| GOD'S CRESCENDO |
| Published in The
Monterey County Herald, on December 21, 1996 |
When think of our earthly existence, I am reminded of Maurice Ravel’s classic, Bolero: a musical work which the composer himself described as “one long, very gradual crescendo."
The piece begins ever so softly with a cyclical melody, a fixed rhythm, and a bare arrangement that broadens little by little to incorporate new sounds and more colorful and complex nuances. For all its expansion and increased dynamics, however, Bolero remains the same essential song throughout. The monotony of the piece is so brilliantly camouflaged by its orchestration that the listener finds himself caught up in its momentum, transported by its raging, hypnotic sameness. The music presses inexorably toward a climax so bizarre, so electrifying, so unlike the rest of the piece, that no one listening to Bolero for the first time can anticipate exactly how it will end. The piece contains no clues, or so it seems. How unlike the average pop/rock song that rarely reaches a conclusion, but rather fades out in the middle of a refrain to create the illusion that the song will repeat itself forever---an extremely popular gimmick that has saved many lesser composers from having to resolve what was probably unresolvable in the first place. Thus, creative incompetence covers for itself by sucking the naive and undemanding listener into a mystical Land of Perpetual Refrain.
Not so with Ravel. He proved himself a true musical master by providing a resolution to his Bolero that is as gratifying as it is shocking. It is this finale that places the entire work into its proper, qualifying perspective. Once the listener has experienced Ravel’s climactic “revelation," he can then return to the beginning of the piece, retrace his steps though the once directionless cycle of sounds, and perceive a special integrity that might not have been apparent on first hearing. Truly, there is an intelligence running throughout the piece. There is hope, there is menace, there is a plan. It is a wise, intuitive listener who, without having heard Ravel’s ending, can yet sense the composer’s guiding hand from the onset of the piece---who not only anticipates a resolution, but hungers for one. Only the faithless and the foolish would forgo the finale and settle for a fade-out.
How pointless, also, would our lives be if they were allowed to continue in the same mode indefinitely. Thankfully, the Heavenly Master has programmed into our earthly terms a “finale”. It is the very condition of being temporary---this unknowable duration granted each and every one of us in this present realm---that gives our existence the crucial perspective we need to govern our lives with wisdom and purpose. Without it, we novices could easily be lulled by our own monotonous heartbeats into a spiritual stupor and presume that we had forever in which to play out an endless refrain, never seeking a resolution.
Unlike Ravel, who took his audiences by surprise, God has provided copious program notes in His Word to equip us for our life’s “concert”. He has given both men and nations many prophetic insights into their individual and corporate “finales"---even shown us significant historic “key changes” that portend the end of the age. Above all, God sent His Son to save us from destruction, and to transform our fragmented, rambling, ill-fated melodies into the glorious symphony He had in mind when He first "composed" us.
Seeing how this concert will never be repeated, it behooves us to learn the “score” now, and to accept God’s salvation by faith---before this great human “Bolero” comes to an end.