A small town in the countryside of Bosnia had avoided being involved in any direct fighting throughout most of the Bosnian war, but all that was about to change.

One evening, the night sky overhead lit up as shelling between the distant warring sides went back and forth, rattling the townspeople’s homes until about 3 a.m., when a bomb landed right on the outskirts of their village, violently quaking the ground and scaring everybody half to death.

The next morning, all the villagers rose with the dawn and walked out toward the blast. They gathered at the edge of the giant crater as everyone from the town came to see the devastation and imagine what would have happened were it to have landed 200 yards in the opposite direction.

As everyone looked, one senior man turned and walked back toward town by himself. He went inside his home and began to get undressed. From his closet, he pulled his finest suit and laid it out on his bed. He shaved and combed his hair. Then, after putting on his suit, tie, his best shoes, and hat, he went to the corner of his room where he kept his cello in a case.

With cello and stool in hand, the man walked back out to the bomb blast. Arriving at the crater, he made his way down to the very bottom of it where he sat on his stool and took his cello from its case. And then, he began to play.

Long, beautiful notes filled the air above the crater and into the town. The people wondered what he was doing.

He was protesting the hate with beauty.

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Rock Church is making a statement against the enemy’s efforts, to oppose hate and destruction with beauty and love, when its members gather to perform community service projects. Learn more about how to get involved with community beautification projects at the Do Something Church Conference in May. Click here to learn more.