every year a talented group of friends get together to write a youth musical for the choir i direct. we take a weekend, go to the mountains and write. we write a complete musical (albeit short in order to ‘fit’ within a service) and oftentimes other projects. for the summer of 2008, we wrote a musical on teen suicide. it was one of the most moving experiences in my life… and along the way some of you were right there with me – getting songs as they were recorded, dialog as it was written… but the most moving thing of that particular weekend was gods preparing me for what would happen in 2 weeks. two short weeks from when we wrote this heart-wrenching musical, my father passed. god had prepared me for the upcoming loss without my knowing it.

this last fall, we wanted to write a piece just as important, saying just as much, but without the emotional heartache of last years. so we did. we wrote of differences: dress, character, sexuality, etc. we wrote of these differences and how the one place where one should be accepted and loved, loved with god’s love, rarely happens. we wrote of loving beyond the walls … the walls being whatever they might be: church, family, friends… loving beyond what you think you are capable of, loving with god’s love – not your own.

Colossians 3: 12 – 17 – Above all, clothe yourselves with love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony.

Does it now? If love is all it takes to create perfect harmony, then why…

Because we don’t love each other, obviously. As Paul understood love (stated most explicitly in 1 Corinthians 13), it is selfless, giving way to the other, not insisting on our own way, waiting patiently for what we hope may come. Too often we do just the opposite — stand tall, claim what is ours, try to bend others to our beliefs and priorities, and strive for immediate results. We sometimes try to pass that off as love on the grounds that it will benefit people to see the truth as we see it, but our behavior is in fact driven by inflated ego and control needs.

If we behaved lovingly we would know “perfect harmony”, and the peace of Christ would rule in our hearts. Harmony is a blending of different notes, often played on different kinds of instruments. If everyone were playing middle C on violin, the result would be a dull uniformity, not harmony. Harmony not only allows for differences, but embraces and incorporates them. The oboe does not say to the cello, “You must become an oboe.”

(from Forward Movement)

i hope for you to love beyond these walls. i pray for you to find love beyond these walls. and i love you all beyond these walls.

- Tiffany