This weekend, Lakota East, Lakota West, Mason, Hamilton, and one hundred other high school marching bands from around the country will descend on Lucas Oil Stadium for Bands of America Grand National Championships. Think of it as if the playoffs and the Superbowl were all crammed into one weekend!
In my excitement for my son to march there, I can’t help but remember my own experiences with marching band. While I was in high school, the Manchester Marching One-Hundred would pack up instruments and sheet music in early August and head off to a week of band camp in the woods of Northeast Ohio.
Our days were simple: Mornings were loaded with marching up and down the field. Afternoons were a mix of music rehearsals, both in small groups of like instruments and as a full ensemble. After dinner, we put the whole thing together until the darkness and mosquitoes descended on the marching field. Hour after hour, we worked together listening, watching, and learning.
Mr. Weyrick, the band director, whether perched atop the three-story scaffold tower on the sideline of the football field, standing on his podium in the dining lodge or floating around to sectionals, constantly reminded individual players that we were part of something much larger than ourselves. Yes, we were playing a part – an important part – as an instrumentalist moving about the field making music and morphing formations, but we were also an essential component of a complex and interwoven body – the marching band.
The percussion section, where I marched, was part of the larger band. This group of twelve drumming musicians worked in concert with woodwind, brass, and color guard. Weyrick not only knew the many different parts and players, but he also was aware of how they all fit together. He could see the big picture.
Late in the summer, we would disappear into the thick woods as a bunch of distracted high schoolers. A week later, we would emerge as a cohesive team of focused sight and sound, ready to hit the football game half-time, the band show circuit, and area parades. It was an amazing transformation.
What an image for the Church! Our families, friendships, neighborhoods, places of work, sports teams, worship, and acts of service are each a vital part of God’s ministry. The apostle Paul reminds us when he writes, “The tuba cannot say to the cymbals, ‘I have no need of you,’ nor again the color guard to the trumpet, ‘I have no need of you.’” (A marching band translation of 1 Corinthians 12.)
Every one of us is intimately known by our Creator God and has specific gifts to share. We have a crucial role to play in the life of the world and we have opportunities to use those gifts.
This Sunday, we will vote on new council leadership and the mission spending plan for 2023, as well as make financial commitments to Lord of Life for the coming year. As we do, we remember that we are each a vital part of God’s work. Every one of us is essential to God and has a role in what the Spirit of God is putting in motion as we live, share, and celebrate in our corner of the world.
Yes, there is much to do. We are often not in step. We aren’t in tune. Much of the time we can’t even find our place in the song. How do we get it together?
Somehow, through our careful planning and praying, coupled with an act of grace, God makes beautiful music with the work of our daily lives. Our beloved conductor nabs our attention, asks us to march and play together, creating music for ears and hearts that will draw us and the world into the presence of God.
Marching in the Light of God,
Pastor Lowell