In this post, I will attempt a magic trick, whereby I will combine three separate stories to make one point. Two of these stories are real and one is fictional - although I dare to say "It could happen." So without any further ado, pay no attention to the rabbit in the hat and let me begin with my act!
A year or two ago, with my wife and sons in the car with me, I got pulled over for failing to come to a complete stop before turning right on red. From my perspective, I stopped, saw that I was clear to make the turn and made the turn. The county police officer in the car behind me didn't quite see it that way. As the officer and I chatted, I asked him what constituted a complete stop. He told me "about two seconds." I don't know whether that is statutory or a matter of opinion, but he was the one with the badge and the ticket book and I wasn't. Thankfully, he only gave me a warning and we drove the remaining mile or so to get home. As I mentioned my two sons were in the car at the time. As a father, my primary purpose when with them is to train them up to be godly young men. One of the primary ways I do that is by trying to model a life I would want them to imitate. After all, they are both still at an age that wanting to be like Daddy is a good thing. With that in mind, since I got that warning, I've tried to be diligent at counting out "one Mississippi, two Mississippi" every time I've been making a right on red. I want my actions to be in keeping with my primary purpose.
A week ago Sunday, I played bass in the worship band at our church. After service, several people mentioned that I sounded good. After realizing that everyone who mentioned that was also a fellow musician and each of them count bass as one of the instruments they play, I at least was able to belay my concerns that my playing had been a little too conspicuous. But that did get me to reflect some on my purpose when up on the platform as part of the worship team. My purpose is not to draw attention to myself but to draw attention to Christ. Though I love to hear my fellow bass players when they play cool stuff, I'd hate for any of our bass playing to be the focus of the worship service. Now suppose someone had come up to me after the service and said "it sounded like you threw a little bit of 'Gonna Raise Hell' by Cheap Trick into one of those songs..." and then before I could grinning continued "... it was totally inappropriate." Ugh... Now, Cheap Trick at Budokan was what motivated me to play guitar in the first place and "Gonna Raise Hell" (from Dream Police) is what motivated me to play bass. If I had worked "Gonna Raise Hell" into the background of a worship song (I haven't) and somebody said something about it being appropriate (nobody has), I could have said "I'm just expressing who I am and God used that to help lead me into areas where I'm now serving Him. You may think it's inappropriate but I don't see it that way." (But officer, I came to what I thought was a complete stop!) When playing in the worship team, I need to keep my focus on the primary purpose of why I'm there: to glorify Christ and to draw attention to Him and not to me. So, if I can accomplish my primary purpose and still have fun with my playing, that's great, but if my playing gets in the way - not good.
It can be done. Sgt. Pepper tells me so. For my birthday, I got a copy of Sgt. Pepper Live DVD. Back in 2007 in Hollywood, Cheap Trick accompanied by a philharmonic orchestra and a few special guest stars performed the entire Sgt Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band album live at the Hollywood Bowl to celebrate the 40th anniversary of the classic Beatle's albums release. Last year with a different orchestra and different guest stars they did it again in New York. The primary purpose of the performances was as a tribute to the Beatles - it wasn't intended as a normal Cheap Trick performance. Rick Nielsen played a custom guitar with pictures of the Beatles on it, Robin Zander effortlessly mimiced John Lennon and Ringo Starr's singing style (he didn't nail Paul McCartney but still sounded good), Tom Peterson nailed Paul's bass parts, and Bun E Carlos rocked Ringo's drum parts. The orchestra (and guest musicians) filled in the holes (or should I say they were fixing the holes?). Overall, it sounded phenomenal to me. Geoff Emerick, who had engineered the original Sgt. Pepper, co-produced the DVD. The first time I watched "Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds" I remember thinking Rick played a cool guitar lick as they were ending the song. The second time through, I paused and thought "wait a moment" and listened again to the end. Oh wow, I thought, they snuck in a bit of "Oh, Claire" to end the song. If you weren't familiar with the Cheap Trick track, you probably wouldn't have noticed it, but I did. It fit in perfectly and did not detract from "Lucy." Purpose of paying tribute to the Beatles, check, sneaking in a little bit for the CT fans, check! It's all good!
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