Toccata and Fugue

Thursday 5/19/2011 3:44 AM

Music has always been a big part of my life, after all, Jaci and I met in choir and she has been the greatest blessing God has bestowed upon my life.  When I listen to music I always hear the melody, but I am more fascinated with the harmonies that dance around the melody, weaving themselves into full-bodied, rich chords or contrapuntal melodies.  I love organ music and one of my favorite pieces is Toccata and Fugue in D Minor by J. S. Bach.  A toccata is a piece of music that is intended to show off the skill of the organist playing the piece.  It is often comprised of a flurry of notes moving up and down the scale with accompanying supporting chords.  A fugue is a piece of music where a theme is repeated in multiple voices that are continuously interwoven throughout the piece, as if the melody were playing tag throughout the composition.

I opened my devotional materials this morning and saw that my reading from the psalms for the day was a single verse, Psalm 119:54, “Your decrees are the theme of my song wherever I lodge.”  The footnote in my Bible says the verse literally says, “Your decrees are the theme of my song in my temporary house.”  Earlier this week marked the forty-second anniversary of my dad’s death.  He has now been dead for as many years as he was alive.  For me it is a good reminder that I live in a temporary house and this verse makes me wonder if the Word of God is the theme of my song as I live it.  Does the Word of God provide comfort, direction, and correction for my life on a regular basis or do I look to others, or to things, for comfort; to myself for direction and do I ignore correction?  Do others continually hear the humble theme of God’s love as I live with them or do they hear something different, a cacophony of complaints about being too busy or the pride-filled boasting of my own importance and worth?

In musical terms, is my life a toccata or a fugue?  Do I live in a flurry of activity to show off my own skill and importance while using others as the supporting chords or do I play the theme of God’s love for others to hear and then pass that theme on to them, stepping out of the limelight so they can play it with their unique voice?

I want to be a fugue but too often the toccata is what I play.  I guess I’m God’s Toccata and Fugue in Mark Hugen.