Music And Discipleship预览

"Transposition"

Music has this idea of transposition. The idea is, that you can play a note in multiple keys and it will often times still fit. Notice in the below two musical keys—A and G—how the note A resides in both. In G, "A" is the 2nd note, and in A it’s the first.

G     A     B      C      D     E     F#     G

A     B     C#    D      E     F#   G#     A

This idea of transposition is profoundly helpful for thinking about discipleship and in helping us grasp key theological concepts. The first thing God transposed from heaven (one key) into humanity (another key), was his very words. His Word is the supreme source in helping us understand how an unseen kingdom and faith function, even though we live in a physical universe.

God, the Word made flesh, also transposed his very nature. Theologians call this the Incarnation. God, the Triune spirit-being, took on flesh and translated himself into our likeness. He became flesh and gave us a very real understanding of what he is like in a nature that we can understand. He is fully in the key of G and fully in the key of A at the same time. He resonates and functions fully in both God and Human form, without losing anything. 

Lastly, we can engage the idea of transposition in how we look at all of life! C.S. Lewis, was walking along one day when out of the corner of his eye he saw a glimmer of sunshine peering through a crack in an old wooden barn. He thought to himself, “on the other side of that barn is a real sun—a heaven if you will—but this strand of light, if looked along, only reveals in part what is fully present on the other side.” 

This is how C. S. Lewis understood the God-man and the rest of this world’s existence. Though we cannot see God, by looking along human flesh in Jesus, we get to see the Father’s image in full. This is true in creation as well: in the fire, we see God’s passion; in the eagle, we see protection; in the mountains, we see his majesty; in the bread and the wine of communion, we catch an image of sacrifice etc. God created all things in a language we can understand, and in a language that we can look along in order to see him.