This post is to let everyone know that I am taking a break from writing for a couple of months.  Earlier today I saw a post by a colleague who mentioned that he was taking the next couple of months off to work on the writing of his book – and – I thought to myself – that sounds like a wonderful idea!

The book that I want to complete is closely related to this blog.  The planned title is Human Beings Anonymous.  The original working title was Living as Mustard Seeds in Cracked Clay Pots, but somehow when the other title emerged I knew that is was right for me!

This book comes from my personal experience of working with people – people who know that they have an addiction and are in the journey of recovery – and – people who do not believe that they have any addiction and cannot imagine why they might need to consider living life with the guidance of The Twelve Steps.  When I started to get that response I immediately knew that it was time to begin the book.

I have already taught the material to people a couple of time and hope to convene another session of gatherings here in Austin in the fall.

More later – this blog will return in August – in the meantime – grace and peace to all!!

This post will offer an intermission in our current discussion – one well worth taking!

From Barbara Brown Taylor’s When God is Silent*

Sometimes I think we do all the talking because we are afraid God won’t.  Or, conversely, that God will.  Either way, staying preoccupied with our own words seems a safer bet than opening ourselves up either to God’s silence or God’s speech, both of which have the power to undo us.  In our own age, I believe God’s silence is more threatening, perhaps because it is the more frequently experienced of the two.  Very few people come to see me because they want to discuss something God said to them last night.  The large majority come because they cannot get God to say anything at all.  They have asked as sincerely as they know how for answers, for guidance, for peace, but they are still missing those things.  They want me to tell them what they have done wrong.  They have heard me talk about God on Sundays and they hope they can make use of my connections.  Perhaps I know a special technique they can try – or better yet – perhaps I can lend my own weight to the cause, adding the poundage of my prayers to theirs in an effort to force some sound from God.

Their wish to hear God speak is not unfounded.  The Bible they read portrays a God who not only speaks but who also acts.  Right there on the page, the faithful receive what they ask for: children, manna, land, health.  By implication, those who do not receive are not faithful.  They are not right with God.  If they were, God would speak to them.  “For everyone who asks receives, and everyone who searches finds, and for everyone who knocks, the door will be opened” (Luke 11:10).

This is the condemnation that hangs over the silence of God, as if that silence could mean only one thing.  Meanwhile, scripture is full of silences, both human and divine, that mean not one but many different things. (51-52)

*http://www.amazon.com/Silent-Lyman-Beecher-Lectures-Preaching/dp/1561011576/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1335971292&sr=8-1

Karl Barth – born in 1886 – died in 1968 – and – Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart – born in 1756 – died in 1791.

At first it may seem that this is really a strange pair – one a theologian, composer of words, and the other a composer of music.  It is reported that Barth began each day by listening to the music of Mozart before resuming work on the writing of his monumental Church Dogmatics. 

During my years in seminary I became very fascinated in gaining a better understanding of the relationship between these two giants.  Often I found myself reading, re-reading, and again re-reading a section from the Church Dogmatics and still wondering what the author desired to communicate.  Then one day in class our professor said something like just keep reading – you will find that Barth keeps returning to the same ideas.  The proverbial light finally started to dawn for me.

Barth and Mozart both often wrote in a type of formal construction known to musicians as “sonata-allegro form” – a formal construction made popular by 18th century composers most often providing the structure for the opening movement of a piano sonata, a symphony, or a string quartet.  Overly simplified – this form begins with a section where the main ideas – or themes – generally two of them – are articulated.  This section is known as the exposition.

The exposition is followed by a section known as the development.  Like the body paragraphs of an essay, the development expands on the themes introduced in the exposition. The development section represents the most creative and unstable section of the work. The development section uses material from the first two themes in many different keys as well as in many different styles. The development section sounds somewhat improvised as the composer uses the thematic material from the exposition to invent new ideas. (http://iml.jou.ufl.edu/projects/fall05/lubarsky/function.html)

The last of the three major sections is the recapitulation where the two main themes – or ideas – are articulated yet another time.

I discovered that Barth seems to most often write in a verbal sonata-allegro formal structure, and when his words seem to go around in circles, or go in multiple directions either in sequence or at the same time, or are offered in fragments or with extended explanation Barth is simply articulating his development section.

Many people find the development section of a work by Mozart to seem fragmented or improvisatory, but if a person continues to listen you always return to a recapitulation of the main themes – and so it is with Barth.  Perhaps that is why Barth needed his daily “fix” of Mozart’s organizations of musical sounds to prepare for his own work with the writing of the Church Dogmatics.

So what – you most likely are asking.  Well that will be the focus of the next post.  Please keep reading and join the conversation.

Grace and peace