You should stop by someday,” he said. “The orchestra is beginning to learn a new piece. I think you would enjoy hearing them.”
As promised, he met me in the lobby and led me through a locked door. As we walked down a long hallway, I could begin to hear music coming from somewhere ahead. We slipped into a rehearsal room and saw the entire orchestra seated there. The conductor stood before them, leading them in one of the pieces they were learning and would soon perform.
Though I am no musician, even I could not miss the mistake the lead cellist made. The conductor stopped everyone, spoke briefly to the cellist, and then returned to the beginning of the piece. Next it was the violins that needed to make a minor adjustment and then the oboes. Sometimes the errors were obvious and sometimes subtle. The conductor showed great patience as he gently steered the musicians through practice and toward perfection.
As they played, stopping and starting, skipping quickly over some parts and lingering over others, I began to get the sense of the piece—to understand its rises and falls, its moments of intensity and moments of serenity, its wondrous beauty as all the instruments combined to soothe the heart and stir the soul. The more I understood it, the more I grew restless to hear the finished production, to finally hear it exactly as the composer had created it.
And it struck me that right now God’s people are like an orchestra that is rehearsing. We have been called to take our part and we are learning how to do so. We may not each play an instrument, but we each bring an assortment of gifts, talents, and ways we love to serve the Lord. We come from varied backgrounds and have lived through different experiences of life. We represent different generations, social classes, countries of origin, and races. Yet God has made the many one—one people, one nation, one body. This is true on a global level and more observably true on a local level.
Today we are like that orchestra in the rehearsal room, each learning the music and each learning the part we are meant to play. We are learning to play our instruments with skill but also to play them harmoniously with others. At this time of rehearsal, we expect there will be mistakes and mishaps. We expect that now and again the Conductor will need to stop us and give a word of correction or even rebuke. We shouldn’t be surprised or particularly dismayed when others mess up their part or when we mess up ours, for we are all learning and all growing in skill. We apologize, we forgive, we press on.
Then, the more we practice, the more we find ourselves playing our instruments with joy and skill and the more we find ourselves playing well as part of an orchestra. The more we practice together, the more it becomes second nature to carry out the role that has been assigned to us. The more we rehearse, the more beautiful and harmonious we become. And as we press on and continue to practice, we find our hearts restless and longing for the end of rehearsal and the beginning of the true performance—the day when sinfulness will give way to sinlessness and flawed practice will give way to flawless performance.
Inspired in part by Conrad Mbewe’s book Unity.
