Immune and In-Tune
“That you may become
blameless and pure, ‘children of God without fault in a warped and crooked
generation.’ Then you will shine among them like stars in the sky as
you hold firmly to the word of life.” Philippians 2:14-15
Charles Hummel, in
his book Tyranny of the Urgent,
speaks about our driving tendency to make important things unimportant and the
unimportant conversely important. It happens to the
best of us at times and most much of the time. However, on those occasions
where people reveal a priority toward Christ in a constant shifting society,
their lives will shine like stars in a black night. Maria Yudina was one of those stars in the
20th century in a very dark time of history. One of the greatest pianists of the 20th
century, although she remains largely unknown outside of Russia, her story is
testimony to all of us when tempted to slide down the slippery slope of
compromise.
The Voice of Russia recounts her story. Maria Yudina was born in 1899, died in 1970, and graduated with honors from the St. Petersburg Conservatory of Music. When Germany invaded Russia in 1941, Maria was in Leningrad where she stayed during the siege of that city. Freezing, hungry, and not far from death herself, she kept playing concerts and recording for the people of her city who needed some reasons to continue to struggle on.
In 1944, with the end of the war still a year away, a new music institute was opened in Moscow and Maria was brought in to be a teacher. Through all of these duties she kept up her schedule of concerts filled with Bach and Beethoven, Schubert, and Schumann. What makes her even more special and more fascinating is that she was a Christian who defied Stalin and lived to tell about it. He, of course, murdered multiple millions of his own people throughout his reign. In the midst all the crackdowns on religion, she kept going to church, corresponding with theologians, and refusing to cower before the threat of the Gulag.
The Voice of Russia recounts her story. Maria Yudina was born in 1899, died in 1970, and graduated with honors from the St. Petersburg Conservatory of Music. When Germany invaded Russia in 1941, Maria was in Leningrad where she stayed during the siege of that city. Freezing, hungry, and not far from death herself, she kept playing concerts and recording for the people of her city who needed some reasons to continue to struggle on.
In 1944, with the end of the war still a year away, a new music institute was opened in Moscow and Maria was brought in to be a teacher. Through all of these duties she kept up her schedule of concerts filled with Bach and Beethoven, Schubert, and Schumann. What makes her even more special and more fascinating is that she was a Christian who defied Stalin and lived to tell about it. He, of course, murdered multiple millions of his own people throughout his reign. In the midst all the crackdowns on religion, she kept going to church, corresponding with theologians, and refusing to cower before the threat of the Gulag.
The great Russian composer Dimitri Shostakovich told a remarkable story about her. During the latter days of his life, as Stalin began to get more and more bizarre in mood and behavior, he sat one night listening to the radio on which played Mozart’s Piano Concerto No. 23, performed by Yudina. He called the radio station and told them to send him the record of the music.
Actually there was no record because the radio broadcast had been live, but everyone was afraid to tell Stalin the truth. So they immediately called in Yudina and an orchestra to record the piece, so that it could be sent to the dictator. It took a whole night’s work, but the recording was finished in the morning. Not long after that, she received an envelope with 20,000 rubles in it, sent directly from Stalin himself. She wrote him a letter. In that letter, she said, “I thank you Mr. Stalin, for your aid. I will pray for you day and night and ask the Lord to forgive your great sins before the people and the country. The Lord is merciful and He’ll forgive you. I gave the money to the church that I attend.”
That letter was an act of suicide. An order to arrest her was drawn up by Stalin, but nothing happened. He never signed it. It was this recording of Mozart that was found on his record player when he was discovered dead in his home. It was the last thing to which he had listened.
Maria Yudina
understood how to separate eternal values from the vanity of everyday life even
at the cost of her life. While we can easily cower regarding issues of truth,
tests, and temptations, God is able to help us not only see what is important,
but to hold the internal fortitude that keeps us strong.
Whether facing the
pressure of peers or the diabolical mandates of one of history’s most evil
dictators, we can shine. Paul, like Maria Yudina,
knew what it meant to stand before world leaders including emperors to heads of
state, all without blinking. He wrote, “That you may become
blameless and pure, ‘children of God without fault in a warped and crooked
generation.’ Then you will shine among them like stars in the sky as
you hold firmly to the word of life.” (Philippians 2:14-15)
Our
roots can grow so deep that the world’s toll cannot touch your soul. We become more immune to the world’s demands
and more in tune to the still small voice of the Savior. He is always ready to speak if you are ready
to listen.
Terry
Risser
Reflections:
1) When are most
tempted to shutter in your faith?
2) Ask God to
deepen your roots so deep that the strongest winds today cannot
cause you to
sway, bend or break.
Consider reading the Word today:
Copyright 2014- Terry Risser
No comments:
Post a Comment