Richard W. Steffen: “Know”

Know

by Richard W. Steffen, Minister of Music

My colleagues that are also retired from public school music leadership remember well our concern each August: “How will I know what songs to choose that will be appreciated by my students this fall when I haven’t yet met my choirs for the new school year?” In the summer of 1964, as I was excitedly anticipating my upcoming 8th grade choir activities, I wasn’t anxious about what songs my music director was choosing for us; I knew she was committed to finding music that we would enjoy. My family and I were on our way to the New York World’s Fair by way of Philadelphia, and we visited Independence Hall. I learned much about Benjamin Franklin: a writer, scientist, inventor, statesman, diplomat, printer, publisher and political philosopher. I did not know then that Franklin invented the glass armonica (his spelling) just over 200 years earlier in 1761. I did know about Mozart and Beethoven, but I didn’t know that they both composed selections for Franklin’s invention in 1791 and 1814, respectively. And I am excited about my summer reading experience of the book Hydrodaktulopsychicharmonica, the 2010 collection of poems by Matt Merritt. That is another name for the glass armonica, and, according to Wikipedia, that word “is composed of Greek roots to mean something like ‘harmonica to produce music for the soul by fingers dipped in water.’ ”

“Know thyself” is a maxim that has had a variety of meanings attributed to it in literature. The ancient Greek philosophers spoke of it: Aeschylus, Socrates, and Plato. And our Benjamin Franklin in his Poor Richard’s Almanack (again, his spelling) in 1750, observed the great difficulty of knowing one’s self with: “There are three things extremely hard, steel, a diamond, and to know one’s self.”

This month we will take time to reflect and envision. Task Force groups will focus our thoughts as we consider what the visions, dreams, and plans are for us as a church. We will seek to know how God is calling us to ministry as this time of transition continues and beyond. Sitting recently at the Redlands Bowl waiting for another stirring performance, my mind considered my thoughts for this article. And I looked up and saw again on the frieze above the stage: “Without vision, a people parish.” Reading this portion of Proverbs 29:18 always inspires me. A year before that family trip to New York City, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. delivered the iconic “I Have a Dream” speech at the March on Washington. And we remember with confidence these words from Jeremiah: “For surely I know the plans I have for you, says the Lord, plans for your welfare and not for harm, to give you a future with hope. (Jeremiah 29:11 NRSV)

Since our in-person and inside worship service in the sanctuary on Pentecost, we have for two months purposely been led by a smaller number of musicians sharing our music in worship. In addition to those songs, we have also been inspired by the inclusion of music selections that our musicians and our Tech Team produced during those 14 months of worship with the First Baptist Church of Redlands using our YouTube platform. Those songs on our sanctuary screen in worship lift us as we praise our God.

Well, now it is August, and we are prayerfully discerning the next steps as we expand our church activities – including our musical activities – in a warm, welcoming, safe manner. A new addition to Field Hall, which we use for many of our musical activities, is a new Medify MA50 H13 True HEPA air purifier with an enclosed UV-C lamp. We will continue to use technology when we are together: we can learn much about how songs can be a blessing as we watch them shared on a TV monitor. And consider the possibilities we have of music-making with singers in Field Hall AND singers in other places, using technology in hybrid ways of connecting people together.

So, let us envision, dream, and plan our next steps in outreach. Let us have open hearts and eager minds to know the work that God is calling us – indeed, is empowering us – to do.