Article April 22, 1991 Issue

Man's unchanging harmony

Because man's harmony comes from God, we can express that harmony now and forever.

Frances L. West

As a beginning student on the organ, I heard my instructor conclude a church service with Karg-Elert's "Nun danket alle Gott." Caught up in the majesty and power of the piece, I became convinced I had to play it too. I bought the score and started to practice. At first it was just a horrible noise. The runs were difficult. I couldn't even make my fingers stretch over the chords, let alone get the notes right. I practiced and practiced. After many weeks, finally I could play it correctly. The music became a glorious paean of praise, "Now thank we all our God."

Had my earlier mistaken interpretation affected the original piece? Of course not. It remained as perfect as the day the composer conceived it and wrote it down. I just needed to correct my flawed performance through persistent practice and by keeping clearly in mind how it was supposed to sound. Then my playing of the piece would bring out the harmony and beauty of the composer's original inspiration.

Doesn't everyday life sometimes seem a lot like my early attempts to play that piece—full of discords? Don't we long to know how to correct them? Perhaps, like the musician, we have to identify more closely with the original conception of the composer. God is the creator of man. Our mistaken views of ourselves never affect the real man that God has made. That man is always intact and perfect, a reflection of the glory of God, a tribute to His perfection and beauty. Right now we can begin to practice expressing more of God, who is perfect Life and constant divine Love. As we do this, the discords of sickness, sin, and sadness appearing in our present human sense of life will be replaced by harmony.

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