Our Wednesday night homegroup has been and gone and clearly a lot of people put more effort into it than I did because it turned out to be quite a fascinating evening that procured some depth of thought and a wealth of openness.
Here’s what we were initially presented with: Come next week with something, (Music was identified, but not mandatory) that describes either: where you are currently at with God, an understanding of God, or anything else remotely relevant.
That’s when I Schubert’ed it up and took the lazy option of ‘explaining later’.
Now is later.
Why Schubert? To be honest I know absolute zip about Schubert. I grew learning in detail about Vivaldi, Beethoven, Mozart and Bach but somehow missed this guy. Bit of a pity. A very quick wiki search has informed me that he requested to be buried next to Beethoven when he died and seemingly got his way. It’s not very relevant, but there you go – some musical trivia to amaze your friends – the ones interested in that kind of stuff…
Now, heres where you have to go listen to the piece or things mightn’t make sense.
Undercurrents.
The past month and a half for me have been insanely busy. Not just a little busy, but more the – I think I’ve had a night home by myself maybe twice in the past month. The days are filled with homework… I could go on and whinge, but I won’t.
There’s this thing in being a Christian where you get this funny old sense of obligation. I’m slowly learning to let it go because I don’t think that God allows us to be bound by laws and constraints. Some of which I’m sure are totally self imposed.
Read your Bible, pray every day, pray every day, pray every day, read your Bible pray every day and you’ll grow, grow, grow.
The short 5 minutes of justification prayer and reading before bed don’t quite cut it, it doesn’t meet the desire that is there but not often strong enough to enforce itself over the other busy and sometimes needless time fillers.
In this busyness it seems that God has put a few hmmm, lets call them safe guards – or helpful things in place.
Vocare has assisted in asserting some kind of ‘you must sit down and do this’. Take that time.
I know this Christian thing isn’t all about prayer and Bible but it is about being in tune with God. This is an easy thing to let slip.
How does this work with Schubert.
I love the constancy of God, the reminders of his reality and his hand in things. I love watching him ‘pull strings’ so to speak. I love that every time I sit down to be intentional that he shows up in some kind of way – even if it’s just a way that I get, due to some obscure wiring.
There’s this lovely undercurrent of God that runs through my life. Not because of anything I do and I sometimes forget to look for it but he reminds me.
Art by Cathy Nichols