joel houston--hillsong united panel discussion

Artist's Task

On Nov. 18, 1995, Itzhak Perlman, the violinist, came on stage to give a concert at Avery Fisher Hall at Lincoln Center in New York City. If you have ever been to a Perlman concert, you know that getting on stage is no small achievement for him. He was stricken with polio as a child, and so he has braces on both legs and walks with the aid of two crutches. To see him walk across the stage one step at a time, painfully and slowly, is an unforgettable sight. He walks painfully, yet majestically, until he reaches his chair. Then he sits down, slowly, puts his crutches on the floor, undoes the clasps on his legs, tucks one foot back and extends the other foot forward. Then he bends down and picks up the violin, puts it under his chin, nods to the conductor and proceeds to play. By now, the audience is used to this ritual. They sit quietly while he makes his way across the stage to his chair. They remain reverently silent while he undoes the clasps on his legs. They wait until he is ready to play.

But this time, something went wrong. Just as he finished the first few bars, one of the strings on his violin broke. You could hear it snap - it went off like gunfire across the room. There was no mistaking what that sound meant. There was no mistaking what he had to do. People who were there that night thought to themselves: We figured that he would have to get up, put on the clasps again, pick up the crutches and limp his way off stage, to either find another violin or else find another string for this one. But he didn't.

Instead, he waited a moment, closed his eyes and then signaled the conductor to begin again. The orchestra began, and he played from where he had left off. And he played with such passion and such power and such purity as we had never heard before. Of course, anyone knows that it is impossible to play a symphonic work with just three strings. I know that, and you know that, but that night Itzhak Perlman refused to acknowledge that. You could see him modulating, changing, recomposing the piece in his head. At one point, it sounded like he was de-tuning the strings to get new sounds from them that they had never made before.

When he finished, there was an awesome silence in the room. And then people rose and cheered. There was an extraordinary outburst of applause from every corner of the auditorium. We were all on our feet, screaming and cheering, doing everything we could to show how much we appreciated what he had done. He smiled, wiped the sweat from this brow, raised his bow to quiet us, and then he said, not boastfully but in a quiet, pensive, reverent tone:

"You know, sometimes it is the artist's task to find out how much music you can still make with what you have left."

What a powerful line that is. It has stayed in my mind ever since I heard it. And who knows? Perhaps that is the way of life - not just for artists but for all of us. So, perhaps our task in this shaky, fast-changing, bewildering world in which we live is to make music, at first with all that we have and then, when that is no longer possible, to still make music with all that we have left.

Category:

Music

Tags:

• Religious
• Gospel
• Christian
• Hillsong
• United
• Conference
• Concert

[josiahbirrell]

hes not gay you stooges

[angiecwandjay]

Joel, you are awesome... <3

[ESTERMARRIS]

sim realmnete é uma honra grande ,imensa responsabilidade proclamar o nome de JESUS CRISTO mas tambem, sabemos que o momento esta bem perto de acontecer,O PRÓPRIO DEUS nos dá graça e coragem de fazer seu nome conhecido!!!!!!

[cmednc]

@crystalblue63 wow i'd love to hear your view on katy perry.......

[SophiaJulia]

there's nothing wrong with having Brooke's music in the "secular" sections. Her music can reach more people in this way. I think it's awesome that unsaved people are being open to listen to her and then when they research her more, they learn more about her relationship with Christ, the one we all follow and love. If she was mingling with the world and setting a bad example, I would agree with you, but to my knowledge she's not.

[crystalblue63]

I have just removed some comments I put up accusing the hillsong of deliberate double standards regarding the way Brooke Fraser (one of the main worship leaders) markets herself in the secular music industry. I decided to delete them because I have been unable (and to be honest not interested) in attempting to contact them first to confront them on the issue. I already spoke to the assistant senior pastor and thought that was enough to justify commenting but have recently decided that it wasn't.

[zoryferman]

what the ...are you guys talking about?.. those are very nasty comments on them.

[crystalblue63]

I have no problem with christians singing secular music either. In fact we need a lot more of them. But with scriptural standards. She isn't.

[holberry1]

I have looked at the pictures. I do not think that they are suggestive or anything like that. I believe that Christian artists can sing secular music too. At least she is not strutting around naked or almost naked! As Christians we have more important things to focus on than how a fellow brother or sister in Christ poses for pictures as long as it dosent violate scriptural morals.

[Christina110578]

how did you come of the idea that he could be gay! i never thought like that