Much has been made about this Washington Post experiment. The blogoshpere certainly has had its say in the wake of Weingarten’s April 8th article, Pearls before breakfast: Can one of the nation’s great musicians cut through the fog of a D.C. rush hour? The Post has also published some responses to its own article here: Marching to a Different Tune.

Read below for a response by Susan Mohammed, Associate Professor of Psychology at Penn State University (posted here with her permission).

“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”* was disregarded by 1,070 people hurrying past on the morning of January 12, 2007, completely oblivious to the gift in their midst. As part of an experiment arranged by The Washington Post, internationally acclaimed violinist Joshua Bell played six classical selections on his Stradivarius in L’Enfant plaza during the DC rush hour. The virtuoso, accustomed to playing for heads of state, standing room only audiences, and patrons stifling coughs deemed irreverent in the presence of such brilliance, was received by a mere seven people who stopped to watch, if only for a minute. After 43 minutes of sharing his genius, Bell was rewarded with $32.17 from 27 people, most of who dropped in their money on the run.

As it turns out, the God of the universe stages a similar line of experimentation…daily. Who will stop to notice the sublimity of a sunset? The awe-inspiring colors of a rainbow? The symphonic quality of birds singing and crickets chirping? Who will appreciate the value of a single moment in time? A deep breath? A beating heart? Who will recognize the wonder of a child’s infectious laughter? A woman nursing a baby? An elderly couple holding hands? Indeed, life’s most prized gifts are not heralded by trumpet blasts communicating, “Stop now! Do not miss this! Pay attention! This is important!” Rather, they appear without fanfare, in the midst of the daily grind, at inconvenient times…challenging us to prioritize the significant over the tyranny of the urgent.

This experimentation is not only limited to how we treat creation, but how we respond to the Creator Himself. The magnificence of His work is but an enticement designed to woo us into communing with the author, the composer, the architect, the origin of all things. All 66 books of the Bible can be interpreted through an integrative, dominant theme: God seeking to expand His relational circle beyond the Trinity and the angelic hosts to mortal man. With a relentless determination that defies comprehension, invitation after invitation is extended to experience God…as Father, Shepherd, Savior, Friend, and Lover. However, rather than heavy-handed and overpowering, His communicative methods are mysterious and understated in their delivery. To illustrate, He presented Himself to Moses as a burning bush that was not consumed, to Balaam as a talking donkey, to Elijah as a still, small voice, and to the world as a baby in a manger. The disguised nature of His approach requires that distractions be tuned out and our attention tuned in to be able to recognize, acknowledge, and appropriately respond to His advances.

Wherever, whenever, in whatever form, and to whoever it appears, the glory of God dares us to drop everything, stop dead in our tracks, and take notice. Tragically, however, in a world of warped priorities and an incessant flurry of activities vying for consideration, the priceless is often trumped by the trivial. Far more astonishing than Joshua Bell being ignored by the Washington populace is the God of the Universe being rejected by His own handiwork through His gift of choice.

*Weingarten, G. (April 8, 2007). Pearls before breakfast: Can one of the nation’s great musicians cut through the fog of a D.C. rush hour? The Washington Post.

This entry was posted on Monday, April 30th, 2007 at 7:33 am and is filed under Beauty, Current Events. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.