Guy's Got Chops

Perhaps you’ve seen this video of Vanderbilt University student Michael Pollack accompanying singer Billy Joel. In a Q & A session with the singer, Pollack asked if he could accompany him on the piano as Joel sang his song “New York State of Mind.” Joel thought for a second and then said: “Ok.” What follows is something really cool.

In an interview with his school newspaper, Pollack described the experience and said: "I kind of lost myself playing.” That makes sense. Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi is a noted psychologist who has devoted his career to examining the connection between satisfaction and daily activity that results in optimal experience or what he calls flow. His Flow Theory describes the state of optimal experience that is created when there is a balance between the talents, skills, and gifts a person brings to a situation and the challenges that are presented by the situation. This is something athletes refer to as being "in the zone." In flow, time seems to be suspended and performance is pushed to higher levels. For Michael Pollack, that seems to have been the case.

When the duet finished the song, Billy Joel exclaimed: “Guy’s got chops!” This got me to thinking about the mission of my denominational tribe, the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, as expressed in the tagline: “God’s Work. Our Hands.” In baptism, God calls us to participate in God’s big mission to heal the world (missio Dei). It is in and through us that God seeks to bless and reconcile the world to Godself.  Our baptismal theology also informs us that God’s call comes with spiritual gifts for mission and ministry. God endows each of the baptized with unique spiritual gifts for mission (1 Pet 4:10, Rom 12:4-8, 1 Cor 12:1-7). It's God's song and it's our chops. As we join God’s mission by utilizing our gifts, we just may lose ourselves in the process as well.

 For those who want to save their life will lose it, and those who lose their life for my sake, and for the sake of the gospel, will save it. (Mark 8:35)