A Cantata Every Sunday

In 1723, Johann Sebastian Bach accepted the position of cantor at St. Thomas Church in Leipzig. The job came with a staggering requirement: compose a new cantata for worship every single week. Not when inspiration struck. Not when he felt spiritually moved. Every Sunday, without exception.

Bach sat down at his desk week after week, often on tight deadlines, while managing a large household and a full teaching load. He composed over two hundred cantatas under this obligation. At the bottom of nearly every manuscript, he inscribed three letters: Soli Deo Gloria. To God alone be the glory.

Here is what strikes me about Bach's example. He did not wait for a burning bush. He did not demand a sign from the Almighty. He simply obeyed the calling placed before him, one Monday morning at a time.

We often imagine that obedience to God should feel dramatic — a parting sea, a voice from heaven. But most of what the Lord asks looks remarkably ordinary. Show up. Do the faithful thing. Then do it again tomorrow.

Bach's cantatas are now considered among the most sublime sacred music ever composed. They were not born from sudden bursts of genius but from steady, quiet obedience to duty. The masterpieces came not despite the discipline but through it.

God rarely asks for the grand gesture. He asks for the next faithful step — and then He makes something beautiful out of our obedience.