with about 50-150 students at each and a small preschool through first grade, high in the mountains, complete the Harmony Ministry schools.  Many of the village students are the first in their family to learn to read and write. Children walk or ride tap-taps (mini buses) for several hours each day to attend school and for most, they go without lunch each day. 

Seeing this, I reflected on how different my elementary school experience was from the children in Haiti. My classrooms were filled with bright bulletin boards, fun ways to learn math, reading, writing and science.  My favorite place was always the well-stocked library where I picked a new book to read each week.  My well educated teachers prepared for us to have new experiences. We had daily recess on new playground equipment.  I was blessed, even more than I realized, as I watched the older children learn their times tables on the one blackboard with a tiny piece of chalk in their hand.

The focus of this Haiti trip was on two schools. The newly finished Port au Prince school with nine classrooms from preschool to sixth grade and the small school in the village of Thoman near the Dominican border. 

During our week we wanted to provide a few experiences for the students that they might not otherwise have.  We provided color and brighter rooms for the classrooms in Port au Prince, took their photos [which likely had never been done before], and taught science and art classes.

The painting project was started by the Harmony Ministries community as they painted the walls white.  We arrived to decorate with painted trees, stripes, polka dots, rainbows and handprint flowers made by the students in the classes.  Their excitement upon entering their painted rooms was joyful to watch as they compared their classroom decorations with other rooms on Monday morning.

But the most powerful experience was our team’s interaction with the students as we taught art and science lessons.  Many children had never looked in a mirror as our team member talked about how we are all unique, special and loved by God.  Children learned how to draw a face, use scissors and crayons, and share some of their favorite things that make them special.  We were humbled when they wanted to share their photos with our Sunday school children.

Their eyes opened wide as they saw yellow and blue make green in our science lessons. As they learned the power of magnets that can attract each other through our hands. And air mass with paper helicopters thrown off the second story balcony or into the windy street.  Their energy brought joy to our faces and humility to how much we have and know from our privileged education in the states. 

Finally, as we took individual photos the group would gather around as they watched the 2 x 3 photo come out of our Polaroid camera. They laughed, smiled and wanted one to take home.  We have school photos of ourselves, children and grandchildren.  It was humbling to recognize this might be their only school photo. The photos were put up on each classroom wall so everyone could remember how special they are. 

Often we forget about the small energizing opportunities that led us to choose careers, passions and vocations like an art class or a science experiment. Many road blocks are against these children as they think about their future.  I am humbled by how blessed we are here, and challenged to provide more experiences like these to our partners in Haiti.

Most of all, I am humbled by how easy it is to make someone feel special and important. Our team, with much of your help and prayers were able to help students and teachers have that experience and were blessed by it. Pastor Luc left us at the airport with these words, “You made a difference in the student’s lives.  Thank you.”

Tonight I had a conversation with the director of the Phoenix Symphony Chorus about music without words. He said, “I was talking to my Music Appreciation class today at the University. I asked them if they thought that music without words could be ‘sacred.’ They said that they’d never really thought about it before. I told them that I thought that music can only be truly sacred if it had words and those words spoke of God.”

This is not a new topic. The conversation around the sacredness of music has been going on for almost 2000 years. Early on in the Church all instruments were banned from worship services. Theologians spoke against instruments in worship. They thought that instruments were too “pagan,” and they feared that musical instruments in worship would distract people, making them think of drinking and dancing and…carousing. 

Clement of Alexandria, who lived in the second half of the second century said, “The Lord fashioned man a beautiful, breathing instrument, after His own image and assuredly He Himself is an all-harmonious instrument of God, melodious and holy, the wisdom that is above this world, the heavenly Word. …and on this many-voiced instruments of the universe He makes music to God, and sings to the human instrument. ‘For thou art my harp and my pipe and my temple.’” The only God-made instrument, they said, is the human voice. So, this is the only instrument allowed in church…and that voice can only be lifted up in the praise of God with words from the Bible, and this tradition carried on for centuries.

One of the first instruments to be introduced into Christian worship was the organ, and its purpose was only to support the singing. The chants required singers to hold notes for a very long time…and they would run out of breath. So, the organ was developed to mimic the human voice and to play underneath the singers, so they could catch their breath without losing the continuity of the sound. But, even though the innovation of using a musical instrument in church gained more and more acceptance, it was only there to support the singing of psalms and sacred hymns. Music without words…was still forbidden.  Yet, even though the organ has been used in church for centuries, not all theologians agreed on its presence in worship. Martin Luther called the organ “an ensign of Baal,” and John Calvin said, “Men who are fond of outright pomp may delight in the noise, but the simplicity which God commands to us by the apostles is far more pleasing to God.” John Wesley, the great Methodist theologian and hymn writer, said himself, “I have no objection to the organs in our chapels, as long as they are neither seen nor heard.” Even though early Protestants eschewed the use of instruments in worship, some of the greatest music ever written was the organ music of the pre-eminent Protestant composer Johann Sebastian Bach, specifically meant for worship! Just think of his magisterial Tocatta and Fugue in D minor!

Some Christian traditions still allow no musical instruments in worship. But not us here at Pinnacle. We have a magnificent organ…and a fantastic new organist to make it sing. This last Sunday Dr. Ilona Kubiaczyk-Adler led us not only in the singing of our hymns; she also led us in worship through the prelude, offertory, and postlude…all music without words, at times meditative, at others celebratory and even proclamatory. And I say that it was sacred. A couple of Sundays ago, Chip and Marti King led us in our worship with the music of the bassoon and the piano.  No words. Just music. And God was praised.   At times the youth lead us with African or steel drums, or the handbell choir rings praise on our behalf, or Al Roselieb’s trumpet announces God’s good news. Sacred music that points us to God.

The psalmist proclaims, “Hallelujah! Praise God in His holy place Praise God with a shofar blast, praise God with psaltery and lyre. Praise God with tambourines and dance, praise God with stringed instruments and flute. Praise God with resounding cymbals, praise God with resonant cymbals. Let every soul praise God. Hallelujah!” (Psalm 150).

This last Sunday we had an art show here at Pinnacle, featuring artists from our church family, our community of faith. We held the art show in Fellowship Hall, not the sanctuary. Not one of the artists painted “God.” We weren’t in a worship setting. And yet…each artist shared their creative talents, the products of their God-given talents, their art singing forth, like hymns without words. Not art for its own sake (ars gratia artis), but art for God’s sake (ars gratia Dei). And people appreciated the art and gifts of creativity, and they fellowshipped.

The Word of God comes to us sometimes in silence, sometimes in wordless music, singing the cosmic hymn of creation, and sometimes in art, reflecting God’s own creativity in forming and expressing God’s own image in us. Enjoy music and art, for art’s sake, and praise God for creativity, for God’s sake.

It’s “stewardship season” at Pinnacle Presbyterian Church, which means we’re asking folks to commit time and money, and prayer, to our ministry for 2019.  While I’m tempted to make my post an appeal, I do want our blog to appeal beyond Pinnacle, so I’ll have a little restraint [though if you like this blog, you are welcome to give a gift to Pinnacle online www.pinnaclepres.org.] 

In thinking on this topic, though, I found a lovely midrash on a midrash, by Rabbi Shawn Israel Zevit about the power of a gracious heart and generous giving that I thought I would share.  It has universal meaning, I think, for many areas of our lives.  It’s in Zevit’s book, Offerings of the Heart (pp. 113-114), based on Jeffrey Dekro and Lawrence Bush’s book, Jews, Money and Social Responsibility, in which they adapt a classic Rabbinic story from Midrash Rabbah.  Like I said, a commentary on a commentary on a commentary — like many true things.

There are two seas in the land of Israel [and Palestine].
One is fresh, and fish are in it.
Splashes of green adorn its bands.
Trees spread their branches over it,
And stretch their thirsty roots
To sip of its healing waters.

Along its shores, children play.
The River Jordan makes this sea sparkle.
With water from the hills.
It laughs in the sunshine.
People build their homes near to it,
And birds their nests;
And every kind of life is happier
Because it is there.

The River Jordan also flows south into another sea.
Here there is no splash
Of fish, no fluttering leaf,
No song of birds, no children’s laughter.
Travelers choose another route
Unless on urgent business.
The air hangs heavily above its waters,
And neither person nor beast nor fowl will drink.

What makes this mighty difference in these seas?
Not the River Jordan.
It empties the same good water into both.
Not the soil in which they lie.
Not the country round about.

This is the difference.
The Sea of Galilee receives
But does not keep the Jordan.
For every drop flows out.
The giving and receiving
Go on in equal measure.
The other sea however, is shrewd,
Hoarding its income jealously.
It will not be tempted
Into any generous impulse.
Every drop it gets, it keeps.
It lets nothing flow out.
The Sea of Galilee gives and lives.
The other sea gives nothing.
It is called
The Dead Sea.

She was crying when I walked into her hospital room that long-ago afternoon in Charleston, SC. Blotting her eyes with tissue, she apologized for her tears, and when I asked if there was anything I could do, she blurted out, “I’m not getting better, and I know it’s all my fault.” When I asked why she felt that was so, she explained that a minister had told her she wasn’t improving because, he said, “she didn’t have enough faith.”

As I listened to her and watched the emotional pain which that self-righteous, judgmental pronouncement had caused, I grew angry. How in the name of religion or much less in the name of God, could such a thing be said? Why are we so quick to victimize the innocent to find easy answers to life’s endless supply of difficult questions? Beware of those who would have you believe that your problems, large or small, are because you do not have sufficient faith or because you do not believe what they think you should believe. Faith is not some kind of commodity that can be stockpiled in various amounts; rather it is an attitude of one’s heart and mind.

Faith, Reinhold Niebuhr once wrote, is to trust in a good God who created a good world though that world is not now good. It is to trust in a loving God though that love is not always reflected in a broken world. It is to trust in a God powerful enough to overcome the evil which men and women do and to redeem them from their brokenness. I believe that with all my heart, mind, and soul. Such a faith has the power to sustain and comfort a person even in the darkest moments of life. Ultimately, such faith is the gift of a gracious God who in return asks for our unconditional love and gratitude. We can offer no less for such a gift. In the words of a familiar hymn, it demands our souls, our life, our all.

With the tongue, we praise our Lord and Father, and with it, we curse human beings, who have been made in God’s likeness. Out of the same mouth come praise and cursing. James 3:9-10a

I love being a dad. It is one of the true blessings in life.  One of the reasons I love being a father is because every day is a new adventure into uncharted territory.  For instance, last week I was driving in the car with my three kids when Jude (7), my youngest asked, “Why is stupid a bad word?”  “You say things are stupid all the time, but when I call someone stupid or say I am stupid, you get mad at me.”  To this I said, “when we call someone stupid we are putting them down, making them less than us.  When we call someone stupid, we are saying that we are smarter than they are and better.”

Then he jumped to a hotter topic.  He asked, “Why can’t we call people gay?”  Remember he is seven and trying to figure out the rules of life.  I told him that the word gay actually means happy and carefree, but people have used the word to classify people and try to make them less than they are.  I went on to say there are some people who are gay and who identify with that term, but often, people will call things “gay” as a way of meaning stupid or dumb. And that sometimes people call other people gay in an attempt to put them down, to make them feel like there is something wrong with them, and that is why we typically don’t use the word gay, because most of the time it is associated with putting people down.

We went on to talk about the word “retarded” and how that is actually a musical term meaning to slow down, and how it was attributed to people who were slower, but now it is used as a word to make fun of people.  We discussed the phrase “you throw like a girl,” which in the movie Sandlot is considered the worst insult to a boy baseball player as if there is something inferior to the way a girl throws compared to how a boy throws. 

Our conversation continued the entire way to school and as my kids got out of the car, it made me really think about how words are used.  As I went about my day, I put the conversation behind me, until I got home that night and was making dinner.  I was reading a recipe and for one of the ingredients it said, “you can be a little more liberal or conservative depending on your taste.”  It made me laugh since typically in our society you are identified as a liberal or a conservative, and when someone calls you that, it generally is used to identify and separate, not a term of inclusion or to make things better. 

The book of James has a whole section on this very issue.  He says the same tongue that we use to praise God is the same tongue that we also use to put down and curse each other.  Since James wrote his letter almost 2000 years ago, things haven’t changed much.  His words are for those who follow Christ to act and speak differently, to use words to build up not to put down, to unite not separate.  I encourage you to think about the words we use, the phrases we say.  If we find ourselves using words to put down and separate, to preach hate and negativity, remember that it is with the same mouth, we praise God and tell people how great He is…so what does that actually say about us and what we believe about God? Are we really praising God when we use words to make those who, like us, are created in His image, seem like they are less than us or inadequate simply because they are different from us? 

We are told that we all have gifts and are created uniquely in the image of God. So it shouldn’t matter what our race, gender, nationality, or political views we have, we are all Children of God, and we should treat each other in that manner.