Bluegrass, Orchestras, and the Body of Christ

For the past two years, I have been on a bit of a bluegrass kick in my music-listening tastes. What I think makes this genre well worth listening to is the blending of instruments. In bluegrass music, there is typically a guitar, fiddle, mandolin, and banjo (or additional instruments, such as an upright bass) all playing at the same time. Each instrument plays a different melody, harmony, or strumming pattern, yet they all combine to produce a truly incredible sound. Bluegrass songs can be upbeat or somber, joyful songs for dancing or melancholy songs intended for solitary reflection, and each instrument works together to produce the desired sound and effect on the listener. 

The same applies to a band or an orchestra. These are made up of a wide variety of instruments, from woodwinds and brass to percussion and strings, or perhaps even a vocalist accompanist. Each instrument plays a different part, or perhaps within each section of instruments, there are multiple different parts being played! But when the entire group of musicians comes together, every note played or plucked melds together to produce something wondrous. 

I believe the arrangement of a bluegrass group or an orchestra illustrates how the body of Christ operates. God’s Word teaches us in 1 Corinthians 12 that Christians are different members of the body of Christ led by the same Spirit. He made us different parts, but we work together to love Christ and serve His church. Some are teachers, some have the gift of wisdom, some have knowledge, and others have faith. Not everyone should be a pastor, not everyone should lead worship, not everyone should help in the nursery, and not everyone should run a sound board. 

We all have different jobs as part of the body of Christ, just like each instrument in a bluegrass group or an orchestra plays a different part. And, as in music, each part of Christ’s body comes together to form something beautiful that can only be knitted together by the rich diversity of people’s unique giftings. 

It is good to reflect on and recognize how God has gifted and equipped you to serve and share. There may be a temptation to try to be someone or something you are not, but we should consider how the interests and abilities God has given us coincide with our calling. Do you enjoy fellowship or showing hospitality to others? Then spend time with them, welcoming them into your home and sharing your time with them. Are you a talented writer, musician, or speaker? Then take the opportunities you have to write, play, or proclaim God’s truths to the world. Are you an introvert who feels more comfortable keeping to yourself? Then seek out ways to serve in your local church behind the scenes, performing the tasks that don’t receive recognition but are no less important.

Those who are in Christ are the family of God, the church of Christ, and the people led and filled by His Spirit. If we were a bluegrass group, some of us would be fiddles, some mandolins, some banjos, and others guitars. If we were an orchestra, some of us would be clarinets, some trumpets, some drums, and others violins. In the Church, some of us are preachers and teachers, others possess a welcoming spirit, and others support ministry in ways that go unseen. Regardless of our role or calling, we are all called to serve. However God has equipped you, and whoever He made you to be, look for how you can glorify God and make Him known to a world desperate for the truth. 

“For just as the body is one and has many members, and all the members of the body, though many, are one body, so it is with Christ. For in one Spirit we were all baptized into one body—Jews or Greeks, slaves or free​​—and all were made to drink of one Spirit.” 1 Corinthians 12:12-13