Harmony

Do you also find it interesting to discover a church named “Harmony?” There are many churches with that name; in a variety of denominations. I have known a few that were anything but harmonious. Merriam Webster defines harmony as a  “pleasing arrangement of parts.” The Apostle Paul, speaks of the Church in Romans 12 . Suggesting a “pleasing arrangement of parts,” he said:

We have many parts in the one body, and all these parts have different functions. In the same way, though we are many, we are one body in union with Christ, and we are all joined to each other as different parts of one body. So we are to use our different gifts in accordance with the grace that God has given us.

Key word: “Different” gifts.

In the same cluster of definitions for harmony,  Merriam Webster also defines harmony as  “the combination of simultaneous musical notes in a chord.” I find a lesson there; music can take many combinations of musical notes to create harmony. There are high notes and low notes, quarter and whole notes; staccato notes and full-count notes. And. There are no notes; in a rest, there is no note. Multiple instruments play at the same time, or in solo, or groups. Every note is counted. Sometimes different tempos are included in the same composition.

Counting is a big part of harmony, choosing when and where each tone is needed. Dynamics play a huge role in harmonious music.  Paige and I were in the college band together. One of our band members, Nino, sometimes had to stand motionless, counting, in compositions just to come in on time, with a flurry of loud Timpani beats! It was necessary to wait; then he was supposed to come in with his spectacular strokes. In fact, once well before a concert, our band director became frustrated; Nino would not pound the timpani heads hard enough.  So he left Nino alone in the band room with his Timpani; he said, “Beat those heads REALLY hard!  Don’t come out of that room until you have busted the head.”

It was the kind of precise harmony that particular composition needed; every member playing when, how, where, and with appropriate dynamics to be, well, harmonious. Each had a role to play to produce true harmony. Which brings us back to the Apostle, Paul:

“Live in harmony with each other. Don’t become snobbish but take a real interest in ordinary people. Don’t become set in your own opinions.“

And. Paul’s appeal is exalted by the Psalmist in 133; 

“How wonderful it is, how pleasant,

    for God’s people to live together in harmony!“

I think both the Apostle and the Psalmist would balk at any suggestion that they are appealing for every person to be just like every other person. Both metaphors, music and the body. call for harmony; not troubadour Pete Seegar’s “Little Boxes.”

“Little boxes on the hillside Little boxes made of ticky tacky

Little boxes Little boxes Little boxes all the same 

There’s a green one and a pink one 

And a blue one and a yellow one 

And they’re all made out of ticky tacky

 And they all look just the same

 And the people in the houses all go to the university.” 

The closing verses of Acts 2 describe harmony among people in a remarkable, visionary way; that “pleasing arrangement of parts.”

“The believers devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching, to the community, to their shared meals, and to their prayers. A sense of awe came over everyone. God performed many wonders and signs through the apostles. All the believers were united and shared everything.”