My family loves Sharon Gerber’s cello music.
Our girls listen to her Eine Kleine Kaffeemusik each night, and according to iTunes, we’ve played that album over 15,000 times! It’s beautifully soothing. (See also albums 2 and 3.)
In the first half of this 7.5-minute video for Sharon’s church, she explains why she experienced a tragic divorce, how that caused her to doubt everything she believed about God, and how God showed grace to Sharon through members in her new church. Then she introduces her latest cello album, Into the Night, and shares the background to the song “Jehova-Rohi,” which the second half of the video features.
Sharon kindly let me interview her earlier this month:
1. How did this video come about?
My church made the video a couple of weeks ago to use in a worship service where I shared some music from my new album before it released. I was really thankful for the chance to get to share honestly with them where the music came from and let them know about their special part in the process. What I wasn’t expecting was to see the video being shared online a few days later, picking up the interest that it did! At first I was a little uneasy about something so personal being so widely distributed, but almost immediately, people started reaching out to me who were connecting with the pain and brokenness in a deep way and finding comfort in the truths I shared. I realized right away that this is about something so much bigger than me or my circumstance or my music. I’m humbled to have a tiny part in God’s big work and amazed to see him using a mess like mine to remind people of his tender love and faithfulness.
2. What is the overarching theme your new album?
This album is all about clinging to hope and light through times of darkness. I wrote and arranged the music to minister to my own heart during some especially dark times over the past few years. There have been many times when I didn’t have words or my mind was just a jumbled mess. But music has given me a way to communicate with God on a deeper level while preaching truth to myself in a way that I can remember. Preaching truth to myself has been and continues to be key. God’s truth is our only hope and light when we get overwhelmed by the darkness of our circumstances or feelings. It is so important to cling to what we know rather than what we feel!
Each track on the album has a specific truth that I have prayed or meditated on as I’ve written and recorded the music. You can read the prayers in my liner notes on my website. It has taken me quite awhile to be able to share this music, but I’m praying that God would use it to remind people of the steady hope and light we have in him, no matter how dark the night may seem. That is cause to celebrate! And that’s what my first track, “Songs of Joy,” is all about!
3. Tell me about the word Celloasis.
Since I’ve been making music with the specific purpose of refreshing my spirit and because there’s no better instrument in the world for me to be able to do that with, I’ve decided to call this project Celloasis. I hope to be sharing a lot more under this project name in the future. The oasis of inspiration I’m drawing from in God’s word is never-ending, and as long as I’m able, I want to share it through my cello!
You can purchase Into the Night via Amazon or iTunes.
And you can stream other music by Sharon:
Thank you so much for this presentation. It is beautiful. God bless.