Buck, Erwin

English

Scholars Commons

Consensus
Volume 20
Issue 2 In Praise of Valiant Women Article 12
11-1-1994
If Only You Will Not Fall Prey...
Erwin Buck
Follow this and additional works at: http://scholars.wlu.ca/consensus
This Sermons is brought to you for free and open access by Scholars Commons @ Laurier. It has been accepted for inclusion in Consensus by an
authorized editor of Scholars Commons @ Laurier. For more information, please contact scholarscommons@wlu.ca.
Recommended Citation
Buck, Erwin (1994) "If Only You Will Not Fall Prey...," Consensus: Vol. 20 : Iss. 2 , Article 12.
Available at: http://scholars.wlu.ca/consensus/vol20/iss2/12
55
“If Only You Will Not Fall Prey
Erwin Buck
Professor of Nevj Testament,
Lutheran Theological Seminary, Saskatoon
Text: Genesis 1
Artists are special people with special gifts.
Later in our morning worship we will unveil and dedicate a
work which one of our former students, an artist, has painted
during a long period of painful convalescence and has given to
us as a sign of gratitude and appreciation. ^
Artists have ways of plumbing the depths of human expe-
rience. They are often able to express insight and feeling that
catches dimensions of our human existence which most of us
are only dimly aware of. Artists know how to strike a respon-
sive chord in us and to set in motion feelings whose existence
we may have sensed, but which have until now not been al-
lowed to come to the surface and to find expression in tangible
ways. An artist may employ colors, sounds, words and har-
monies which are able to evoke in us imagery of persuasive
power. The artist, the poet, the musician, the composer can
help us to see and to experience reality in new and different
ways. Occasionally such a gifted person may even allow us to
get a taste of things beyond human comprehension.
No doubt you have experienced such things from time to
time yourself.
For me the most vivid recent encounter of this sort came a
few days ago when I heard a masterful performance of Joseph
i
Haydn’s oratorio “Creation”. The work was performed by the
j
Mennonite Festival Choir at Winnipeg, accompanied by the
Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra, all under the direction of the
world-famoTis choral conductor Helmut Rilling of Stuttgart,
Germany. The performance was broadcast on CBC’s ''Choral
148 Consensus
I
Concert" and it was a musical experience unlike anything I had
jhad for quite some time. 1
The oratorio is based on the creation story in the Book of
Genesis. A good part of the impact of the work is no doubt to
be credited to the librettist Salmon who had found masterful
words of prose and poetry with which to draw attention to
the many-splendored variety and beauty of God’s creative act.
Salmon’s command of the German language enabled him to
create sounds and images which evoke feelings of tenderness r
and peace as well as exuberance and joy, fervor and devotion
j
in anyone who is familiar with that medium. I
The librettist had initially prepared the text for George
Frederick Handel, but Handel never got around to setting it to
music, and now Handel was getting old. So Salmon offered the
libretto to Joseph Haydn who approached the work with vigor
and gusto. The resulting oratorio is probably the best and most
mature work Haydn ever produced, and in the performance
which was broadcast by the CBC Helmut Rilling knew how to
bring out nuances and dimensions in the music and text in a
way of which only a master is capable. Listening to this music
was a spiritual experience. Haydn himself, after conducting the
premier performance of the work, wrote that the experience
had so overwhelmed him that he felt his whole body become
hot and cold simultaneously and that he felt sure he would at
any moment collapse of a stroke and die before the performance
was ended.
Haydn was able to create sound-pictures which help one ex-
perience the wonder of creation in a marvelous new dimension.
You can imagine that you yourself are right there in person
|
as the muddiness of the original ToJvu waBoJvu envelops the
universe.
You are right there when God says “Let there be light!” The
instrumental sounds Haydn creates to portray the light stream-
ing into the darkness defy description. It is not a thunder-and-
lightning kind of light, not an explosive kind of light, but a
light which floods in and bathes the world in brilliance. Rilling
made the instrumental and the human voices savor and rel-
ish the word (“gleams”) with a caressing crescendo .]
that went on until all thoughts of darkness were banished from f
^
memory. (Yes it does help to appreciate the oratorio if you I
If Only 149
are fluent in German and can pick up the many nuances and
connotations of the words and phrases.)
And then, one by one, God creates all the living beings
that populate the earth in splendid profusion. And at each
step of the way the words and the music linger to describe
with sensuous abandon each creature with its special features
and characteristics. The lion: strong and hrm. The tiger:
sleek and shiny, leaping into the air with graceful agility. The
birds: flitting to and fro, excitedly chirping their love songs to
one another. All the creatures are there in their bewildering
variety. They are all there, even the wiggly squiggly worms
that burrow their way in the garden soil.
What a wonderful world it is—especially at this time of
spring in our northern hemisphere! The sun warms the earth
and out of the soil, as though rising from their cold wintry
grave, grasses and trees are resurrected, covering the earth with
;
a canvas in various shades of green. The flowers break forth in
blossoms, dousing the world in a splash of color, filling the air
with delightful and intoxicating fragrance. What a wonderful
world this is!
Then God creates humankind—male and female—with all
their potential for love and devotion toward each other and
toward their God—with their capacit}^ to think and to plan,
to understand, to feel, and to create. In God’s image, and for
God’s own company, God created them.
In the Garden of Eden Adam and Eve, clinging to one an-
other, sing to each other a duet: “Mzt Dzr” Adam sings to Eve;
Eve responds to Adam: “With you”—“With you I
‘ want to enjoy all this marvellous splendor with which God has
so richly blessed us/ with you I want to watch the moon and
the stars/ with you I want to listen to the singing birds/ with
you I want to drink in the fragrance of the flowers.” (Rilling
has the soloists savor the word Blumenduff\) How good our
God is, to shower us with all these many delights!
But then, just before the hnal chorus in which all creation
joins to sing to the glory of God and to praise the handiwork
of the loving creator, the narrator sings a short but ominous
line. It is not a line from the creation story itself; it is a line
which the librettist inserted and in which he catches what is
surely there, hidden in the story somewhere, easily overlooked
or forgotten: “If only,” he sings, “If only you will not fall prey
150 Consensus
to some madness which causes you to be greedy for more than
you have, and to want to know more than you should.” “Me/ir .
zu wollen als ihr haht, und mehr' zu wissen als ihr
They can easil}^ ruin it all. Their very potential can be-
come a trap for them. Their ability to create and to enjoy, i
their potential for knowledge and understanding—this can be-
|
come their undoing. Those very things which endue them as
|
creatures made in the image of God can make them stumble
and fall. The inordinate hunger for power and the insatiable
thirst for knowledge can leave people forever chahng and dis-
satisfied, unfulfilled and ungrateful.
In this Seminary, this A^ery place, we dedicate ourselves
j
to the acquisition of knowledge and the pursuit of excellence;
things Avhich are surely pleasing to God. But when the pursuit
itself becomes the thing pursued, when the creation is valued
more highl}^ than the Creator, God’s rich gifts slip through
our hands and we are left holding—nothing. Some things are
not meant to be had, and some things are not meant to be
known. The promise “all these things will I gwe you, if you
boAv down and worship me,” that promise is not from God, '
and that promise is not a promise.
If only! If only you can find joy in each other and joy in the
things which God has given you! If only.... Yes!
Notes
1 Preached at Lutheran Theological Seminary, Saskatoon, on the occasion
of the dedication of a painting by Benedicte Gormly, 6 May 1993.


If Only You Will Not Fall Prey...

Wilfrid Laurier University

ConsensusVolume 20Issue 2 In Praise of Valiant Women Article 1211-1-1994If Only You Will Not Fall Prey...Erwin BuckFollow this and additional works at: http://scholars.wlu.ca/consensusThis Sermons is brought to you for free and open access by Scholars Commons @ Laurier. It has been accepted for inclusion in Consensus by anauthorized editor of Scholars Commons @ Laurier. For more information, please contact scholarscommons@wlu.ca.Recommended CitationBuck, Erwin (1994) "If Only You Will Not Fall Prey...," Consensus: Vol. 20 : Iss. 2 , Article 12.Available at: http://scholars.wlu.ca/consensus/vol20/iss2/1255“If Only You Will Not Fall PreyErwin BuckProfessor of Nevj Testament,Lutheran Theological Seminary, SaskatoonText: Genesis 1Artists are special people with special gifts.Later in our morning worship we will unveil and dedicate awork which one of our former students, an artist, has paintedduring a long period of painful convalescence and has given tous as a sign of gratitude and appreciation. ^Artists have ways of plumbing the depths of human expe-rience. They are often able to express insight and feeling thatcatches dimensions of our human existence which most of usare only dimly aware of. Artists know how to strike a respon-sive chord in us and to set in motion feelings whose existencewe may have sensed, but which have until now not been al-lowed to come to the surface and to find expression in tangibleways. An artist may employ colors, sounds, words and har-monies which are able to evoke in us imagery of persuasivepower. The artist, the poet, the musician, the composer canhelp us to see and to experience reality in new and differentways. Occasionally such a gifted person may even allow us toget a taste of things beyond human comprehension.No doubt you have experienced such things from time totime yourself.For me the most vivid recent encounter of this sort came afew days ago when I heard a masterful performance of JosephiHaydn’s oratorio “Creation”. The work was performed by thejMennonite Festival Choir at Winnipeg, accompanied by theWinnipeg Symphony Orchestra, all under the direction of theworld-famoTis choral conductor Helmut Rilling of Stuttgart,Germany. The performance was broadcast on CBC’s ''Choral148 ConsensusIConcert" and it was a musical experience unlike anything I hadjhad for quite some time. 1The oratorio is based on the creation story in the Book ofGenesis. A good part of the impact of the work is no doubt tobe credited to the librettist Salmon who had found masterfulwords of prose and poetry with which to draw attention tothe many-splendored variety and beauty of God’s creative act.Salmon’s command of the German language enabled him tocreate sounds and images which evoke feelings of tenderness rand peace as well as exuberance and joy, fervor and devotionjin anyone who is familiar with that medium. IThe librettist had initially prepared the text for GeorgeFrederick Handel, but Handel never got around to setting it tomusic, and now Handel was getting old. So Salmon offered thelibretto to Joseph Haydn who approached the work with vigorand gusto. The resulting oratorio is probably the best and mostmature work Haydn ever produced, and in the performancewhich was broadcast by the CBC Helmut Rilling knew how tobring out nuances and dimensions in the music and text in away of which only a master is capable. Listening to this musicwas a spiritual experience. Haydn himself, after conducting thepremier performance of the work, wrote that the experiencehad so overwhelmed him that he felt his whole body becomehot and cold simultaneously and that he felt sure he would atany moment collapse of a stroke and die before the performancewas ended.Haydn was able to create sound-pictures which help one ex-perience the wonder of creation in a marvelous new dimension.You can imagine that you yourself are right there in person|as the muddiness of the original ToJvu waBoJvu envelops theuniverse.You are right there when God says “Let there be light!” Theinstrumental sounds Haydn creates to portray the light stream-ing into the darkness defy description. It is not a thunder-and-lightning kind of light, not an explosive kind of light, but alight which floods in and bathes the world in brilliance. Rillingmade the instrumental and the human voices savor and rel-ish the word (“gleams”) with a caressing crescendo .]that went on until all thoughts of darkness were banished from f^memory. (Yes it does help to appreciate the oratorio if you IIf Only 149are fluent in German and can pick up the many nuances andconnotations of the words and phrases.)And then, one by one, God creates all the living beingsthat populate the earth in splendid profusion. And at eachstep of the way the words and the music linger to describewith sensuous abandon each creature with its special featuresand characteristics. The lion: strong and hrm. The tiger:sleek and shiny, leaping into the air with graceful agility. Thebirds: flitting to and fro, excitedly chirping their love songs toone another. All the creatures are there in their bewilderingvariety. They are all there, even the wiggly squiggly wormsthat burrow their way in the garden soil.What a wonderful world it is—especially at this time ofspring in our northern hemisphere! The sun warms the earthand out of the soil, as though rising from their cold wintrygrave, grasses and trees are resurrected, covering the earth with;a canvas in various shades of green. The flowers break forth inblossoms, dousing the world in a splash of color, filling the airwith delightful and intoxicating fragrance. What a wonderfulworld this is!Then God creates humankind—male and female—with alltheir potential for love and devotion toward each other andtoward their God—with their capacit}^ to think and to plan,to understand, to feel, and to create. In God’s image, and forGod’s own company, God created them.In the Garden of Eden Adam and Eve, clinging to one an-other, sing to each other a duet: “Mzt Dzr” Adam sings to Eve;Eve responds to Adam: “With you”—“With you I‘ want to enjoy all this marvellous splendor with which God hasso richly blessed us/ with you I want to watch the moon andthe stars/ with you I want to listen to the singing birds/ withyou I want to drink in the fragrance of the flowers.” (Rillinghas the soloists savor the word Blumenduff\) How good ourGod is, to shower us with all these many delights!But then, just before the hnal chorus in which all creationjoins to sing to the glory of God and to praise the handiworkof the loving creator, the narrator sings a short but ominousline. It is not a line from the creation story itself; it is a linewhich the librettist inserted and in which he catches what issurely there, hidden in the story somewhere, easily overlookedor forgotten: “If only,” he sings, “If only you will not fall prey150 Consensusto some madness which causes you to be greedy for more thanyou have, and to want to know more than you should.” “Me/ir .zu wollen als ihr haht, und mehr' zu wissen als ihrThey can easil}^ ruin it all. Their very potential can be-come a trap for them. Their ability to create and to enjoy, itheir potential for knowledge and understanding—this can be-|come their undoing. Those very things which endue them as|creatures made in the image of God can make them stumbleand fall. The inordinate hunger for power and the insatiablethirst for knowledge can leave people forever chahng and dis-satisfied, unfulfilled and ungrateful.In this Seminary, this A^ery place, we dedicate ourselvesjto the acquisition of knowledge and the pursuit of excellence;things Avhich are surely pleasing to God. But when the pursuititself becomes the thing pursued, when the creation is valuedmore highl}^ than the Creator, God’s rich gifts slip throughour hands and we are left holding—nothing. Some things arenot meant to be had, and some things are not meant to beknown. The promise “all these things will I gwe you, if youboAv down and worship me,” that promise is not from God, 'and that promise is not a promise.If only! If only you can find joy in each other and joy in thethings which God has given you! If only.... Yes!Notes1 Preached at Lutheran Theological Seminary, Saskatoon, on the occasionof the dedication of a painting by Benedicte Gormly, 6 May 1993.

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