Welcome to Tuesday and the one and only blog of its kind, Tuesday's Musical Notes! No...really...we've checked and there literally isn't another blog out there that takes your favorite tunes and puts the kind of spin on them that Tuesday's Musical Notes does! If you are a consistent reader of The Notes, we hope you will help us spread the word about the blog. Please feel free to share on your favorite social media platform and tell all your friends!!! Search the archives on the left-hand side of the screen and recommend the blog with your favorite song! We really do appreciate your support! Thanks!
2020 will be known for many things. "Unprecedented" is coming very close to not being able to fully capture what we are experiencing in the year we are currently encountering. The entire world has changed its ways of doing things. Some of the change has been for the good and has inspired a new ingenuity in the way we work, interact, and entertain ourselves. Yes, we can take the opportunity to bemoan that going to the movie theater will never quite be the same again, but let's face it, did we really need to spend $100 as a family to go see the latest multiplex offering?
In 2020, we have experienced shutdowns, interruptions to distribution supply lines, and distractions from information overload. We've even been forced to cook for ourselves for Pete's sake!!! Cultural tensions have run rampant as we have seen a discussion about the color of skin escalate into an argument about whose lives matter. We have a Presidential election in November, that in the opinion of Tuesday's Musical Notes, really doesn't supply us with great options. Now in 2020, we have 2 hurricanes in the Gulf of Mexico, Marco, and Polo, um I mean Laura. We fully anticipate sometime in the remainder of 2020 being told by one of our computers..."I'm afraid I can't do that Dave..."
or
And the 1976 Grammy for Best Classical Orchestral performance goes to...Georg Solti for "Also Sprach Zarathustra" (Richard Strauss, Chicago Symphony Orchestra)". From 1962 until 1997 Georg Solti dominated the Classical category of the Grammys. In fact, Solti has won more Grammy awards than ANY artist in ANY category. As of 2016, his 31 Grammy wins and 72 nominations make him the top of the Grammy's most honored artist list. He is followed closely on this list by Singer/Songwriter/Producer/
Just in case you were wondering, here is that list of the top 22 Grammy winners (Some are no brainers, some are WHAT?): Who Are The Top GRAMMY Awards Winners Of All Time? Who Has The Most GRAMMYs? May 15, 2017, grammy.com
The Grammy is the top honor given for recorded music. It is awarded by the Recording Academy, an American society that exists to promote, educate, and enlighten the public on excellence in music. It consists of musicians, recording engineers, producers, and other music professionals. It is one of the top 4 major American entertainment awards, including the Academy Awards (Oscars, motion pictures), the Emmy Awards (television), and the Tony Awards (theater and Broadway).
All of these awards are represented by a gold image.
The Grammy The Emmy The Oscar The Tony
In recent years, the award shows for each particular honor have been met with some disdain. Acceptance speeches have given a vibe that award winners seem out of touch with normal folks. (Umm...Joaquin Phoenix anyone?) The awards have also been known to be given for movies, TV shows, theater productions, and music to which we have never heard, many of which will pass into the obscurity of being on a list for any given year as is indicative of the entertainment industry from year to year.
What efforts were expended in the pursuit of such awards? What sacrifices of family and friends were made to ensure the success of one in their given craft? What do they have to show for such achievement after the lights go down and the applause fades...a graven image on a shelf waiting for someone to dust it off. Before we are so quick to judge the famous for their pursuits, we must recognize that we strive for many graven images in our own lives and that pursuit can be a distraction from and interruption to a pursuit of a much better sort.
“This is gold, Mr. Bond. All my life I've been in love with its color... its brilliance, its divine heaviness.” - Auric Goldfinger from the 1964 Oscar winner for Best Sound Effects Editing (What does that even mean?) - Goldfinger
If we were to be very honest, we are much like Mr. Goldfinger and the recipients of the above awards. We expend much energy to be seen as the best in our field, gain as much wealth as possible, and achieve a status by which we can proffer just about anything we want. Is this for what humankind was created? I suspect our perspective might be a bit different if we were standing at the base of a mountain where a powerful audible voice was shrouded by fire and clouds.
As we saw last week, God's expectation of the new nation of Israel was very high. They had been in Egypt for 450 years (For perspective, that's 206 years longer than the United States has been a nation). At the very least, they had picked up some poor worship habits from the Egyptians who served gods of wood, stone, and gold. Cats and calves were very dominant as gods and goddesses in the Egyptian culture and there is the possibility that the Israelites had taken up some of the worship routines and incorporated them in with their worship of the one true God.
In this second commandment, God is saying (audibly at this point) for them to put away ANY kind of manmade item that could possibly be seen as an interruption or distraction to their worship of Him.
This passage of Scripture comes to mind every time I hear that it is awards season. It also comes to mind every time I look at a quarter or anything else made by mankind that I think are must-haves for my life to be fulfilled. Yes, God said don't make anything that would get in the way of our ability to worship Him with everything we are and no, I fail at this one seems like every day. (Yup, vinyl can be seen as a graven image and it is plastic for the most part...sigh)
Seems even believers as a group have a hard time remembering this when it comes to budgeting for the next building project. Have we really done all that we can to love our neighbor with the resources which we have received? Just askin'...
What if we could keep this commandment from the perspective of what Paul wrote to the church in Rome...
perhaps we should remember the words of John, one of Jesus' best friends...
or the ultimate advice as given to us by Jesus...
The Gospel of Jesus according to the disciple Matthew, chapter 22, verses 34-40 NASB/The Message/KJV
For believers, the pursuit to be the best in your profession is not a bad thing until it becomes the ONLY thing. When our desires to get more and be more are an interruption and distraction to our desire to become more like Jesus, then we have violated the first and second commandments at the same time. If we truly pursue being like Jesus by being loving, joyful, peaceful, patient, kind, good, faithful, gentle, and in control of ourselves it will be much easier for us to be like Jesus. All the other stuff will be there but will fade in comparison to being like Him. Matthew also records Jesus making this promise...
"But seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things will be added to you." Matthew 6:25-34 NASB/The Message/KJV
Pursuing Jesus instead of the accolades of men makes life much less complicated. Pursuing Jesus eliminates stress and worry. Pursuing Jesus doesn't allow the time for pursuing graven images made from the imperfect hand of man. Pursuing Jesus ensures that there is a future where only God is worshiped. Pursuing Jesus ensures that one day we will hear "And the reward for faithful service and a home in heaven belongs to..."
'Til Tuesday,
Serving HIM by serving You,
randy
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