I have mentioned this before, but "Come Thou Fount" is one of my all-time favorite hymns. Not only is the tune wonderfully melodic, but the lyrics have taught and continue to teach me many lessons.
One of these lessons centers on this line: "Tune my heart to sing thy grace."
What does that even mean? Is my heart a musical instrument in need of tuning? Well, possibly.
If you've ever been to an orchestra, you'll be able to relate to the following story I once heard about some ethnographers (anthropologists) who took a man from an african tribe to see a symphony.
The anthropologists were curious to find out what he thought of western music, having never heard it before. After the symphony, they asked him what he thought, and he said that his favorite part was the very beginning. They wondered if he meant the overture, and he said "no, no, the very beginning!" Finally the ethnographers figured out what he meant. This tribesman's favorite part of the symphony was listening to the orchestra tune their instruments.
I don't know about you, but my reaction to that story was, "well, of course!"
It makes sense that he would love that part the best, not just because it's closer to the style of music he'd grown up with, but because there really is something quite awesome about hearing a whole orchestra tuning their instruments.
In a way, it's very personal. As you hear each instrument squeak and complain as it is being tuned, you get to know what that instrument sounds like apart from the crowd. You also hear how each musician deals with the limitations of his instrument, as you hear one squeak too high, and seconds later, you hear it again in perfect tune. Some instruments never seem to falter, but their players still tune them. Each musician performs an accidental solo before the almost-attentive audience, and yet that solo is still just an echo in the cacophony.
But not all cacophonies have to be ugly. As oxymoronic as it sounds, a little bit of cacophony can be quite beautiful.
What does pre-concert tuning possibly have to do with Christianity?
I think it's a great metaphor for our life with God.
If heaven is the symphony, imagine this life on earth as the practice before the symphony. God is simultaneously - he's omnipresent, after all - the conductor of the orchestra and the player of each instrument. And each of his instruments is one of his disciples, submitting to His will as he faithfully tunes each and every one of them to the perfect pitch they need to be to perform.
The most wonderful part is that in contrast with a symphony on earth, our heavenly symphony - our life after earth - will never end!
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