Rachmaninoff & Delayed Gratification
We are well aware that a song can preach to us through its lyrics. But some might be surprised to learn that a song (or indeed, any piece of music) can also preach through its form, entirely apart from lyrics. The very structure of the notes can impart its own lessons.
For instance, music can preach the virtue of patience—an apt theme during the season of Lent, when many Christians will fast with Jesus for forty days in the wilderness. In all three of Jesus’ wilderness temptations, the devil enticed our Lord to be impatient. Skip the hardship, said Satan. Solve hunger now. Prove yourself to be the Messiah now. Take the kingdom now.
Well, Jesus did eventually feed the hungry, with Living Bread. He did prove himself the Messiah by an incontestable sign. He did claim all authority in heaven and on earth. But he did all these things in his Father’s time and only via the suffering of the cross. By refusing the tempter, Jesus was rejecting offers to “fast forward” to a happy ending, to snatch the glory without enduring the suffering.
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Christopher Hoyt is the organist/choirmaster at Good Shepherd Church in Tyler, Texas, and teaches Sacred Music at Cranmer Theological House (Reformed Episcopal) in Dallas. He was general editor of the hymnal, The Book of Common Praise/Magnify the Lord (2017) and is a composer of hymns and other church music (hoytcomposer.com).
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more on music from the online archives
33.3—May/June 2020
Bach's Cantata BWV 106, Gottes Zeit ist die allerbesteZeit (God's time is the very best time) by Ken Myers
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