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The Gospel According to Chopin

Last Updated June 29, 2011 by Matt 2 Comments

Earlier this month I was taking a seminary class at Luther Seminary with John Roberto of Lifelong Faith Associates. During one of the classes, he showed us what may be the best TED video I’ve ever seen. It could be titled, “The Gospel According to Chopin” (by the way, I am in no way a classical music person, which illustrates the point even better). Watch it below… my thoughts follow.

Some intersections with the gospel & theology:

  • Discipleship is more like teaching the piano than passing on information en masse. Think about how kids learn to play the piano: a parent or a teacher sits down on the bench next to them one-on-one. They aren’t invited into a class when they hit a certain age and are expected to learn to play the piano.
  • We can “live into” realities that are not present.
  • Vision must be big & not incremental. Moving from 3% to 4% is not visionary. We should strive for 100%.
  • Stop emphasizing every note, but think about the long line from b to e
  • When other people’s eyes are not shining, who am I being to cause that? Not, what is wrong with them?
  • Our job is to awaken the possibilities in others
  • The conductor never speaks but engages all
  • We must believe in the outcome
  • One-buttock playing = passionate, consuming, internalized
  • His face showed he cared and was passionate.

What takeaways did you have from the video?

Filed Under: Ecclesiology, Youth Ministry Tagged With: church, discipleship, gospel

About Matt

Matt Cleaver has written since 2004 on youth ministry, theology, and the church. His blog was ranked by Youth Specialties as a Top 20 Youth Ministry Blog. Click here for Matt's list of the Best Youth Ministry Books.

Comments

  1. Paul says

    June 30, 2011 at 11:55 am

    Powerful! Thanks for sharing this.

    Reply
    • Matt says

      July 1, 2011 at 9:35 am

      Thanks, just passing along good content.

      Reply

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