While we were listening to the Saint Joseph Symphony’s performance last Saturday evening, with Elizabeth Pitcairn as guest violinist, I tried to comprehend the challenge and nature of what we were witnessing: a few dozen musicians, a soloist, a conductor, all of them translating into performance a concept of music written a couple of centuries earlier. Sections of violinists, cellists, bassists, wind, woodwind and brass players, and percussionists all playing different notes yet all blending into music that elevates and transcends all individual expressions.

In the midst of this fine complexity, I noticed there were often periods when certain sections did not play. In fact, I’m pretty certain that there was not a single musician whose role at some place or another was other than to be silent, to wait. Even the virtuoso.

It does not always matter how talented, how eager, nor how enthusiastic and determined we may be. There are still times when the most valuable contribution we can make is to be quiet and allow the Lord’s Spirit to move through others.

H. Arnett
3/30/10