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BEING IN TUNE

Colossians 3:12-17

Hoffman 125th Anniversary Worship

August 14, 2016

Pastor Nathan J. Thompson

Welcome to this 125th Anniversary of Hoffman's Harvest Fest Worship Service. It is great to see so many relatives, friends and former residents who are back for this weekend. I hope you're all having a wonderful time of reminiscing and fellowship.

One thing I know is that a major part of reunions like this is the remembering of special music experiences from the past. Alumni love to reminisce about school choirs; choir and band directors; music competitions; ensemble friends.

Now something that each of you know who may have participated in music groups is the importance of being in tune. There is nothing worse than a band where some of the instruments are out of tune; it can cause someone to plug their ears not wanting to listen.

And the same thing is also true of a choir and choral ensemble. If the whole song goes flat in pitch; if the men's parts aren't in tune with the women singing it can be mostly noise rather than music. This is the reason most directors spend so much time working on how to stay in tune.

My wife Kim and I; our youngest son, Isaac, is a professional violinist (now the head of artistic planning for the Cincinnati Symphony). He did his undergraduate degree studying violin and music at the Cincinnati College/Conservatory of Music and did his Master's Degree at the Butler School of Music at the University of Texas Austin.

Through all his years of violin training from 1st grade; to all the Minnesota Youth Symphony Orchestras and other ensembles he played in, the emphasis was always on having his violin perfectly in tune. In fact his teachers and conductors wouldn't allow him to play his instrument unless he (and all the other players) were in perfect tune together.

Now in an orchestra as many of you know the concertmaster always prompts the oboe player to sound the perfect “A” pitch; then everyone tunes to that perfect pitch. You hear all the players do this before the conductor steps on stage and starts the first piece.

You can imagine the chaos that would happen if each player in an orchestra decided to tune their instruments to their own pitch; if each person simply did their own thing. The sound would be awful if each one played whatever they wanted to.

So this morning I ask you to hum some pitch and melody all on your own (people hum). Now each one of you hold a note that is not like those around you. What do think of the dissonance? Pretty bad huh?

The good news we share today as we worship God our creator is that God, through his Son Jesus, has sounded the perfect pitch in this world in the key of love. Therefore for us to truly live as his children; to truly love each other we need to tune our lives; our wills; our whole being to him by faith and trust.

The Apostle Paul said in his letter to the Colossian Church, Chapter 3, vss. 12-17 these words: “Therefore as God's chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience. Bear with each other and if any of you has a grievance against someone. Forgive as the Lord forgave you. And over all these virtues put on love, which binds them all together in perfect unity.

“Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, since you were called to peace. And be thankful. Let the message of Christ dwell among you richly as you teach and admonish one another with all wisdom, through psalms, hymns and songs of the Spirit, singing to God with gratitude in your hearts. And whatever you do in word or in deed, do it all in the name of our Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.”

The Apostle Paul is proclaiming that for you individually and for us collectively to play a great symphony in our lives together, (to play a great symphony as a community), the key is to tune your lives each day to the love and grace of Jesus; for then you will be clothed as the Apostle Paul says with kindness, humility, gentleness, patience and unity.

I heard a story many years ago about an actual radio station in the early days of radio; how it was requested by a person in a very remote place that at a certain time each week they broadcast the perfect “A” pitch for one minute.

It was during that time that this person as well as people all over the country in remote areas or wherever could tune whatever instrument they played to this tone and perfect pitch. This sounding of the “A” brought harmony and joy to people, homes, churches and communities all across our great land.

The good news of Jesus; of his birth as a baby in the manger of Bethlehem; in his teaching and example; in his death on the cross and resurrection; in his promise that he is coming again to take all who believe in him to live with him forever—the good news is that Jesus came to sound the perfect pitch in this world; the perfect pitch in the key of love. Jesus came to share his love, grace and forgiveness with every person.

Therefore the challenge for each one of us as we live our lives of faith in Jesus is to sound the perfect pitch of Jesus' love in our homes; in our weekly worship; in our work; in our schools; in our world today. Jesus calls each one of us to pass your love onto others.

And in our Community of Hoffman (or wherever your home community is now); how desperate our communities, our families, our country, our world needs that today. So many today are tuning their lives to other pitches; to themselves; to their own selfish comforts and needs. Their mantra is that all that matters is me, myself and I—my wealth, my things.

Others are tuning to political divisiveness; to voices of cynicism; to prejudices against other races; other church denominations; against people in poverty; the homeless; to those who may not look, act or think like us.

To tune to my own biases; prejudices; to certain angry voices who are sounding the pitch in the key of anger and division—all of this is leading to chaos. It is negatively affecting many in our nation and causing major divisions and chasms between people.

I want you to remember that none of this is tuning to Jesus; none of this is Christian even though some are claiming only they are the true Christians. This is not true in anyway because to tune our lives to Jesus is always centered in tuning to his love.

To tune to Jesus always brings harmony; peace; affirmation of others; welcoming the stranger; loving the outcast; caring for the Samaritans of other religions; listening to and loving the prostitutes; the sinners; those with disabilities; those rejected by society.

Jesus said in John 13:35, “By this everyone will know that you are my disciples if you love one another.” Jesus had lots of condemnation for the Pharisees (for the religious leaders like me) who used their positions to condemn and alienate people.

Jesus said, “This is my command that you love one another.” He said “to love God with all your heart, soul, strength and mind; and to love your neighbor as yourself.”

The Apostle Paul said in Galatians 6, “The only thing that matters is faith working through love.” And Paul said in 1 Corinthians 13, “Now faith, hope and love abide; but the greatest of these is love.”

One of the greatest musicians of all time was Johann Sabastian Bach (a Lutheran Christian). A famous quote from Bach is “the aim of all music should be none other than the glory of God and the refreshment of the soul.”

And I would say that is also true for us as we live our lives of faith in Jesus; “the aim of (the music of our lives) should be none other than the glory of God and the refreshment of the soul.”

This weekend as we celebrate Hoffman's 125th Anniversary the goal and purpose for you and me; for the people in our community; for you who are back visiting—our purpose and goal each day should be to tune our lives to the perfect pitch of Jesus in the key of love.

For then we will truly be Christ's instruments of love to each other; to your family; to your friends; to your co-workers; to the people in your churches; to our world. God's blessings to each one of you as we live together in harmony for the next 125 years in Hoffman.

(Please hum with me on the same pitch; then hum as Camilla gives you a chord to sing.) Doesn't it sound great when a community and people sing in harmony together.

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