My grandfather was a musician. In fact, at one point in time he had his own band called “Tommy and the Tom Cats”. I know this because of the stories I’ve heard from my dad, the pictures I’ve seen, and a few musical instruments we still have of the many that he owned and played. One of those is an old violin. I suppose it isn’t worth much, but it made me think of a poem called, “The Touch of the Master’s Hand.”
One day in 1921, Myra Welch heard a speaker address a group of students on the power of God. She was inspired and in 30 minutes wrote the classic poem. If you don’t know it, the poem follows a simple narrative about a battered violin that was going for auction for a mere $3. But an elderly man dusts it off, tunes it, and plays a beautiful melody, revealing its true worth.
The final stanza draws that parallel between the old violin, the potential of people who may be undervalued, and the power of God’s transformative work.
And many a man with life out of tune, and battered and scarred with sin,
Is auctioned cheap to the thoughtless crowd, much like the old violin.
A “mess of pottage,” a glass of wine; a game – and he travels on.
He is “going once” and “going twice”, He’s “going and almost gone”.
But the Master comes, and the foolish crowd never can quite understand
The worth of a soul and the change that’s wrought by the touch of the Master’s hand.
–Myra ‘Brooks’ Welch
This Sunday we’re studying Ephesians 2:7-10. It’s a humbling and inspiring lesson on the nature of God’s grace and the powerful transformation that takes place when we submit ourselves to the “touch of the Master’s hand.” It’s humbling because God did for us what we could never do, as much as we might try to dust off and tune up our own lives. It’s inspiring because it confirms that “we are God’s workmanship, (in Greek is “poeima” from which we get the English word “Poem”) created for good works in Christ.”
I trust this week will be filled with the magnificent “music” of God at work through you!
In Christ alone,
Kurt