As a musician who has largely stuck to instrumental music for most of my life, I've never had to face this as forcefully as song writer / performer; as you just can't inject God words into instrumental music. It would seem mighty odd at least.
I definitely feel God's pleasure when I play "Flowers of Edinburgh". Maybe that's what Eric Liddell was talking about when he said "when I run, I feel His pleasure .” If a runner can be an artist who enjoys and glorifies (i.e. ascribes weight to) God, I guess I can be, too. Just putting one foot in front of the other as skillfully as possible and feeling the thrill and purity of it.
This was a wonderful essay.
As a musician who has largely stuck to instrumental music for most of my life, I've never had to face this as forcefully as song writer / performer; as you just can't inject God words into instrumental music. It would seem mighty odd at least.
I definitely feel God's pleasure when I play "Flowers of Edinburgh". Maybe that's what Eric Liddell was talking about when he said "when I run, I feel His pleasure .” If a runner can be an artist who enjoys and glorifies (i.e. ascribes weight to) God, I guess I can be, too. Just putting one foot in front of the other as skillfully as possible and feeling the thrill and purity of it.