“For when I am weak,
2 Corinthians 12:10
then I am strong.”
syn•co•pa•tion
noun
1. the practice of displacing rhythmic accents so that strong beats become weak and weak become strong
2. a disturbance or interruption of the regular flow
The nature of syncopation is that of being “off-beat” or a “disruption,” much like followers of Christ who’ve been called out of the world into His marvelous light (1 Peter 2:9).
In humility and brokenness, a true follower’s life is a life of syncopation …
“… and God has chosen the weak things of the world to shame the things which are strong … so that no man may boast before God.”
-1 Cor 1:27-29
“He gives power to the weak and strength to the powerless.”
-Isaiah 40:29
… and disruption:
“These who have turned the world upside down have come here too”
-Acts 17:6
From an earthly perspective, believers are contrary and out of phase. We’re not keeping step to the world’s accents because we’re following a different Drummer whose pattern is strange and unknown to them (1 Cor 2:14). Yet, in weakness and difficulties, we press forward to the Spirit’s cadence (Gal 5:25), longing to share with others the miracle we have received, the Gospel, the Good News – the way of forgiveness and new life!
As creatives of faith, we long to infuse our newness of life and share the love, the beauty, the magnificence, and the truth of the Creator in everything we produce. And that is who this site has especially in mind – creatives.
This site echoes a journey of aspirations, dreams, goals, searches, trials, and the best intentions to find and live out my purpose, my design, and God’s plan as He promised. I don’t claim to have in any way “arrived,” but through His remarkable faithfulness and love, God has granted me wisdom to understand better that most of that searching those years was unnecessary – through it all, I was already living out the very things I was searching for. In other words, I was just being me all along, according to His purpose, His design, His plan, and His gracious providence.
Thus, this blog serves as a declaration – this is me. This is who I am and have always been: a sanctified, musical soul, by design.
By His grace, I’m blessed to live out that design professionally as an active composer, arranger, instructor, and performer in live venues and media projects. My background and vocation center primarily on Jazz, Gospel, and retro Soul/R&B genres. I don’t always fit into the mainstream’s groove as others in this work might, and I’m hopelessly uninterested in notoriety or profit. While there is earthly work to be done, my true motivation is for the things that aren’t found here:
… while we do not look at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen. For the things which are seen are temporary, but the things which are not seen are eternal.
– 2 Cor 4:18
As confirmation, I’m happiest when doing things only my heavenly Father takes notice of, which the world might dismiss because it views them as weak and out of step.
Hence the title “Syncopated Soul.”
I hope readers might also relate to a sense of calling and purpose that is “off-beat” and does not fit the world’s mold, whether a creative type or not. I pray what’s read inspires them to boldly live out their design to His glory, too. Mine is expressed in a musical vocation that brings great joy because it serves my Savior, not myself. C. S. Lewis epitomizes this best, stating, “If I find in myself a desire which no experience in this world can satisfy, the most probable explanation is that I was made for another world.”
Perhaps you, too, feel syncopated to another world.
Yet through it all, let’s not forget we’re just dust (Psa 103:14), created in Christ Jesus according to His design for good works (Eph 2:10). To paraphrase missionary Eric Liddell, “God made me play and compose and create well …, and when I do those things, I feel His pleasure.”
Therefore we have no boast,
… He said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me.
For when I am weak, then I am strong.
– 2 Cor 12:9-10
–Marc Joseph
Last modified: September 23, 2024
