In this
issue:
i)
Three-Dimensional Creations - J. Carattini
ii) The
Spiritual Warefare - B. Deffinbaugh
Three-Dimensional
Creations
Jill
Carattini
An important manuscript long thought lost was
rediscovered last week hiding in a Pennsylvania seminary on a forgotten archival
shelf. The recovered manuscript was a working score for a piano version of
Ludwig van Beethoven's "Grosse Fuge," which means "grand fugue." Apparently,
grand is an understatement. The work is known as a monument of classical music
and described by historians as a "symphonic poem" or a "leviathan"—an
achievement on the scale of the finale of his Ninth Symphony. The work is one of
the last pieces Beethoven composed, during the period when he was completely
deaf. The markings throughout the manuscript are in the composer's own hand.
In fact, such markings are a particular trademark of Beethoven, who was
known for near obsessive editing. Unlike Mozart, who typically produced large
scores in nearly finished form, Beethoven's mind was so full of ideas that it
was never made up. Never satisfied, he honed his ideas brutally.
A look
at the recovered score portrays exactly that. Groups of measures throughout the
80-page manuscript are furiously canceled out with cross-marks. Remnants of red
sealing wax, used to adhere long corrections to an already scuffed up page,
remain like scars. There are smudges where he rubbed away ink while it was still
wet and abrasions where he erased notes with a needle. Dated changes and
omissions are scattered throughout the score, many of these markings dating to
the final months before his death in 1827.
There is something
encouraging about the labored work of a genius. Beethoven wrestled notes
onto the page. For him composing music was a messy, physical process. Ink was
splattered, wax burned, erasers wore holes in the paper. What started as a clean
page became a muddled, textured mess of a masterpiece ever in progress.
At times when I read the words of 2 Corinthians 5:17 I am jarred by the
finality of it: "Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The
old has passed away; behold, the new has come." Upon calling on Christ as Lord,
we have been made into something new. Before we have even tried to live well,
before we have labored as disciples, the marred and muddied scene of our hearts
has been made white as snow. God has handed us the masterpiece of his Son and
told us that when He looks at us He sees perfection.
Though I stand
amazed at his grace, it is also easy for me to stumble at the thought of it. I
imagine God handing me a clean paper and asking me to hold it in a world full of
ink and dirt. And I immediately wish I would have been more careful. I picture
the white page given to me and think of all of the smudges and eraser marks I've
added to it, some of them from lessons learned the hard way, others merely from
bumping into life as I walk along.
If truth be told, life is messier
than I'd like it to be. People get angry and depressed and sick. We struggle
with remaining hopeful in the dark and seeing through bouts of self-deception.
Our lives don't turn out how we planned them, and the roads we choose aren't as
straight as we'd like them to be. Even so, God is faithful through the mess.
"For we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him,
who have been called according to his purpose" (Romans 8:28).
Someone
has called Beethoven's masterpieces works of "three-dimensional" art. There is a
texture and a character to his manuscripts that display an artist who went
beyond merely writing the notes, but stretched himself, and the page itself, to
make a symphony. All the more, our life in Christ is fleshed out of us. Our
scuffs and blotches are wrought with the work of one who descends into the mess
of life to shape us. Like a composer willing to labor over his pages, the
potter's hands are not afraid to get dirty. Our lives, which may be glued with
corrections and shaped with notations, are marked with the signs of the master
at work.
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[Copyright(c) 2005 Ravi Zacharias International
Ministries (RZIM). Reprinted with permission. A Slice of Infinity is a ministry
of Ravi Zacharias International Ministries.]
The
Spiritual Warfare (Eph 6:10-13) (Part 1)
Bob Deffinbaugh, Th.M
Introduction: As Hitler’s appetite
for power and territory grew, his army began to march across Europe. In some
cases, the fight could hardly be called a battle. The German army advanced, with
its tanks and with technologically advanced weapons. In some of the
underdeveloped nations, their armies made a futile effort to resist Hitler’s
aggression, fighting back with spears and even rocks. It was no contest at all,
because these nations were not equipped for the battle.
The same could be said of Satan, and those whom he opposes.
Many of his victims do not even know there is a war going on. They make easy
prey. Christians should know that we are in the midst of a great spiritual
struggle, although many seem not to believe it. And even more distressing is the
fact that many who consider themselves “in the war” do not understand the nature
of Satan’s schemes, of the weapons which he employs, or of the weapons which God
has provided for our defense.
Ephesians 6:10-20 is perhaps the clearest definition of the
spiritual war which we find from the pen of the Apostle Paul. It not only
assures us that there is a spiritual war, but it warns us that apart from
utilizing the weapons which God has provided for us, we are hopelessly
underpowered. This passage informs us as to what our divinely weapons are.
Beyond this, these weapons imply the nature of the struggle which we are in. The
weapons which God has provided for us are those weapons which best repel the
attacks of Satan, and thus we can learn a great deal about the nature of Satan’s
opposition from simply considering each of the weapons at our disposal.
In this first lesson, we will concentrate on verses 10-13,
which direct our attention to the war itself, and to our grasp of its gravity.
After a consideration of the war in general, we will then proceed to examine in
more detail each of the weapons Paul mentions, and the offensive strategy of
Satan which they imply. May God give us open hearts and minds to understand the
spiritual war, and the means which He has provided for our
defense.
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