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Morning Reflection
July 28, 2025
Feast Day of Johann Sebastian Bach
Reflection by Peter Vanderveen
When we as human beings engage in any significant consideration of God, music should be privileged, more than words. I’d go so far as to say that one of the most consistent mistakes made in ministry, especially by those who carry the title “minister,” is to try to do too much by words alone, treating music as a mere addendum – when, all the while, music can so much more effectively convey what lies at the heart of faith.
At the very end of his life, the great American theologian Robert Jenson was interviewed and asked about end things: death and resurrection. This is what he had to say, in words that he recognized as insufficient.
Interviewer: I’d love to hear you talk a little bit about what we can expect of resurrection embodiment in the end—not only for Jesus, but also for ourselves.
Robert Jenson: At the very end, when the Lord comes in his glory, we will discover that the New Testament was very cautious about what it said. . . When it comes to the positive side of the final revelation, it turns to poetry. I have occasionally attempted to sum up that poetry by saying the final transformation of creation is into one vast implosion of love. What’s an implosion of love? In one way I don’t have the slightest idea . . . Nevertheless, it communicates. So the sum-up I have played with is “a vast implosion of love.” I have another sum-up that I play with and that’s to say, at the end of it all, the rest is music. A vast hymn, a three-part fugue played by God, with God, and involving us as variations on the theme. Does that help any at all?
Bach famously left the inscription “Soli Deo Gloria” (To God alone be the Glory) on all his compositions. His music was meant to be always an expression of praise, that reveals and builds up all that God is doing in creation. But it’s better to listen than to try to explain, so please click on the link below (and whatever intrusive ad pops up, you can skip over it in a matter of seconds). It is the best of prayers.
Yo-Yo Ma plays Bach’s Cello Suite No. 1 in G Major, Prelude
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