Last night, Nicole and I went with some friends to hear Chick Corea and his Touchstone Quintet play at the Library of Congress. This was my first live jazz experience, and I spent the evening in wide-eyed, slack-jawed wonder. I didn’t know that you could do that with a piano, bass, or drums. I was genuinely amazed.

But I was also saddened: as I looked around the Coolidge Auditorium, I wondered, “How many of those in the audience recognize that these men can play like this because God has given them a gift?” The applause for the group was thunderous; it is all too easy to worship the one with the gift. But the gift points to a Giver:

“As each has received a gift (spiritual, musical, or otherwise), use it to serve one another, as good stewards of God’s varied grace…” 1 Peter 4:10

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