Joshua Bell

I recently read a blog post from Pastor Kirk Bowman at The ROCK in Asheville, NC about Context and Expectation. He referenced an article in the Washington Post about how people respond differently when greatness is taken out of the proper context.

What first came to my mind is WOW! It does not matter how powerful a message, illustration, sacrament or prophetic word is if it is not presented in the proper context…

Now that I have your attention, let me elaborate. In the Washington Post article, they asked world renowned classical violinist Joshua Bell to don street clothes and perform an incognito performance as a street musician in the L’Enfant metro station in Washington, DC. On the day of his performance, he brought along his $3.5 million dollar Gibson Stradivari violin and began by playing “Chaconne” from Johann Sebastian Bach’s Partita No. 2 in D Minor. This 14 minute piece is considered to be one of the most difficult violin pieces to master. What would happen as one of the world’s greatest masters of the violin performed? Would a crowd gather? Would his open violin case seeded with a few dollars garner more money?

Throughout his 45 minute performance only 7 of the 1070 people that passed by stopped for at least one minute to listen to this maestro. Only 27 people gave money for a total of $38 and change…

They were too busy to stop and witness greatness. This talent that easily commands over $1000 per hour made a measly $40 in the subway. His message was taken out of context and so the expectation was lowered. Dress him up in a tux, put him in a beautiful concert hall and people will gladly pay $100 or more for “cheap” seats.

Too often we take a “God thing” and lessen it’s impact by putting it in the wrong context. I believe this does a disservice to the message, the recipient and our God. If the message, prophetic word, drama, baptism, communion, baby dedication, small group lesson, children’s or youth service are important and possibly lifechanging, shouldn’t we put them in the proper context so people have an expectation of greatness?

Last year we held our first public water baptism at Wrightsville Beach where 27 people were baptised. We moved it outside the walls of our church and created an event that drew people with an expectancy. People invited their friends and family. My youngest son’s football coach brought his family to watch Adam and another teammate get baptized. We created an environment that raised people’s expectations.

Every week, we are raising the level of expectation for what God is doing at The ROCK. I am excited about it and I hope you are as well. Invite everyone you know to come and see what God is doing through His people in our church. Are you expecting something amazing to happen?