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The Band The high school band in our town has become a hot topic recently. The Cass City Band program has literally exploded in the past two years, and has become a point of great pride for the local folks. Not only has it almost tripled in size, but the quality of its performance has exceeded everyone’s wildest dreams. It is thrilling to hear this group of 85 high school students play music composed for the likes of the Boston Pops and the U.S. military bands. Last October we attended the band’s annual “Band-O-Rama” where all of the Cass City school system bands gathered together to put on a fall concert. The individual jazz bands and 5th- through 8th grade bands were set up on the gymnasium floor, but the center of the gym was left open for the high school marching band to perform. Being that this concert was at the end of the marching season, the band performed in full marching attire complete with white spats and plumed hats. They were lined up at two of the gymnasium doors and stationed in the hallways until their part of the program. When their turn came, the lead percussionist yelled out at the top of his lungs, “Band… Mark time, MARK!” which was followed by the rest of the percussion section (20 members) yelling, “Tut tut tut tut tut tut tut,” and they proceeded to begin their marching cadence. It was an overwhelming experience. You could literally FEEL the energy like electricity in the room, and the audience rose to its feet while applauding. The band marched into formation at the center of the floor and proceeded to deliver an amazing performance. I saw joy on the face of each kid. They literally glowed, and you could tell they absolutely LOVED what they were doing. While each student played his or her own instrument, the director played the band as a whole like it was a single instrument. They were totally tuned in to his every wish and desire. What an amazing experience to witness. As I watched them perform, tears came into my eyes and I was overwhelmed with emotion. At that moment the Lord began to speak: “This is My plan for my bride, Mike. Look at the joy on their faces. Look at the way they are totally absorbed with their director. Look at the way they glow as they are thoroughly enraptured by performing their specific calling. And listen to the way they sound as a result.” He then began to show me how chaotic it would be if the trumpets started yelling at the clarinets and the trombones began arguing with the flutes. Imagine the chaos if each individual section began believing that they had the only TRUE part and started telling everyone else they were wrong. Imagine how absurd it would be if each instrument insisted that everyone else’s music was wrong. Not only that, nothing would get played and no progress would be made if each section spent its time recruiting the other musicians to play their instrument and their part. As the bride of Christ, we are to be tuned into our Shepherd. He can handle the other parts and be sure each one is performing the part they are supposed to play. He wrote the music and He knows how it is to be played. We are to listen to His instruction and follow His direction, enjoying our part without judging someone else’s. Only as we focus on Him will we perform a symphony of Love that the world cannot help but listen to. Verses for Reflection "I am giving you a new command; that you keep on loving each other. In the same way that I have loved you, you are also to keep on loving each other. Everyone will know that you are My disciples by the fact that you have love for each other.”” John 13:34, 35 “The person who sins is the one that will die. A son is not to bear his father’s guilt with him, nor is the father to bear his son’s guilt with him; but the righteousness of the righteous will be his own, and the wickedness of the wicked will be his own… “Therefore, house of Israel, I will judge each of you according to his ways,” declares the Lord God. “Repent, and turn yourselves away from all your transgressions, so that they will not be a stumblingblock that brings guilt upon you. Throw far away from yourselves all your crimes that you committed, and make yourselves a new heart and a new spirit; for why should you die, house of Israel? I take no pleasure in the death of anyone who dies,” says the Lord God, “so turn yourselves around, and live!” Ezekiel 18:20, 30-32 "Who are you to pass judgment on someone else’s servant? It is before his own master that he will stand or fall; and the fact is that he will stand, because the Lord is able to make him stand." Romans 14:4 "One and the same Spirit is at work in all these things, distributing to each person as He chooses. For just as the body is one but has many parts, and all the parts of the body though many, constitute one body, so it is with the Messiah. For it was by one Spirit that we were all immersed into one body, whether Jews or Gentiles, slaves or free; and we were all given the one Spirit to drink. For indeed the body is not one part but many… But as it is, God arranged each of the parts in the body exactly as He wanted them. Now if they were all just one part, where would the body be? But as it is, there are indeed many parts, yet just one body. So the eye cannot say to the hand, “I don’t need you,” or the hand to the feet, “I don’t need you.”…So there will be no disagreement within the body, but rather all the parts will be equally concerned for all the others. Thus if one part suffers, all the parts suffer with it; and if one part is honored, all the parts share its happiness. Now you together constitute the body of the Messiah, and individually you are parts of it." I Corinthians 12:11-14, 18-21, 25-27 "On seeing him, Peter said to Jesus, “Lord, what about him?” Jesus said to him, “If I want him to stay on until I come, what is it to you? You, follow Me!” " John 21:21, 22
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