art

trying to balance my time between school, ministry and doing that wed gig has been taxing at times.... through this time the age-old question has resurfaced again: what's the value of music, or more general, art itself?

i mean, if we are to do everything to the glory of God and for His purposes, perhaps i can say that school is for equipping myself and preparing myself to make a living so that i can serve Him, while being a good testimony in the process (ideally - not that i keep to this very well), and for ministry the idea is also there. but what about pursuing music? is it just making some sounds in a dim cafe, producing vibrations in the air? perhaps the least i can say is that i can thank God for the gift of music and enjoy it in the process. the next step may be to communicate this pleasure of music to others. but how to communicate the God behind all good things? Or is it a long term thing, when people see your life and hear your music and are able to give credit to God? or perhaps, more practically, it helps in improving my musical sense so that i can better contribute to playing and training musicians for the worship service? or even, can a Christian be a Coltrane? that is, attaining profound spiritual heights through music? why does music feature so strongly in worship through the ages?

(is there a difference between a cook giving gastronomical delight and a musician giving aural enjoyment? or maybe a cook is there for the basic survival need of food? or why did God bother to create so many pretty flowers, majestic mountains, deep, strange, glowing undersea creatures which we may never see, and give us taste buds so subtle and varied? any pragmatic reasons?)

many questions.

at the same time, i think, if i'm doing this then i'd better set a good testimony of how a Christian musician behaves, and i think it will certainly differ in certain respects from the 'norm' of a typical jazz musician.... need to be really aware of this...

well, in the meantime, have decided to do 4 more gigs - one more month, and after that, we'll see about it. need to pray for wisdom in e meantime...