Playing with the Mute Off

I need a hug. I'm a huggy person. I'm one of those annoying people who pats you on the arm when I talk to you. I call complete strangers "Honey." I srtike up a conversation with people I've never met before in lines at the store, the dentist office... the park. I've got a pretty strong suspicion I'm not the only one craving human contact right now. I think we could ALL use a collective "hug" whether you're a physical touch fan or not, but since that's a big N-O these days, we have to find other ways to reassure and encourage one another. It's important. Perhaps a better word is, it's "vital."

According to www.etymonline.com the word "vital" comes from the Latin root vita, "life" which is closely related to the verb vivere, "to live." So, yes, it is "vital" that we find ways to give hope and to connect with one another in offering encouragement and support however possible, because there is more to life than simply health. I don't mean for that to sound trite, I really don't, especially in light of our current crisis; but without hope, without joy, life loses meaning. Where hope and joy fade, health soon follows.

This brings me to some really wonderful things I've been seeing on the internet and in the news of late. Have you guys been following the goings on in the quarantined sections of Italy? People who have been confined to their homes are joining in with others on their respective balconies to play instruments, to sing together, to dance. There was even a fitness instructor who set up on the lawn below and encouraged everyone to exercise with him, and one another, from their own little spaces. I typed this comment on a friend's post after viewing, "It's hard to crush the human spirit."

I've seen photos of family members setting up outside loved one's rooms at nursing homes in order to visit with their relatives "face to face" through the window via phone calls. I've encountered news stories of businesses who have come together to make, pack, and distribute sack lunches to those in need so they can give their employees productive work to do while also offering a helping hand to those who need a little extra right now. Friends and neighbors are checking up on one another offering to make trips to the store or to share supplies. Neighbors are reinstalling their Christmas lights to spread cheer. All of these things warm my heart. They are the virtual "hugs" I've been needing.

There are churches across the nation, including my son's in Spring and my daughter's in Round Rock that have taken great pains to get their encouraging messages and sermons on-line for people so we can all be reminded that no problem, EVER, has been bigger than our God, that He is still in control... that we remain cradled in His capable grip despite the swirling winds around us. I have friends on Facebook who have offered a listening ear to anyone who has concerns. Sometimes it helps to just talk. It helps even more to go to the Lord in prayer, and many sweet, dedicated Christians are also offering to pray for, and with, individuals who need desperately to connect with someone who will share God's promises with them.

We may not be able to dole out hugs, but we can certainly do what we can.

That got me thinking about what I can offer to help lift the spirits of those in my little sphere. For several weeks now I've been pulling out my trumpet and practicing in order to get the lips up for Easter. I enjoy the Lenten hymns and find their melodies to be hauntingly beautiful. Their minor keys accompany the words so well and help by their very nature to echo the sadness and repentance we feel during this time of the church year. That being said, I never end with a Lenten hymn. I finish up my practice sessions with the Easter section of the hymnal!

I realize I'm totally biased, but trumpets and Easter just seem to go together. (just my thoughts here... please don't be offended if you play another instrument or feel differently about brass in general) Scripture even mentions the angels playing trumpets... and how utterly appropriate! Trumpets signal victory. What better way to announce Jesus' triumphant resurrection from the grave than with an instrument that signals the message: "The battle has been won!"?! So this... this is what I thought I could do to help lift the spirits of those around me. I could play my horn.

Before this crisis hit, I played mostly with my mute in. It's still audible, but it's quite a bit softer. I wanted to be conscious of and courteous toward my neighbors, especially if I were practicing earlier in the morning or later in the evening. Lately there have been quite a few people walking and biking through the neighborhood just so they can get out of their homes for a while and feel the sunshine on their faces. I figure a little "triumphal" music can only add to their experience. At least that's what I'm hoping.

Music is a language of its own. It is something universally understood and can be appreciated by anyone and everyone whether or not you've ever taken classes in music history or theory. Music is powerful. It speaks to the emotions. It can convey meaning. It can also lift spirits. So I've decided that when I practice the Easter hymns, it will be as bright and as beautiful and as absolutely triumphant as my limited talents will allow. The mute is going back in the case, because people need hope. They need joy. Those things might be in shorter supply right now as fears and concerns grow, but just as with the Lenten hymns that permeate our worship these weeks leading up to Good Friday, they're not the end of the story. Not by a longshot. Lent and the minor keys give way to glorious Easter. Sadness is gone. Darkness gives way. Light and life return. That's a message we all need so acutely today.

Coronavirus is scary. That's the truth. It seems so big, so menacing a problem currently that we can feel as if hope is lost, as if darkness has descended on the world and light is nowhere to be found. That might be how it seems, but that is not the way it is. Light always, ALWAYS dispels darkness. God's power always, ALWAYS triumphs over evil. Good Friday was about defeat, but not about despair. Friday was about Jesus conquering sin, death, and the devil. It was dark and it was sad, yes, but it was not the end of the story. Sunday... beautiful, glorious, triumphant Easter Sunday, was ALL about victory. It was about light and LIFE. We must never lose hope. It may be Friday, as Tony Campolo once said in a sermon illustration, but Sunday is coming!

We're all in this together. God is not gone. He is not absent. Jesus is right there in the midst of us, calming the storm. That's the word of hope we can all be expressing. You might not play an instrument, but there is something you can do for those around you. There is something we can ALL do for one another. It's going to look very different for each of us, but if we come together to encourage and support, to speak joy and hope in whichever way we are able, it will be felt as surely as that giant "hug" we all need.

Whatever we can do, let's get busy doing it. Let's check on our neighbors, let's offer to pray with someone, let's run an errand to the store for an elderly friend. Let's get out their with our trumpets and play, and let's do it without the mute on. Let us help the world to see, one neighborhood at a time, that God still reigns, that Easter is coming, and that even after the darkest of nights, the light always, ALWAYS returns.

God bless each of you in the days ahead, and may He and His mighty hand protect you and encourage you. Look forward and upward, sweet friends. God's not done with us yet.