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The Touch of the Master’s hand

2 Comments / Home Bulletin, Special Message / Christopher Peppler

The Bible is full of music from Exodus 15 right through to Revelation 15. Of course, the book of Psalms is the richest portfolio of songs in the scriptures, and Psalm 139 is among its greatest.

The problem for us when it comes to the music of the Bible is that we are given the lyrics but not the melody, key, or tempo; we have to decide these for ourselves. For example, Psalm 139 can be sung slowly in a minor key as a lament, or it can be sung brightly in a major key as a song of praise. I think that David intended his Psalm to be sung in a major key, but I suspect that many of us hear it in our heads as a lament.

We could interpret the first four verses as “O God, you know everything about me; all my weaknesses and faults, and I am not happy about this… sigh”. But, we could also read it as, “O Lord, nobody knows me like you do, and I am so glad of this.” Equally, verses 5 and 6 could be sung as, “God, you have trapped me and your hand is raised to punish me! I just don’t get it! Why me Lord?” But I am convinced that David intended us to sing, “You go before me to guide me and behind me to protect me. Your hand of blessing is upon me. I don’t understand why you should care for me like this but it’s just wonderful!”

I think that the key sentiment of the song is captured in the words, ‘you have laid your hand upon me’.

When I read this in the context of a song, and knowing that David was a musician, I see Jesus, the Master Craftsman and Maestro Musician taking me up in His hands to play the music of heaven in, through, and with me.

With this sort of understanding of God, it is hard to continue to sing Psalm 139 as a lament. How can we sing verses 7 to 12 as “I just can’t hide from you Lord” when it is so obvious that we should be singing, “Lord, there is nowhere I could go in life that you would not be with me, guiding me and holding me fast.”

David’s song presents a wonderful truth: God created us and cares for us, and nowhere is this clearer in the Psalm than in verses 13-18 I want to use a recent project of mine as an example of how this truth applies to our lives.

Beater to Better

A few months ago I bought the cheapest new Classical Guitar I could find on the internet ($50) and set myself the following challenge: make this poor guitar look better, play better, and sound better, without spending any more money on it.

Here is what it looked like when it arrived. At first glance, it looked OK but closer inspection revealed rusted strings, high and tarnished frets, an unplayably high action, and layers of plastic/varnish complete with blemishes and missed spots. I later discovered that it was made of three-ply Basswood, totally unsuitable for a classical guitar. I played a short classical piece on it and someone remarked that it sounded like rubber bands on a cigar box!

Most of us look a bit like this guitar. Some are born into this world with imperfections but many more are beaten up by life itself. Circumstances, other people, or our own poor attitudes and decisions leave us tarnished, pitted with blemishes, practically unplayable, and our life-song sounding weak and toneless. But all this changes when we are in the hands of The Master. When we come to Jesus to receive new spiritual life, He breathes eternity into us but then He does not set us down; He works on us constantly to transform us into His image – so that we will look, play and sound better.

As I worked on the flawed guitar, I realised I was, myself,demonstrating a small and imperfect example of this transformational process. I stripped and scraped all the gunky paint from its soundboard and sanded it down until the original wood was exposed. Surprisingly, the plywood that was exposed responded to the ever finer sanding and started to look quite pretty. I also knew that the thinner, cleaner soundboard would vibrate more freely and produce a much better tone. I took off the rusty strings, filed down the frets to a uniform height and smoothed the rough fretboard so that the notes could be fingered with accuracy and ease. Then I lowered the plastic saddle and shaped it so that the intonation and action would be improved. The old rosette (the design around the sound hole) had been a cheap transfer that had come off when I refinished the soundboard so my daughter and I fashioned a new one from a piece of Brazilian Rosewood veneer I had. I reconditioned an old set of strings and strung the guitar… then I played … and it sounded even better than I had expected. Here is a picture of the transformed guitar.

Now I am neither a Master Craftsman nor a Maestro Musician so just imagine what Jesus The Master can do when He lays His hands on us!

He creates a new spiritual life within us and then He works on and with us to transform us into His own image. He lays His hand upon us. He takes us up to make something wonderful out of our flawed and battered lives.

There is a well-known poem about an old violin called ‘The touch of the master’s hand’. I found a version set to music and I am sure it will bless you. CLICK HERE TO VIEW IT.

I also discovered a copyright free version sung by Walter Brennan and it is below for you to save and enjoy if you so desire.

If you have found yourself like a flawed instrument, battered by circumstances, and singing your life-song in a melancholy minor key, then turn to Jesus, the Master, and yield to His hand. He will give you new life. He will take you up and play the music of heaven in, through, and with you.

If you would like to hear the whole sermon I preached on this topic, listen to The Touch of the Masters Hand HERE, or click HERE for more images of the “Beater to Better” transformation in PowerPoint.

If you are reading this before June 2016, then have a look at my PREVIOUS POST to see how you can own “The Better” guitar for free!

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

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Learner Classical Guitar – FREE

21 Comments / Home Bulletin, Special Message / Christopher Peppler

I will be announcing the name of the recipient on the 14th June 2016, so there is still time for you to make a case for why the guitar should go to you 🙂

I am giving away this beautiful classical guitar to anyone who can make a convincing case that he/she will learn to play classical music on it, maintain it well, and practice regularly.

If you would like to know why I am giving away this guitar, I will be posting an audio with visuals next week … so watch this site.

If you are interested in owning this instrument, then COMMENT ON THIS POST and tell me why I should give it to you.

To comment, simply scroll down a little and you will find a handy box to type in. Please double check your email address so we know who you are! Thank you.

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The Musician

5 Comments / Blog, Home Bulletin, My Blog / Christopher Peppler

The fourth and final part of the Guitar Venture series

In the previous three posts I have written much about the guitar and almost nothing about the musician who plays it. A great looking, fine sounding, and wonderfully playable guitar will, despite its considerable attributes, still sound terrible in the hands of an untrained, clumsy and passionless player.

There is a well-known poem by Myra Brooks Welch about an instrument in the hands of a maestro, and I want to play a verbal variation on that theme, but first, here is the poem itself:

The Old Violin

Twas battered and scarred,
And the auctioneer thought it
hardly worth his while
To waste his time on the old violin,
but he held it up with a smile.

“What am I bid, good people”, he cried,
“Who starts the bidding for me?”
“One dollar, one dollar, Do I hear two?”
“Two dollars, who makes it three?”
“Three dollars once, three dollars twice, going for three,”

But, No,
From the room far back a gray bearded man
Came forward and picked up the bow,
Then wiping the dust from the old violin
And tightening up the strings,
He played a melody, pure and sweet
As sweet as the angel sings.

The music ceased and the auctioneer
With a voice that was quiet and low,
Said “What now am I bid for this old violin?”
As he held it aloft with its’ bow.

“One thousand, one thousand, Do I hear two?”
“Two thousand, Who makes it three?”
“Three thousand once, three thousand twice,
Going and gone”, said he.

The audience cheered,
But some of them cried,
“We just don’t understand.”
“What changed its’ worth?”
Swift came the reply.
“The Touch of the Masters Hand.”

“And many a man with life out of tune
All battered and bruised with hardship
Is auctioned cheap to a thoughtless crowd
Much like that old violin

A mess of pottage, a glass of wine,
A game and he travels on.
He is going once, he is going twice,
He is 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 is wrought
By the Touch of the Masters’ Hand.

I have likened the church to a guitar in the previous post and so now I want to extend the analogy to include us as individuals, and replace Myra’s violin with a guitar. My classical guitar is complete now yet I still attend to it almost every day. I tune it and retune it because nylon strings stretch a lot and are also susceptible in changes in humidity. I polish it and deal with any blemishes or scratches I spot. I have even lowered its action and adjusted its intonation twice since getting back from the Guitar Venture. But of course I do more than all this… I play it, and the more I play it the better it sounds and the more of a musician I become.

We are made in the image of God, His workmanship (Ephesians 2:10) to be His representatives and do His work in the world. Like a guitar in the hands of a master musician together we make music that has the potential of changing the tune of the whole world. The church, of which we are part, is like an orchestra of guitar players, and Jesus is the conductor. We collaborate with Him in writing variations on His master script and we strum and pluck the instruments of our talents, time, and resources. And all the while we keep an eye on the conductor and an ear open to the melodies of our fellow musicians.

A fine guitar without a fine guitarist is just an ornament or an exhibit. A fine guitar in the hands of a fine musician is a delight to both see and hear. An orchestra of fine musicians under the direction of a master conductor is a miracle of cooperation, interdependence, and glorious melody.

I suppose, given the theme of these posts, I had better end the series with a fine

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The conception and birth of a classical guitar

Leave a Comment / Blog, Home Bulletin, My Blog / Christopher Peppler

I have been playing the guitar since the age of thirteen and have dreamed of building my own instrument for as long as I can remember. On the 9th February 2015 I flew down to George to fulfil this dream under the expert instruction and guidance of luthier Luigi Marucchi. What an experience!

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In the next few posts I want to share some of the multi-levelled life lessons that immerged from the two week construction process. But first I need to describe the background and the actual Guitar Venture experience itself.

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My ‘relationship’ with the guitar began in my early teens and six years later a guitar played a leading role in winning over the woman who was soon to become my wife. For our first date I took her to a beach braai and towards the end of the evening I borrowed a guitar and played her ‘The house of the rising sun’… and the rest is history, as they say.

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At the age of thirty my best friend, and ex drummer in our amateur rock band, introduced me into a relationship with Jesus Christ, and my life changed in so many ways. One of these changes was that I developed a desire to learn to read music and to play classical music. So I selected a teacher and set about becoming as competent as I could on the classical guitar.

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I have told quite a bit of the story already in my post When the Music Died so I won’t repeat myself here. If you read that article you will know that after a painful layoff of many years the guitar is back in my life.

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Last year I gave serious and prayerful thought to what I should be doing in my retirement years and I have touched on this in a series of three posts culminating in Retirement – Insights from Scripture. What I haven’t yet divulged, however, are the outcomes of the process. I ended up with three areas in which I wanted to devote my time – teaching/writing/preaching; discipling younger leaders; and guitar music. The first two ticked all the boxes but the third troubled me a little – was this not just an indulgence or could I honestly say that it was something the Lord Jesus wanted for me?

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In January this year the dream of building my own guitar surfaced again, powerfully. I found myself watching youtube clips of various luthiers constructing classical guitars, but the more I watched the more I was convinced that I was foolish to even consider such an ambitious project. I have no woodworking skills, am not even a handyman, and my hands are still not strong. On Sunday 1st February I had lunch with my family and told them about the dream I had long cherished and how I now realised it was beyond my grasp. On Monday morning my son sent me a link to Luigis’ course down in George. Luigi responded to my emailed enquiry with a phone call and assured me that he could teach me to build a guitar, and that he had a vacancy on the course starting in a weeks’ time. Within 24 hours I was booked and had arranged the air ticket, car rental, and BnB accommodation. My wife was enthusiastically supportive, and my extended church family gave their wholehearted approval. So, the following Monday I was off for a once-in-a-lifetime experience.

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In my next post I will tell you all about the 14 day, 10 hours a day, every day, Guitar Venture. In subsequent posts I will describe some of the significant life-lessons that the Holy Spirit led me into. Please keep reading.

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When the music died

11 Comments / Blog, My Blog, What The Pastor Saw / Christopher Peppler

I started playing the guitar at the age of 13 when I saw an older boy playing and wanted to be able to make music myself. So I saved up my pocket money, went off to a music store, and bought the cheapest guitar there. It was a terrible instrument that sounded like strings stretched over a tin can, but I loved it. I figured out how to play three chords, but then a kindly adult explained that my guitar was totally out of tune and that I needed to learn to tune it. So I started again and quickly mastered most of the basic chords and strum techniques.

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In my late teens, I started a rock band with some school friends and played lead on a powder blue Hoffner solid-body guitar. At the age of thirty, the same year I became a follower of Jesus Christ, I decided to learn classical, bought a suitable instrument, and enrolled for lessons. Within a few years I was quite proficient and enjoyed playing – I even composed my own pieces and performed occasional recitals at church functions. However, the church’s need at that time was for a worship leader, not a classical musician, and so I bought an Ovation guitar and from then on focused on rhythm accompaniment.

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From the age of about 50 arthritis struck both hands and playing became increasingly difficult. But I still loved music and often listened to records (remember them) featuring great guitarists, classical and other types of music. Our local church now had the joyful service of some very competent musicians and worship leaders, and so my Ovation joined the YaIri classical guitar to collect dust in the cupboard.

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About four years ago one of our musicians set up a workshop for beginners. She offered drum, piano, and guitar lessons and asked me to run the guitar workshop. Half way through the first session my hands were so painful that I put the guitar down; “I am so sorry folks but I just can’t go on; I am in too much pain”. I drove home that evening in deep distress; I felt as though something precious had been taken from me or like I had lost a limb. Something very sad happened that night. Music died in my soul. It was probably a coping mechanism, but from that night on I blotted music from my life. I no longer played, or listed to music. I sang in church, but that was all.

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Christmas time a year ago all our worship leaders were away and most of the other musicians were also on holiday. There was nobody to lead the church services; what could we do? I prayed earnestly and felt the Holy Spirit urging me to rise to the challenge and lead the worship myself. So I prayed; “Lord, if this is what you want me to do then you will need to do something miraculous to my hands and musical memory.” I have to tell you that for a few years I had been taking vitamin and mineral supplements and, although still uncomfortable, my hands were no longer constantly painful. I took my Ovation out of the cupboard, cleaned it up, re-tuned it… and started to play. Of course, my left-hand fingertips were tender because I had not played for such a long time, but I could shape the chords and I could strum quite adequately. I was amazed and so very grateful!

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One of my retirement projects is to become skilled once again on the classical guitar and also the piano. I started practising a couple of months ago and am making good progress. In fact, I am so encouraged that I am in the process of acquiring a quality classical guitar so I can retire the old YaIri and move on to a new musical level. I have unearthed my old classical scores and the tunes I composed 35 years ago… and I am greatly enjoying playing! What was once dead has come alive again! Isn’t that just what God loves to do?

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