麻豆约拍

A spiritual comment and prayer to begin the day with Bishop Helen-Ann Hartley

Good morning.

I鈥檝e enjoyed listening to some of the prom concerts over the past few weeks, and it鈥檚 been wonderful to see many celebrations of creativity and musicianship return after so many months of silence.

Many years ago, I used to play in the percussion section of a number of youth orchestras. I鈥檓 not sure why I decided to learn percussion at school, but perhaps for a shy teenager, picking up cymbals and crashing them together at precisely the right moment was just what I needed to boost my confidence. One of my most memorable percussion experiences was playing solo gong during a symphony. It鈥檚 harder than it looks. I had to warm-up the gong, so that when I hit it with the mallet it made the correct amount of noise.

The part included musical bars of absolute silence, which required me to spread almost the entirety of my body across the gong to dampen its low ringing tone. It felt like all the eyes of the audience were on me at the far left-hand corner of the orchestra trying to maintain concentration and dignity in equal amounts as I performed these few bars of solo music.

Playing in orchestras and bands certainly taught me the importance of collaboration, timing and paying close attention to the conductor. In an orchestra each person鈥檚 musical contribution matters, and in order to make things work well each musician must listen to the other. Amidst all that competes for my attention today, I will remember to listen as well as to speak.

God of harmony, thank you for composers and musicians. Help us to tune-in to one another this day and play our part in the symphony of life.

Amen.