It’s Possible

February 4, 2018

It can be done, even if I can’t do it. This afternoon and evening, instead of watching the Super Bowl, I attended Bassfest at Fredonia College, a day of seminars followed by a recital featuring Rufus Reid, one of the premier jazz bassists of our time, Blake Hinson, one of the principal bassist of the New York Philharmonic, and Kieran Hanlon, bass professor at the college. Students competed, performed, and were critiqued. I listened, amazed at the sonorous sounds and intricate melodies coming out of the hands and instruments of these skilled men and women. 

The winner of the performance contest was a high school sophomore whose playing was almost angelic. The professionals demonstrated the reason they are professionals, and I realize once more how completely novice I am. It inspires me to keep working at it, even while I know I’ll never even come close to their competency, because listening to them, I know what is possible.

Over 2,000 years ago, God sent his Son to earth to be born as a human being. Theologically, we say Jesus Christ is fully God and fully Man; we can’t explain how this can be, but it is what as Christians we affirm. The Doctrine of the Incarnation tells us that Jesus lived just as we do; that he never pulled the “God card” in living his sinless life. In other words, as these bassists showed what is possible with the instrument, Jesus showed us what is possible in life, even if we know we can never attain to the perfection he demonstrated. The difference is that I’ll never attain the musical expertise these people showed today, and those who have attained cannot in any way bestow it upon me. In life however, though I can never attain the perfection of Jesus Christ, grace tells me that in his mercy, through my faith, God credits me with the perfection of Christ. It’s what we call the Atonement, and on it hinges eternal life. 

I am thankful tonight for this earthly reminder of the eternal truth that God’s perfection is real, and though by ourselves we cannot attain it, in Christ, it is ours.