Well, he didn’t really do that, but he almost gets there as he’s trying to describe the mystery of being in such a musical zone that it boarders on the transcendent. He doesn’t exactly say that either, but what he describes is certainly akin to an other worldly experience. I yelled out loud as he struggled to explain this, “Pat, it’s God!” If you don’t know who Metheny is, he’s a guitarist and musical genius. I was exposed to his music in the early to mid-1980s, and he was a companion for decades. I don’t listen to much music anymore given my preference for learning, but when I saw this long interview of Pat by Rick Beato, it was something I couldn’t miss. It’s pretty technical stuff at times, as Beato has created quite a following exploring musical theory in popular music, but it’s an especially fascinating conversation for those of us who know that melody, harmony, and rhythm can only exist because God exists.

My favorite approach to apologetics, defending the veracity of the Christian faith, is explanatory power, or what best explains stuff, like music. One morning my son and I, 14 at the time, were going to church alone together, and I was listening to some apologetics on my trusty MP3 player in the car. As we headed into the sanctuary, he said to me, “Dad, I think I like music more than apologetics.” I replied, “Dude, music is apologetics!” Everything in life points to God because he created everything (duh!), but music is an especially powerful indicator of his existence. My son and I, a talented musician himself, had another related experience several years later when we went to a Strawberry Girls (yes, that is the name of a band, and a very good one) concert. As we were leaving the concert I said to him, “I really feel sorry for those people in there because most of them think it’s only about the music, when the music is ultimately about God.” And music is so much better when we know it isn’t just about the music!

Have you ever asked yourself where music comes from? We can be certain of one thing: it doesn’t come from chance, from atoms smashing together that by coincidence, some way, some how, just happened for no reason at all, just because, turned into melody, harmony, and rhythm and shazaam, there was music! And where did the math come from that informs everything about music? It didn’t come from nothing, we can be sure of that! What we see, and hear, in music, according to the Apostle Paul, and common sense, is God’s invisible qualities, his eternal power and divine nature. The awe we feel at musical greatness isn’t so much for the artist, as it is a window for our soul into the greatness of the being who made the artist and what he’s allowed the artist to create. When we see God in the music, we understand why it can be so powerful, and it should compel us to worship the creator who makes all music possible.