Worship Arts July August September 2022

The gift of music by Roger Deschner

In the beginning God created music. The earth was without form and void, and silence was upon the face of the deep; and the breath of God was moving through the mists quietly. And God said, “Let there be sound,” and there was sound. And sound found God’s ears, and God’s ears were unstopped, and God said, “Good.” God said, “Now let there be silence and let there be sound.” And God separated the two at the end of the first day. And God said, “Let there be high sounds and low sounds.” So God created a scale, and everything above the middle C in the midst of the scale God called “high,” and everything below the middle C, God sepa rated off from the sounds above and God called them “low.” And it was so. And there was evening and there was morning, the second day. And God said, “Let the high and low sounds on the scale be gathered together into small groups, and let tunes appear.” And it was so. God called the tunes “Melody,” but the notes without form God called “Noise.” And God said, “Let melody put forth different forms each pleasing in its own way, and let variations spring forth from seed motifs and develop into fruitful trees of tunes in which is their own seed, each according to its kinds.” And it was so. And God heard that it was good. And there was evening, and there was morning, the third day. And God said, “Let there be rhythm.” God made different lengths of notes, and named the long sound ing notes differently from the short sounding notes. And God then mixed the short and the long notes together around steadily pounding beats. And so God got rhythm. And God said, “I’ll tap my foot on the floor of the universe.” And the thunder of God’s tapping foot rolled through all the creation to rhythms each of its own kind. And God said, “This feels good.” And there was evening and there was morning, a fourth day. And the triune God – God the fresh birthing creator, God the steadfast sustainer, and God the

wind-blown spirit – this God said, “Let there be triads of notes, each of its own kind, but sounding forth together.” And it was so sweetly so. And God said, “Let there be major triads and minor triads.” And it came to pass. And God let the major triads rule the day and the minor triads rule the night. Day and night God’s ears listened in wonder. And God was pleased. And there was evening with minor triads and morning with major triads, a fifth day. And God said. “Let triads move one to the other in smooth progression, and let melodies sound with the triads that move one to the other, in pleasing agree ment.” And the harmonies and tunes became a new song. And God said, “I’m going to tap my foot on the floor of the universe, and I’m going to open my mouth and sing.” And through God’s open mouth, from between God’s lips, and past God’s vibrating tongue flowed forth divine music; the music of the spheres. Like the long rushing wind, the roar of the tornado, the lapping of the waves, the twitter of the birds, the power of the waterfall, the pounding thunder and the crack of lightning, the music of the spheres rolled forth from God’s mouth, from between God’s lips, past God’s vi brating tongue. And God said with the vital excitement of the new creator, “I’ve made music! I hear the music of the spheres! I sing! I sing! I sing!” And it was so! And that was the evening and the morning of the sixth day, the first day ever of music. T hus the creation of music, the divine song, the music of the spheres was completed. And on the seventh day God finished the work, and God rested on the seventh day. And God got a big glass and filled it with pure, sparkling, living water from a running stream. And God put a delicious sprig of firmamint in it. And God sipped it. “That tastes good!” God said. And God sipped and sipped. And God lay back and relaxed with the pure, sparkling glass of living water with a sprig of firmamint. And God put on ear phones and spent the day listening to the divine music of the spheres.

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