Actually, her name isn’t Martha- but because she guards her privacy, I will call her Martha.  She is a member of Holy Communion, and I don’t know her very well at all- but I do know that life has not been easy for her at all,  money is very scarce for her, and she is trying very hard to put some dark sadness behind her.  She attends our church very faithfully, and she seems to love music even though she  seems to be fairly tone deaf.

A couple of years ago, Martha came up to me after church and asked me if I knew anything about the harp – where she might buy one – and who might be able to teach her the harp.  I know very little about the harp, but I know that it’s a tremendously expensive instrument and very tricky to play- and the thought of Martha of all people somehow purchasing a harp and learning how to play it was beyond my imagination.  I sputtered out a few words in response and hoped that she would forget about the idea rather than have her dream stomped to smithereens by the cold boot of reality.

Imagine my shock when about a year later Martha called me up to say that her mom and dad had bought her a harp and that she hoped I might be able to help her figure it out.  I knew it was absolutely impossible that her folks had shelled out $25,000 for a standard concert harp – and figured that even something smaller and simpler would have been way out of their reach.  Had they found some sort of small folk zither?  Pastor Jeff suggested it maybe was an autoharp like some of you might remember from school.

Well, I finally saw this thing this past February- and it turned out to be a small lap harp which her folks bought for her at Wal-Mart – I think for maybe $25, which I’m sure for them was a fairly major expenditure.   And I will never forget the look on Martha’s face when she took it out to give me a demonstration.  Here’s how it works-  There is a hexagon wooden frame (at least I think it’s a hexagon) with strings attached- and you slide under the strings a card which  guides the player in what strings to pluck.  And it’s all by number. . .  You play the first note of the song by plucking the string that lines up with the numeral “one” – and then you pluck the string that lines up with numeral “two” – and so on through the course of the whole song.  Long notes are a number in a white circle while shorter notes are in a black circle.  And you just keep following the numbers and plucking whichever string lines up with each number. The harp came with ten songs in all – but only two of them were songs that were appropriate for church.  (One was Amazing Grace – and I don’t remember the other one.)   Otherwise, they were pieces like Turkey in the Straw and Let Me Call You Sweetheart.

Anyway, Martha dutifully practiced all ten pieces but the two church pieces especially well- and when she played those for me, she had this look of sheer delight on her face which warmed me right down to my toes.  I am quite sure that Martha has tasted success very seldom in her life; I think most of her existence, at least in the last few years, has been full of pain and disappointment.  So to see her actually making music- and feeling justifiably proud of herself- was absolutely amazing.   (It was something like when my dad actually learned a few pieces on his beautiful bowed psaltery-  but while that was a musical first for him, he was someone who had already has plenty of success in his life in other arenas.   But for Martha, it was a sweet taste of success like she had never had before, I am guessing.)

So Martha played both of these pieces for church – but then was at a standstill because none of the other songs on her cards were appropriate.  So I volunteered to make her a couple of new song cards, and today was the day I dropped them off.  I did Jesus Loves Me, the Doxology, and Holy Holy Holy- – – and I hope they worked.  (I made xerox copies of one of the song cards, and wrote my own numbers on it in bright pink ink.  It was not the prettiest music manuscript of all time.)  As planned, Martha had the harp with her – and we went out to her car (her parents’ car, actually) so she could get the harp out of the trunk.   She and her folks found an old suitcase and a small foam rubber cushion and that’s where she keeps it. . . and she takes it out of that case like Itzhak Perlman taking his Stradivarius out of its case.  I don’t say that to make fun – not at all.  I was truly moved and humbled by the reverence with which she took that harp out of its tattered case.  For her this simple little instrument has brought a fresh, new joy into her life and I for one am really glad that she didn’t allow this crazy dream of hers to fade away.  What a loss that would have been for her and for all of us who have watched her play.

pictured above:  Martha and her harp