God Sees You in the Crowd
by Steve Watters on 06/11/2007 at 10:21 AM
Over the weekend, my pastor Matt Heard, told the story of a creative experiment the Washington Post conducted this past January. Here are some highlights from their story about it:
It was 7:51 a.m. on Friday, January 12, the middle of the morning rush hour. In the next 43 minutes, as the violinist performed six classical pieces, 1,097 people passed by.
...Each passerby had a quick choice to make, one familiar to commuters in any urban area where the occasional street performer is part of the cityscape: Do you stop and listen? Do you hurry past with a blend of guilt and irritation, aware of your cupidity but annoyed by the unbidden demand on your time and your wallet? Do you throw in a buck, just to be polite? Does your decision change if he's really bad? What if he's really good? Do you have time for beauty? Shouldn't you? What's the moral mathematics of the moment?On that Friday in January, those private questions would be answered in an unusually public way. No one knew it, but the fiddler standing against a bare wall outside the Metro in an indoor arcade at the top of the escalators was one of the finest classical musicians in the world, playing some of the most elegant music ever written on one of the most valuable violins ever made. His performance was arranged by The Washington Post as an experiment in context, perception and priorities -- as well as an unblinking assessment of public taste: In a banal setting at an inconvenient time, would beauty transcend?
Reading the masterfully crafted account (titled "Pearls Before Breakfast"), you find that beauty barely transcended -- even though the musician was the world famous Joshua Bell playing a $3.5 million instrument.
My pastor pointed out that even while a thousand plus people can pass by oblivious to the musical wealth before them, God notices not only Joshua Bell, but us. Even though God made us different from Mr. Bell, He has crafted His handiwork in each of us and knows us even in a world where no one else seems to. To support that, my pastor read from another famous musician -- King David:
Psalm 139
For the director of music. Of David. A psalm.
1 O LORD, you have searched me and you know me.
2 You know when I sit and when I rise; you perceive my thoughts from afar.
3 You discern my going out and my lying down;you are familiar with all my ways.
4 Before a word is on my tongue you know it completely, O LORD.
5 You hem me in—behind and before; you have laid your hand upon me.
6 Such knowledge is too wonderful for me, too lofty for me to attain.
7 Where can I go from your Spirit? Where can I flee from your presence?
8 If I go up to the heavens, you are there; if I make my bed in the depths, you are there.
9 If I rise on the wings of the dawn, if I settle on the far side of the sea,
10 even there your hand will guide me, your right hand will hold me fast.
11 If I say, "Surely the darkness will hide me and the light become night around me,"
12 even the darkness will not be dark to you; the night will shine like the day, for darkness is as light to you.
13 For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother's womb.
14 I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well.
15 My frame was not hidden from you when I was made in the secret place. When I was woven together in the depths of the earth,
16 your eyes saw my unformed body. All the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be.
Seeing our lives from God's perspective, we can see that everyday is a "world famous musician in a subway" kind of day. No one is ever going to find us in the crowd and then see and appreciate the potential in us the way God does. And that's a great reminder not only of our incredible worth, but why we should always seek to perform for "an audience of one."
1. Mark Willard said the following at 10:47 AM on Jun 11:
It's interesting to read the same story in two different Christian blogs and see the drastically different ways it was interpreted. Desiring God ran the same story back in April. The point they made is that just as these passers-by were oblivious to the beauty of Joshua Bell's violin playing, those who do not honor God as they ought or give thanks to him are sinfully oblivious to God's beauty and worth.
It saddens me that the American Church is becoming as self-esteem oriented as the surrounding culture. In my opinion, we have a much greater need to be reminded of God's worth than our own.
2. Katie M. said the following at 10:47 AM on Jun 11:
I read that Post article when it was published, but I hadn't considered it in this context. Not only does it affirm the value God has placed on each of us but also how we ought to view others. It reminds me of that C.S. Lewis quote from The Weight of Glory, "It is a serious thing to live in a society of possible gods and goddesses, to remember that the dullest and most uninteresting person you talk to may one day be a creature which, if you saw it now, you would be strongly tempted to worship..." I feel like I recently read that quote on this site in another thread, but I can't recall which! Also interesting in that article is that one of the few people who seemed to appreciate the beauty of Bell's performance was a child.
3. Sam said the following at 11:17 AM on Jun 11:
This is a really great post! I also enjoyed reading portions of the article.
This makes me think about all those walking this earth who deny the existence of God. He's like Joshua Bell - He's out there playing his instrument (Creation) for us each day and we can choose to either fall into that beauty or continue to walk by and count it all as white noise.
4. John M. said the following at 1:01 PM on Jun 11:
Mark, I must say that I also agree more with "Desiring God"'s use of this illustration. Sadly, the modern, suburban, white American church demands constant affirmation, so that's what they get.
5. Samuel PG said the following at 1:03 PM on Jun 11:
It seems that the three responders above me have all located important truths in this social experiment.
Mark - I definitely see where you are coming from on the self-esteem culture that is taking root in some facets of the Church. You are quite right that the best lesson stems from our neglect of gratefulness and appreciation of God. At the same time, however, this is a powerful reminder that we have each been created with gifts meant for a purpose designed by God and that whether or not we are recognized by others, we must play our particular fiddles the best we can to please our Creator.
Perhaps we could take this and focus too much on our own importance, but it seems that Katie too has struck an important chord in recognizing the brilliance of each individual as created in the image of the Living God.
6. Cath said the following at 1:04 PM on Jun 11:
The only time I remember stopping and listening to a street performer was as a tourist with more time on my hands than I knew what to do with. And I was lonely. So I stopped. And I guess that's why some people end up giving God a chance too. hmmm. Good topic, good post!
7. Steve Watters said the following at 2:33 PM on Jun 11:
OK, I wondered if you guys would see too much self-esteem stuff in my post. I know we live in self-esteem saturated culture, but anyone who reads Boundless much knows that we have a high view of God and if anything we challenge and prod our readers so much toward that higher view of God, that we forget to remind people that we are created in His image and that even in our depravity, He esteems us higher than the people we tend to look to for approval.
8. Chrystal said the following at 3:21 PM on Jun 11:
Thank you for this entry. This is my first time to the blog, and today those words found me; especially the Psalm.
9. Anna said the following at 4:24 PM on Jun 11:
That was a good application to draw from the story. Another application I loved came from the Desiring God blog:
"I couldn't help but read it as a parable... 'It was the most astonishing thing I've ever seen in Washington,' Furukawa says. 'Joshua Bell was standing there playing at rush hour, and people were not stopping, and not even looking, and some were flipping quarters at him! Quarters! I wouldn't do that to anybody. I was thinking, Omigosh, what kind of a city do I live in that this could happen?'
She was appalled that anyone would have either the naivete or the gall to condescendingly flip a quarter at one of the world's greatest musicians. She was shocked that something as astoundingly beautiful was so easily disregarded."
It just makes me think of the ultimate Astounding Beauty that we so easily disregard every day.
10. John M. said the following at 5:59 PM on Jun 11:
As a side note, I don't know if anybody will get the chance to go to Madrid, but if you do, the quality of the street entertainment is EXCELLENT. Flamenco, mandolin, opera, it's all there under the warm Spanish sky. And the flights there are cheap too.
(Ending paid endorsement ;-))
11. Samuel PG said the following at 6:19 PM on Jun 11:
Steve, you know you are getting good when you can predict what complaints you will receive. As I said above, there are undoubtedly Christians who emphasize self-esteem too much but I think your blog itself was just fine. Well done.
12. tmd said the following at 10:47 PM on Jun 11:
Nice story, but the comparative analysis between people watching a violinist and God seeing and knowing each individual is an insurmountable stretch due to the characteristics of humanity and God, respectively. The assumption is that everyone likes the violin and/or classical music, etc.
What makes a human a human is preferential likes and dislikes or freedom of the will, if you'd like to spiritualize the concept. What makes God who he is, is that he sees everyone in equal terms. I think you can see the problem, then.
13. Adam Sloope said the following at 8:21 AM on Jun 12:
The great thing about this post is that we cannot be anything but beautiful beings because we are made in God's image. Thsi is not to boost self esteem, it is just a fact, it is how we were made. We should not boast in this or feel we are better than people but value others as an image of God. I'd have to agree with several others here in that it is God thatis most like the world renown musician. (Warning: Sweeping Generalization) Most Christians don't stop to enjoy beauty. I've been ocnvicted of this latley and have spent the last two weekends outside in a park enjoying the beautiful weather and God's creation. Just as we enjoy nature and other beautiful things we should enjoy each other and look to other human beings as beautiful creations that have fallen away from the original way they were created. Wuite sad to think about, but sure does make you want to go tell people they were made to do things other than what they are doing. Good post, I like the fact that a newspaper can even notice that we are all too bust to notice beauty.
14. Michelle said the following at 11:07 AM on Jun 12:
I love your post. I have read the Washington Post article a while back, but it never occured to me to think about it the way your pastor did. The WP article annoyed me back then, because it blamed the passers by for not responding to the music. I didn't like that attitude. Then I read the response of a NYC subway musician on her blog http://www.SawLady.com/blog
and I liked that better.
And now I'm so glad I came across your post - inspiring!
15. Ruthie said the following at 9:24 PM on Jun 12:
Thanks.
16. Amancay said the following at 7:43 PM on Jun 13:
[blogged]
this is great stuff, thanks for sharing... His Love!
17. marcus said the following at 11:11 AM on Jun 16:
I enjoyed reading a different take on the Joshua Bell experiment! I blogged about it a while back (http://bloglah.wordpress.com/2007/05/26/do-you-know-what-youre-missing/) having read the story in the Post.
It's interesting to see a good post on the same article from the opposite angle.