Tag: music
-
“When Stephen, Full of Power and Grace, …”
The story of Stephen (lectionary version) is coming up this year for the 5th Sunday of Easter. I have an indelible memory of the late great Bill Hennessy singing this hauntingly beautiful hymn as a solo in church – guessing, also on a 5th Sunday of Easter (A). Maybe a solo because this particular hymn…
-
“Christ is Risen”
Two chants from Orthodox Easter liturgy: Christ is risen from the dead, trampling down death by death, and upon those in the tombs bestowing life. Thy resurrection, O Christ our Savior The angels in heaven sing Enable us on earth to glorify thee in purity of heart about the image (first posted April 11, 2018)
-
Bread and Roses!
It’s International Women’s Day. International Women’s Day has taken on the character of a “women’s rights” holiday, but the history of the day is deeply embedded in the international labor movement. In that spirit, today is a good day to remember that The Catholic Worker is a contemporary as well as historic organization. And here’s…
-
The Great Divide
“The owl of Minerva flies at dusk.” As a child, for some obscure reason, I latched on to the idea of the Continental Divide. The mere mention of it has made my heart leap as if spotting an old friend ever since. Once, when we were doing focus groups out in Denver, a couple of…
-
Studying Isaiah 9 2-7
We are studying Isaiah 9:2-7 for Sunday, December 19 – a beautiful expression of the anticipation of future redemption, and the text for one of the more famous choruses from Handel’s Messiah. [Some questions on the text are here.] Here are my notes on this text: BACKGROUND AND CONTEXT: The book of Isaiah is a…
-
Rhythms
The first Sunday in Advent almost always falls on the Sunday after Thanksgiving. We observed the day by driving home from Ohio. Thinking about how things change. Or, don’t. I was waiting for this advent song to come on the radio, but it never did: It’s not that long a drive. Keep awake. Image: “Winter…
-
Studying Psalm 84
How would we express our desire to be in the presence of God? We can meditate on the psalmist’s articulation of that desire this week, as we are studying Psalm 84 for Sunday, October 24. The psalm gives voice to an intense longing to be in the presence of the HOLY ONE. Here are a…
-
Utopianism
Some people treat “utopian” as a term of abuse. Not me. I don’t go along with the foes of art who act like totalitarianism is just around the corner whenever someone starts pointing out that since we ourselves have made our worlds into hells then we could unmake them and remake them, kinder and better.…
-
Feeling the Music
“Words make you think thoughts, music makes you feel a feeling, but a song makes you feel a thought.” Yip Harburg I didn’t learn that quotation at church. But I learned the truth of it at church. A hymn is a song. And it is probably fair to say that most of us churchgoers learn…
Matters of Interpretation 