"Trumpeter's Lullaby"

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      There was music in my home long before I was born, so it's no surprise that it remains one of the most important elements of my life. Some of my earliest memories are of my family sitting around the record player listening to old, scratchy, 78 rpm vinyl records, whether of vocals like Perry Como or Frank Sinatra, or instrumental classical, jazz, or swing music. I was truly blessed that my parents, with their modest income, chose to spend any spare funds not on fancy clothes or jewelry; instead, they invested in musical instruments: first, a piano and later an organ, for my mother and father and eventually me to play, and then a shiny brass and copper trumpet for my brother. 

     One of my most treasured musical memories is of my brother playing "Trumpeter's Lullaby" on his graceful "Conn Coprion" trumpet to the sweet accompaniment of my mother on her small Baldwin organ. Somehow that particular music transported me to an out-of-this-world place where all was beauty and peace. Though the gleaming instrument now hangs on a wall at my brother's house above the antique pump organ passed down through generations of our family, I can still hear the sweet strains in my memory as if it were just yesterday I sat as a little girl and pleaded " Buddy, PLEASE play "Trumpeter's Lullaby."  And of course he always shyly gave in and picked up the beautiful instrument and made it sing to my waiting ears. 

      Perhaps it is the nearing holidays that are calling this precious memory to mind, but I began thinking this morning how frequently trumpets appear in the Bible. From my brief research, I believe the trumpet (including the shofar) is the most-mentioned instrument in God's Word, which makes me wonder if it just might be God's favorite! 

      In Jewish tradition, from Old Testament times up to the present, the shofar (ram's horn) was and is used as a ceremonial call to repentance, awakening, worship, as well as to celebrate the conclusion of a feast or special holy day or days. (Recall the battle of Jericho in Joshua 6.). In the New Testament, trumpets are most notably associated with Christ's return (1 Corinthians 15:52, 1 Thessalonians 4:16, Revelation 7). 

      As wonderful as my memory is of my brother's rendition of "Trumpeter's Lullaby," I can only imagine the thrill of that final trumpet call, when

"...the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the archangel's voice, and with the trumpet of God," and the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are still alive, who are left, will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we will always be with the Lord."

(1 Thessalonians 4:16-17 CSB) 

Will you be there with me? 

"Jesus told him, "I am the way, the truth, and the life. 

No one comes to the Father except through me.'"

John 14:6 [CSB]

✝️

He must increase, and I must decrease."  (John 3:30)

Here's a beautiful rendition of "Trumpeter's Lullaby" by Wynton Marsalis:

https://youtu.be/ORW7suyvPNk?si=IZTZP9cqJqPtNYd9