The Burnt Hand

I'm sure you've heard of the term, "self-expression". It is "the expression of your thoughts or feelings especially through artistic activities" according to Merriam-Webster's dictionary. 

Yesterday I sat at my piano (keyboard, actually, but let's pretend it's a piano), and engaged in the form of self-expression that I've known since before I could speak coherently. 

Music. 

There's a video that my friend, Nick, took of me when I was no more than two years old. I'm sitting at his piano and letting my fingers play music that was no more melodious than a great white pelican.  Yet it showed my attempts at coordinating my thoughts into music, something that I've been doing ever since. 

When I sit at the piano, it's not just to play a song that sounds nice, it's to actually speak what I am feeling. 

I found a minor key. 

My cello teacher has always said that they sound sad.

A found a major key. 

My chorale director says that a miracle happens when you go from minor to major. 

That's what we need: a miracle. And so I played the plaintive and pleading notes of minor chords and juxtaposed them to the major to show how things really should be. Because when I look at life in general and see all it's blessings, I hear the major chord singing out. Then I look at the lives (or should I say deaths?) of those over in Iraq and Syria and I hear a minor chord on an out-of-tune piano. 

It's worse than the sound of great white pelicans, it's worse than the sound of a a piercing fire alarm; it's the sound of screaming men, women, and children that are fleeing for their lives. What do you say to that?

I became lost as I played and as I reached the conclusion, I was not comforted. I know God is sovereign and I know He is good--yet the sound plays out upon my ear...this isn't how it's supposed to be. 

Worse yet is the feeling that you should do something about it. Humans like to fix things. Yet this is something I can't fix. Do I deny it, can I ignore it? No. Our world is far too interconnected to be able to do that these days. And what's more is that it's the body of Christ. My brothers and sisters are hurting, should I not recognize their pain? Is it wrong that they are in peril and that I am enjoying life? 

I pondered these things as I was walking earlier today. Much in the same way that a breeze stirs up leaves that weren't expecting to be stirred, a thought stirred within me. 

Perhaps it's because I'm anatomically inclined due to my medical studies, or perhaps it's because of Paul's profuse use of the analogy, but I suddenly realized, 

"Yes, we are indeed the body of Christ...so what does one do when a part of one's body is hurt?"

 I envisioned a burnt hand (let's say it's a two-degree burn). What do you do with a burnt hand? The rest of your body parts don't say, 

"Oh, because you are in pain, I should be in pain too, so let us burn ourselves!" 

No, that's not right.

Neither do your body parts ignore the pain. Your nerves send the impulses to your brain and put the rest of you into action. Your mouth cries out in pain, your feet carry you to help, whether it's a family member or a phone, your other hand cradles the burnt one and does what it can to aid it from being further damaged. During recovery, your eyes watch to see that infection doesn't begin. At a deeper level, your blood produces specialized cells to help the tissue heal. It's all very fascinating, and the best part is that the body takes action. There's immediately ten thousand things that are being done to help the burnt hand. 

The hand of Christians over in the Middle East is getting burnt badly. And not just Christians, unbelievers who have no hope are being persecuted as well. What do we as the body of Christ do for this burning hand?  

Your knees kneel, you pray. Your hands are raised, you worship God. Your hands are open, willing to give whatever it takes to help. Your eyes are alert to what is going on and monitoring the situation. Your mouth shares the news with others and with your mouth you encourage others to be praying as well. Your heart keeps you alive and is beating for a reason: to help those around us. Strengthen what is weak and take courage, our God is able.