Last night, I had the pleasure of attending a Florida Orchestra concert. They are fantastic! The featured selection was Dvorak’s “New World Symphony.” It was a real crowd-pleaser and is one of the most famous and popular classical works. Composed in 1893, Dvorak was enraptured by the legendary folklore of Native America. He mistakenly thought that it and Negro culture were the same. For that reason, the themes in this symphony strike chords of both. Dvorak, from what is now the Czech Republic, represents the idyllic imaginations of all who have come to this “New World”.

For two consecutive weeks, I have shared my love of classical music with you readers. I was reminded again yesterday of the amazing gift that is perpetuated when the first notes are played in any performance. For a couple of hours, we in the concert hall were transported above and beyond the cares and distractions of the news – that “gloom and doom” that is making us all more contentious and unsettled. I reflected that in the reign of God, the already-not-yet kingdom that Jesus Christ ushers in, we are in a “new world”. The inherent escapism in attending a concert or going to the movies still has a way of permeating our inner sense of what can be essential to a more harmonious way of living together. Idealism mixed with reality, perhaps?

21st century America may seem so far removed from a simpler, more innocent time. Very soon “Baby Boomers” will be the oldest generation. So, I will steadfastly hang on to any vestige of classical memory via history and music. In doing so, I am not pretending that I am NOT a part of this “new world order.” Like it or not, these are the times and circumstances that God has placed us in. I do not think it is trite or flippant to consider the contemporary adage, “if God has seen you to it, He will see you through it.” Every era has its disillusionments. Hope seems like chasing the wind. However, each era – including this one – also has its God-blessed talents and passions. Michael Ippolito, 32-year-old composer. The students of Stoneman Douglas High School. Future teachers. Future doctors. Entrepreneurs. Dreamers. We need them all. There is a palpable groundswell of “enough already” that is coming from such as these new voices. We need to ensure them that there is a God who wants to love them unconditionally in this daunting, yet beautiful New World.

Pastor Art