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 Should Only Christians Play for Christians?By WILLIAM HARVEY
Recently I had arranged to present a recital at a local Christian church that forced me to address the question "Should only Christians play music for Christians?" The program included the premiere of one of my compositions and the Messiaen Quartet for the End of Time. Everything seemed fine until the church's music director e-mailed me that the deacons of the church needed me to answer two questions:"Given that ours is a Christian church, would you please tell me where you are in your faith journey? Do you consider your performance to enhance the purpose of the church, namely to spread the Gospel of Jesus Christ?"
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| William Harvey |
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Clearly, the recital met the second criterion: the Messiaen is explicitly Christian. But as the five performers would include a Unitarian of Jewish ancestry (me), three Jews, and one Hindu, the first question seemed ominous. After much effort, I came up with the following response: "It would be easy for the deacons to review the faiths of the performers and conclude that, since we are not Christian, we should not play in a Christian church. How sad that would be."I would not want to live in a world in which the faiths segregated themselves, unwilling to bridge the barriers dividing them. The size of such bridges can seem overwhelming, yet they must be built if we are to live in a world guided by the lights of mutual understanding and respect, rather than shrouded in the darkness of enmity and mistrust. I can think of no better tool to build such bridges than music."Throughout history, music has effortlessly transcended these barriers. For many, the great event celebrating the end of Communism was Bernstein conducting Beethoven's Ninth when the Berlin Wall fell. The West-East Divan Orchestra (comprised of Israeli and Palestinian youth) remains one of the few harbingers of cooperation and friendship in a region that craves such signs. A friend of mine performed in Baghdad two weeks before the Iraq war began in March 2003. Smiles and dancing greeted her performance."We live in a world where interfaith dialogue is of paramount importance. Terrorism and war strain the relations between Christians and Muslims to the breaking point. The late pope reached out to members of other faiths, yet it is hard to see his nobility as anything other than a shining exception in a world darkened by mistrust. I see a world in which people associate only with members of their own faith and disparage the faiths of others, and I am driven to despair as I contemplate a 21st century in which the conflict between religions may be even bloodier than the conflict between political ideologies which disfigured the face of the 20th century."Yet in the jangled discord of so much tension, I believe that music sounds a note of hope. At my concert at your church, a Hindu will play a work by a Unitarian based on a Jewish folksong, and three Jews and that same Unitarian will play an explicitly Catholic masterpiece. It would be arrogant to claim that out of this alchemy would arise the same sort of newfound cultural understanding that the late pope unfailingly left in his wake. And yet, understanding will only arise through each of us becoming a John Paul II. It is in the dialogue between individuals, and in music, the highest expression of humanity, that the hope for peace, friendship, and respect lies."I respectfully request to be allowed to present this recital."My letter failed: Our concert was cancelled. I would like to conclude that there is a possibility for optimism—that someday, the dialogue between faiths and cultures embodied by the late pope will become a value cherished by all. But until that day, one can only hold out the possibility of the arts and their connective power as a beacon of hope.William Harvey is a master's student in violin. His Web site is www.musicforthepeople.org.
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