moonlight sonata (third movement)…

I have had a rather contemplative weekend. No real big events, just a lot of discussions and listening. I listened to a podcast by Scott McKnight entitled, “The Whole Gospel,” twice this weekend, and will probably listen to it again soon, as it affirms so much that is going on in my mind about church, community, and the gospel.

One of the illustrations he uses to describe the disconnect between the propositions of the faith and the action of the faith… is beautiful.

To the left is a snapshot of Ludwig van Beethoven’s Moonlight Sonata this will be the protagonist to this discussion, if you click on the snapshot you can download the entire third movement in pdf format.

To a un-musically-educated person, it just looks like a mass of notes, crescendo’s, and rests (or dots, lines, and squiggles), the lay person cannot hear the beautiful melody by looking at notes on a page… but unlike us, the infinite God hears the entire piece when he looks at this compilation of notes, crescendo’s and rests.

In the same way when wrestling in our understanding of Christianity we cannot limit ourselves to propositions of faith (logical statement that expresses a concept and or belief) written on tablets of paper. We must interact with these propositions, see, touch, hear and feel what they look like in action.

Interaction: Take a second and try to humm the melody as you follow the notes to “Moonlight Sonota.” Can you hear the magnificence of the music? or is it rather humdrum and a tad flat?

We can get an idea of the masterpiece by someone humming but we cannot experience the fullness without interacting with the music: we must hear it, bask in it, hummm it, and then begin to share it with others. If this music (our faith) has truly changed our lives than it must be played! So here it is folks Beethoven’s Moonlight Sonata (third movement):