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Do Re Mi

John 1:1-18

The Rev. Jon Roberts

29 December

2019

Calvary Episcopal Church

Indian Rocks Beach, FL

1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2 He was in the beginning with God; 3 all things were made through him, and without him was not anything made that was made. 4 In him was life, and the life was the light of men. 5 The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it. 6 There was a man sent from God, whose name was John. 7 He came for testimony, to bear witness to the light, that all might believe through him. 8 He was not the light, but came to bear witness to the light. 9 The true light that enlightens every man was coming into the world. 10 He was in the world, and the world was made through him, yet the world knew him not. 11 He came to his own home, and his own people received him not. 12 But to all who received him, who believed in his name, he gave power to become children of God; 13 who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God. 14 And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, full of grace and truth; we have beheld his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father. 15 (John testified concerning him. He cried out, saying, “This is the one I spoke about when I said, ‘He who comes after me has surpassed me because he was before me.’”) 16 Out of his fullness we have all received grace in place of grace already given. 17 For the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. 18 No one has ever seen God, but the one and only Son, who is himself God and[b] is in closest relationship with the Father, has made him known.

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The Sound of Music American Musical Drama by Robert Wise, 1965

Let’s start at the very beginning; a very good place to start.
When you read you begin with A-be-see.
When you sing you begin with do-re-mi.
Do-re-mi, do-re-mi.
The first three notes just happen to be;
Do-re-mi.

Of course we want to burst into song because of how easy it is to sing the rest of the song..
Doe, a deer, a female deer;
Re, a drop of golden sun.
Me, a name I call myself;
Fa, a long, long way to run…

It is hard to believe Julie Andrews broke into this sensational American musical drama in the year 1965. The musical was centered around the real life story of the Von Trapp family in the midst of a dreadful course in human history with the conquest of Austria by the Nazis. Here, everything makes sense with these wonderful notes that are organized to give us melody, harmony, plot and lovely expression. What an amazing gift God has given us with the sound of music. He gave it to us for good reason. It is because sometime, although we may remember the tune we sometimes forget the words. In order to appreciate and understand it more fully, let’s start at the very beginning, a very good place to start.

Why did God create the world? If God has everything and can make anything, why did he need to make the world? Have you ever considered that maybe, God is the greatest lover of music of all time. Perhaps God created the world in order to play music. He can play music in so many ways, with the beautiful landscapes, creatures great and small and of course through us. Everything God created was perhaps for the purpose to make music. All things came into being through him and their was life.[1]

Jesus in the flesh is the way in which God comes as our nursemaid, leading us through the meadows and valleys, singing delightful songs. Jesus was sent to live in the flesh to lead us. We are the notes to which God is playing. If we hit a wrong note, it doesn’t destroy the song. It simply means we are out of tune. We need to return to the page and follow the order to which it was given to us. This is why Jesus was sent, to remind us to live by faith, not by sight. We had lost our place. We live according to the law, but our faith in God helps us evaluate the reason why God created the world. It is about returning to a special relationship and it explains why we are wonderfully moved through music. God in playing the music and to understand Like Capt. Von Trapp who forgot the sound of music because of the pain in the loss of his wife.

Returning to the question as before, why did God create the world, it was because he wanted the joy in listening to the sound of music. This is why God created the world to see that we will bloom and grow forever. In the beginning of all creation, Jesus was there, but like the children in the musical, they had forgotten. In the beginning of all music, Jesus was there. The disciples of John realized we cannot lose our place and if we do, we will return to where we were before. They knew the importance of moving forward. We find great harmony when we live in accordance to our faith and if we lose our place, then we have to go back to the beginning.

We find great harmony when we live by faith. Today we heard a lot about the relationship between the slave, the child and the heir.[2] We may feel outplaced or disenfranchised because we must live by the law, like a slave, but that is the musical theory, the fundamental piano practice to read the notes. The notes resemble the Law. If that is all we want to play, then we are a slave to it. When the musician plays music from the page, that does not give us the full appreciation unless passion is applied. How many times have you heard someone playing the music and you feel something is missing. They are not “into it” and passion is absent. We go from the slave, to the child, to the heir in our love for one another and our love for God’s creation. Before long, you sing by heart whereas you play by faith and no longer by sight. You harmonize with God’s created order.

Today is a day to go back to the beginning, a very good place to start, and in the beginning was the word, and the word was with God and the word was God.
Do, Re, Mi.

[1] John 1:1-18
[2] Galatians 3:23-4:7

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