When the baton hits the ictus, all barriers fall. You may ask what an ictus is. Well, it is the imaginary point at the bottom of the orchestral conductor’s swing that tells everyone the piece has begun. No matter what chaos happens before the concert, it all ceases when the conductor hits the podium. He raises his arm and signals everyone to inhale together, and when he strikes downward toward that ictus, THAT is the moment when the magic happens. That is when people from different families, different races, different socio-economic statuses, people with differing opinions unify for one cause, to create beautiful art that brings healing to the room.
One of the lessons we can learn from a music ensemble is how to lean on the players in your section. Each person shares the responsibility to “do the work” and prepare their personal parts of the symphonic puzzle. Each section focuses not only on playing in sync with their section, but also on hearing the melodic parts of the other sections and how they all fit together in the bigger picture of the song.
Each section plays, while simultaneously leaving room for the others. The orchestra sounds amazing with just strings, but when you add woodwinds, brass, and percussion, the music expands and explodes with a myriad of beautiful colors and tones.
The Greater Story
Musicians are consciously and subconsciously aware of the conductor at all times. The conductor understands the music. He knows the story behind it, and he knows what needs to happen to perform the piece in a way that depicts the vision of the greater story. Besides executing their parts to the best of their abilities, the musicians’ number one job is to fully trust the conductor. If the conductor says play softer in a particular section, but the trumpet player doesn’t agree and decides to play at a loud forte volume level, then he will take attention away from the actual piece and place it on himself. The musician only has partial perspective, but the conductor sees it all.
“Each section focuses not only on playing in sync with their section, but also on hearing the melodic parts of the other sections and how they all fit together in the bigger picture of the song.”
We, as God’s children, are a part of his symphony. When we gather together to live worshipful lives, we are taking orders from our Great Conductor who knows the stories of each individual, but also how each story adds to the masterpiece as a whole. Jesus is our conductor, and when we learn to trust him, we become a part of something greater, something that not only unifies us as musicians, but invites the world to experience him. When the baton hits the ictus, when Jesus moves, all barriers fall, and he unifies us all.
Hope of Restoration
Interacting with our brothers and sisters should look more like the context of a music ensemble, yet, we have witnessed something a bit more broken in this life. In our country, we have executed this operation poorly, and it has unfortunately affected people in ways that have caused deep hurt. We are in the midst of a great social awakening, and the hope is for restoration of value of people. If we do not choose to see value in all of the people groups that are around us, we are forfeiting beauty, and we are missing a large portion of the greatest command to love our neighbor.
“We, as God’s children, are a part of his symphony.”
Who are the players in the orchestra of our lives? Who are our neighbors? When we miss the loving our neighbor part, we essentially miss the loving God with all of our heart, soul, mind and strength as well. It is like, loving your best friend, but when you go to their house you disrespect their children, and you want them to be okay with that. We all know that will produce discord, not harmony.
We are a part of a greater story, and if we humble ourselves and trust Jesus, then we can truly experience something beautiful that maybe we have not yet seen or heard. We, his children, have only a partial perspective, but Jesus sees it all. He calls us to inhale together, to drop our barriers, and to be undivided. Get ready to usher healing into our world.
Next Steps
Join us for Undivided: A Racial Unity Group to help bring empathy, truth, and compassion to all our hearts.
