Singing Along the Journey

creativity

Park benches and the water of life…

Lately I am noticing the subtleties of a summer sunrise. I mean not even I can rise early enough in June and July to walk before the sun is fully risen, no matter what advantage that would give me in terms of temperature and crowded sidewalks.  In the heat of the past month here in DC, the word subtleties would not have seemed to apply to the way I experienced the sun on my morning race to get my exercise in while being outside was still mildly possible. But as August moves into September, more and more days, my feet step out onto the pavement with light, yes, but with…
Read More

Contemplating the unexpected…

I owe the phrase of this title to my friend the Rev. Kathy Guin. Sometimes, others can see so much better than I can, even when I know that I see something. Sometimes it is through the eyes of others that we actually can see what we are doing, and a little bit about why we do it. I was just surprised by the presence of a light, dainty, pink rose after weeks of a Washington-style heat wave. I mean, I was only able to write, "As the hottest stretch of summer continues, all over the neighborhood, the roses have decided to bloom again...this little one is mine, on a…
Read More

Were you there?

I've had the computer screen open for 30 minutes now.  Nothing.  And yet my head and heart are so full of the things...all the things, in modern phraseology.  Finally, I decided to take my own advice, the advice that I give to my writing students -- just write.  You can always change it later; after all, this is a digital world. I want to tell you all about something and I am struggling.  I suppose that is the nature of the topic.  No, it is not some earth-shattering, life-altering personal news...or is it?  Hmm...but my topic for today, the one that I cannot put down, is this: witness.  Being a…
Read More

Grief and joy too personal for words…

If you have a minute, I would like to tell you a story.  It is my story to tell, and, I thought that I had told it.  But we cannot tell what we ourselves do not understand, even though we are in the midst of living it, no matter how many words we use. Let me begin with the punchline.  Healing, my friends, is not over when our bodies have knit themselves together after an accident or a treatment of some kind.  Healing may be the most powerful word-metaphor for the whole human condition, because, after all, isn't that really what most of us seek with each and every breath?…
Read More

The most priestly work of all…

I would like to say that my current state of mind is a result of the season, but that would be an excuse. The first hint of fall has just arrived in the Mid-Atlantic region -- summer held tight until just yesterday, the grass continued to grow, only the maple leaves show that hint of orange, and some of the flowers began to bloom again after the desperate heat of August.  Meteorological fall may have been here, but the weather had not caught up -- no leaves falling, no crisp, cool air, until today, that is. And yet, despite the lack of atmospheric cues, the wistfulness that many associate with…
Read More

Lux aeterna luceat eis…

One of my favorite parts of Giuseppe Verdi's Requiem is the Lux Aeterna, Movement 6. I've only sung it a few times, but I suppose that I like it so much because the voicing is unexpected.  These beautiful words of peace and comfort are usually given to the soprano to sing, giving them an ethereal presence instead of the more grounded one that comes from a trio made up of the three lower voices: the mezzo, the tenor, and the bass/baritone.  In Verdi's work, It is as if these words are less remote, that they come from our humanity rather than as a blessing from above: Let perpetual light shine upon…
Read More

And yes, now it is time for a research paper…

Seven years ago (such a very long time ago, it seems now), I had the idea to produce a concert on Good Friday at my then very new place of employment, the Calvary Baptist Church.  I was not yet a member.  The truth was, very few people in the congregation knew anything about me except that I sang with great gusto in the choir and seemed to be pleasant enough to talk to at the coffee hour.  In the previous year, someone of great importance in my musical and spiritual life had died, and I wanted to do a concert in his honor for one of his favorite charities.  I…
Read More

What’s my style, anyway?

This week we read a variety of works on writing style.  It was interesting to go back and read Strunk and White's essay on style again, many years and many words after the first reading.  And it is an even more interesting task to answer the question of the week:  what's my style, anyway?  That wasn't specifically the question we are asked to answer, but it is my summary of the exercise. Actually, I realize after reading our assigned writings that the question of style almost never crosses my mind.  Because I have done so many different types of writing (almost everything except fiction and poetry), the primary concern for…
Read More

Park benches and the water of life…

Lately I am noticing the subtleties of a summer sunrise. I mean not even I can rise early enough in June and July to walk before the sun is fully risen, no matter what advantage that would give me in terms of temperature and crowded sidewalks.  In the heat of the past month here in DC, the word subtleties would not have seemed to apply to the way I experienced the sun on my morning race to get my exercise in while being outside was still mildly possible. But as August moves into September, more and more days, my feet step out onto the pavement with light, yes, but with…
Read More

Contemplating the unexpected…

I owe the phrase of this title to my friend the Rev. Kathy Guin. Sometimes, others can see so much better than I can, even when I know that I see something. Sometimes it is through the eyes of others that we actually can see what we are doing, and a little bit about why we do it. I was just surprised by the presence of a light, dainty, pink rose after weeks of a Washington-style heat wave. I mean, I was only able to write, "As the hottest stretch of summer continues, all over the neighborhood, the roses have decided to bloom again...this little one is mine, on a…
Read More

Were you there?

I've had the computer screen open for 30 minutes now.  Nothing.  And yet my head and heart are so full of the things...all the things, in modern phraseology.  Finally, I decided to take my own advice, the advice that I give to my writing students -- just write.  You can always change it later; after all, this is a digital world. I want to tell you all about something and I am struggling.  I suppose that is the nature of the topic.  No, it is not some earth-shattering, life-altering personal news...or is it?  Hmm...but my topic for today, the one that I cannot put down, is this: witness.  Being a…
Read More

Grief and joy too personal for words…

If you have a minute, I would like to tell you a story.  It is my story to tell, and, I thought that I had told it.  But we cannot tell what we ourselves do not understand, even though we are in the midst of living it, no matter how many words we use. Let me begin with the punchline.  Healing, my friends, is not over when our bodies have knit themselves together after an accident or a treatment of some kind.  Healing may be the most powerful word-metaphor for the whole human condition, because, after all, isn't that really what most of us seek with each and every breath?…
Read More

The most priestly work of all…

I would like to say that my current state of mind is a result of the season, but that would be an excuse. The first hint of fall has just arrived in the Mid-Atlantic region -- summer held tight until just yesterday, the grass continued to grow, only the maple leaves show that hint of orange, and some of the flowers began to bloom again after the desperate heat of August.  Meteorological fall may have been here, but the weather had not caught up -- no leaves falling, no crisp, cool air, until today, that is. And yet, despite the lack of atmospheric cues, the wistfulness that many associate with…
Read More

Lux aeterna luceat eis…

One of my favorite parts of Giuseppe Verdi's Requiem is the Lux Aeterna, Movement 6. I've only sung it a few times, but I suppose that I like it so much because the voicing is unexpected.  These beautiful words of peace and comfort are usually given to the soprano to sing, giving them an ethereal presence instead of the more grounded one that comes from a trio made up of the three lower voices: the mezzo, the tenor, and the bass/baritone.  In Verdi's work, It is as if these words are less remote, that they come from our humanity rather than as a blessing from above: Let perpetual light shine upon…
Read More

And yes, now it is time for a research paper…

Seven years ago (such a very long time ago, it seems now), I had the idea to produce a concert on Good Friday at my then very new place of employment, the Calvary Baptist Church.  I was not yet a member.  The truth was, very few people in the congregation knew anything about me except that I sang with great gusto in the choir and seemed to be pleasant enough to talk to at the coffee hour.  In the previous year, someone of great importance in my musical and spiritual life had died, and I wanted to do a concert in his honor for one of his favorite charities.  I…
Read More

What’s my style, anyway?

This week we read a variety of works on writing style.  It was interesting to go back and read Strunk and White's essay on style again, many years and many words after the first reading.  And it is an even more interesting task to answer the question of the week:  what's my style, anyway?  That wasn't specifically the question we are asked to answer, but it is my summary of the exercise. Actually, I realize after reading our assigned writings that the question of style almost never crosses my mind.  Because I have done so many different types of writing (almost everything except fiction and poetry), the primary concern for…
Read More

Park benches and the water of life…

Lately I am noticing the subtleties of a summer sunrise. I mean not even I can rise early enough in June and July to walk before the sun is fully risen, no matter what advantage that would give me in terms of temperature and crowded sidewalks.  In the heat of the past month here in DC, the word subtleties would not have seemed to apply to the way I experienced the sun on my morning race to get my exercise in while being outside was still mildly possible. But as August moves into September, more and more days, my feet step out onto the pavement with light, yes, but with…
Read More

Contemplating the unexpected…

I owe the phrase of this title to my friend the Rev. Kathy Guin. Sometimes, others can see so much better than I can, even when I know that I see something. Sometimes it is through the eyes of others that we actually can see what we are doing, and a little bit about why we do it. I was just surprised by the presence of a light, dainty, pink rose after weeks of a Washington-style heat wave. I mean, I was only able to write, "As the hottest stretch of summer continues, all over the neighborhood, the roses have decided to bloom again...this little one is mine, on a…
Read More

Were you there?

I've had the computer screen open for 30 minutes now.  Nothing.  And yet my head and heart are so full of the things...all the things, in modern phraseology.  Finally, I decided to take my own advice, the advice that I give to my writing students -- just write.  You can always change it later; after all, this is a digital world. I want to tell you all about something and I am struggling.  I suppose that is the nature of the topic.  No, it is not some earth-shattering, life-altering personal news...or is it?  Hmm...but my topic for today, the one that I cannot put down, is this: witness.  Being a…
Read More

Grief and joy too personal for words…

If you have a minute, I would like to tell you a story.  It is my story to tell, and, I thought that I had told it.  But we cannot tell what we ourselves do not understand, even though we are in the midst of living it, no matter how many words we use. Let me begin with the punchline.  Healing, my friends, is not over when our bodies have knit themselves together after an accident or a treatment of some kind.  Healing may be the most powerful word-metaphor for the whole human condition, because, after all, isn't that really what most of us seek with each and every breath?…
Read More

The most priestly work of all…

I would like to say that my current state of mind is a result of the season, but that would be an excuse. The first hint of fall has just arrived in the Mid-Atlantic region -- summer held tight until just yesterday, the grass continued to grow, only the maple leaves show that hint of orange, and some of the flowers began to bloom again after the desperate heat of August.  Meteorological fall may have been here, but the weather had not caught up -- no leaves falling, no crisp, cool air, until today, that is. And yet, despite the lack of atmospheric cues, the wistfulness that many associate with…
Read More

Lux aeterna luceat eis…

One of my favorite parts of Giuseppe Verdi's Requiem is the Lux Aeterna, Movement 6. I've only sung it a few times, but I suppose that I like it so much because the voicing is unexpected.  These beautiful words of peace and comfort are usually given to the soprano to sing, giving them an ethereal presence instead of the more grounded one that comes from a trio made up of the three lower voices: the mezzo, the tenor, and the bass/baritone.  In Verdi's work, It is as if these words are less remote, that they come from our humanity rather than as a blessing from above: Let perpetual light shine upon…
Read More

And yes, now it is time for a research paper…

Seven years ago (such a very long time ago, it seems now), I had the idea to produce a concert on Good Friday at my then very new place of employment, the Calvary Baptist Church.  I was not yet a member.  The truth was, very few people in the congregation knew anything about me except that I sang with great gusto in the choir and seemed to be pleasant enough to talk to at the coffee hour.  In the previous year, someone of great importance in my musical and spiritual life had died, and I wanted to do a concert in his honor for one of his favorite charities.  I…
Read More

What’s my style, anyway?

This week we read a variety of works on writing style.  It was interesting to go back and read Strunk and White's essay on style again, many years and many words after the first reading.  And it is an even more interesting task to answer the question of the week:  what's my style, anyway?  That wasn't specifically the question we are asked to answer, but it is my summary of the exercise. Actually, I realize after reading our assigned writings that the question of style almost never crosses my mind.  Because I have done so many different types of writing (almost everything except fiction and poetry), the primary concern for…
Read More

Park benches and the water of life…

Lately I am noticing the subtleties of a summer sunrise. I mean not even I can rise early enough in June and July to walk before the sun is fully risen, no matter what advantage that would give me in terms of temperature and crowded sidewalks.  In the heat of the past month here in DC, the word subtleties would not have seemed to apply to the way I experienced the sun on my morning race to get my exercise in while being outside was still mildly possible. But as August moves into September, more and more days, my feet step out onto the pavement with light, yes, but with…
Read More

Contemplating the unexpected…

I owe the phrase of this title to my friend the Rev. Kathy Guin. Sometimes, others can see so much better than I can, even when I know that I see something. Sometimes it is through the eyes of others that we actually can see what we are doing, and a little bit about why we do it. I was just surprised by the presence of a light, dainty, pink rose after weeks of a Washington-style heat wave. I mean, I was only able to write, "As the hottest stretch of summer continues, all over the neighborhood, the roses have decided to bloom again...this little one is mine, on a…
Read More

Were you there?

I've had the computer screen open for 30 minutes now.  Nothing.  And yet my head and heart are so full of the things...all the things, in modern phraseology.  Finally, I decided to take my own advice, the advice that I give to my writing students -- just write.  You can always change it later; after all, this is a digital world. I want to tell you all about something and I am struggling.  I suppose that is the nature of the topic.  No, it is not some earth-shattering, life-altering personal news...or is it?  Hmm...but my topic for today, the one that I cannot put down, is this: witness.  Being a…
Read More

Grief and joy too personal for words…

If you have a minute, I would like to tell you a story.  It is my story to tell, and, I thought that I had told it.  But we cannot tell what we ourselves do not understand, even though we are in the midst of living it, no matter how many words we use. Let me begin with the punchline.  Healing, my friends, is not over when our bodies have knit themselves together after an accident or a treatment of some kind.  Healing may be the most powerful word-metaphor for the whole human condition, because, after all, isn't that really what most of us seek with each and every breath?…
Read More

The most priestly work of all…

I would like to say that my current state of mind is a result of the season, but that would be an excuse. The first hint of fall has just arrived in the Mid-Atlantic region -- summer held tight until just yesterday, the grass continued to grow, only the maple leaves show that hint of orange, and some of the flowers began to bloom again after the desperate heat of August.  Meteorological fall may have been here, but the weather had not caught up -- no leaves falling, no crisp, cool air, until today, that is. And yet, despite the lack of atmospheric cues, the wistfulness that many associate with…
Read More

Lux aeterna luceat eis…

One of my favorite parts of Giuseppe Verdi's Requiem is the Lux Aeterna, Movement 6. I've only sung it a few times, but I suppose that I like it so much because the voicing is unexpected.  These beautiful words of peace and comfort are usually given to the soprano to sing, giving them an ethereal presence instead of the more grounded one that comes from a trio made up of the three lower voices: the mezzo, the tenor, and the bass/baritone.  In Verdi's work, It is as if these words are less remote, that they come from our humanity rather than as a blessing from above: Let perpetual light shine upon…
Read More

And yes, now it is time for a research paper…

Seven years ago (such a very long time ago, it seems now), I had the idea to produce a concert on Good Friday at my then very new place of employment, the Calvary Baptist Church.  I was not yet a member.  The truth was, very few people in the congregation knew anything about me except that I sang with great gusto in the choir and seemed to be pleasant enough to talk to at the coffee hour.  In the previous year, someone of great importance in my musical and spiritual life had died, and I wanted to do a concert in his honor for one of his favorite charities.  I…
Read More

What’s my style, anyway?

This week we read a variety of works on writing style.  It was interesting to go back and read Strunk and White's essay on style again, many years and many words after the first reading.  And it is an even more interesting task to answer the question of the week:  what's my style, anyway?  That wasn't specifically the question we are asked to answer, but it is my summary of the exercise. Actually, I realize after reading our assigned writings that the question of style almost never crosses my mind.  Because I have done so many different types of writing (almost everything except fiction and poetry), the primary concern for…
Read More

Park benches and the water of life…

Lately I am noticing the subtleties of a summer sunrise. I mean not even I can rise early enough in June and July to walk before the sun is fully risen, no matter what advantage that would give me in terms of temperature and crowded sidewalks.  In the heat of the past month here in DC, the word subtleties would not have seemed to apply to the way I experienced the sun on my morning race to get my exercise in while being outside was still mildly possible. But as August moves into September, more and more days, my feet step out onto the pavement with light, yes, but with…
Read More

Contemplating the unexpected…

I owe the phrase of this title to my friend the Rev. Kathy Guin. Sometimes, others can see so much better than I can, even when I know that I see something. Sometimes it is through the eyes of others that we actually can see what we are doing, and a little bit about why we do it. I was just surprised by the presence of a light, dainty, pink rose after weeks of a Washington-style heat wave. I mean, I was only able to write, "As the hottest stretch of summer continues, all over the neighborhood, the roses have decided to bloom again...this little one is mine, on a…
Read More

Were you there?

I've had the computer screen open for 30 minutes now.  Nothing.  And yet my head and heart are so full of the things...all the things, in modern phraseology.  Finally, I decided to take my own advice, the advice that I give to my writing students -- just write.  You can always change it later; after all, this is a digital world. I want to tell you all about something and I am struggling.  I suppose that is the nature of the topic.  No, it is not some earth-shattering, life-altering personal news...or is it?  Hmm...but my topic for today, the one that I cannot put down, is this: witness.  Being a…
Read More

Grief and joy too personal for words…

If you have a minute, I would like to tell you a story.  It is my story to tell, and, I thought that I had told it.  But we cannot tell what we ourselves do not understand, even though we are in the midst of living it, no matter how many words we use. Let me begin with the punchline.  Healing, my friends, is not over when our bodies have knit themselves together after an accident or a treatment of some kind.  Healing may be the most powerful word-metaphor for the whole human condition, because, after all, isn't that really what most of us seek with each and every breath?…
Read More

The most priestly work of all…

I would like to say that my current state of mind is a result of the season, but that would be an excuse. The first hint of fall has just arrived in the Mid-Atlantic region -- summer held tight until just yesterday, the grass continued to grow, only the maple leaves show that hint of orange, and some of the flowers began to bloom again after the desperate heat of August.  Meteorological fall may have been here, but the weather had not caught up -- no leaves falling, no crisp, cool air, until today, that is. And yet, despite the lack of atmospheric cues, the wistfulness that many associate with…
Read More

Lux aeterna luceat eis…

One of my favorite parts of Giuseppe Verdi's Requiem is the Lux Aeterna, Movement 6. I've only sung it a few times, but I suppose that I like it so much because the voicing is unexpected.  These beautiful words of peace and comfort are usually given to the soprano to sing, giving them an ethereal presence instead of the more grounded one that comes from a trio made up of the three lower voices: the mezzo, the tenor, and the bass/baritone.  In Verdi's work, It is as if these words are less remote, that they come from our humanity rather than as a blessing from above: Let perpetual light shine upon…
Read More

And yes, now it is time for a research paper…

Seven years ago (such a very long time ago, it seems now), I had the idea to produce a concert on Good Friday at my then very new place of employment, the Calvary Baptist Church.  I was not yet a member.  The truth was, very few people in the congregation knew anything about me except that I sang with great gusto in the choir and seemed to be pleasant enough to talk to at the coffee hour.  In the previous year, someone of great importance in my musical and spiritual life had died, and I wanted to do a concert in his honor for one of his favorite charities.  I…
Read More

What’s my style, anyway?

This week we read a variety of works on writing style.  It was interesting to go back and read Strunk and White's essay on style again, many years and many words after the first reading.  And it is an even more interesting task to answer the question of the week:  what's my style, anyway?  That wasn't specifically the question we are asked to answer, but it is my summary of the exercise. Actually, I realize after reading our assigned writings that the question of style almost never crosses my mind.  Because I have done so many different types of writing (almost everything except fiction and poetry), the primary concern for…
Read More

Park benches and the water of life…

Lately I am noticing the subtleties of a summer sunrise. I mean not even I can rise early enough in June and July to walk before the sun is fully risen, no matter what advantage that would give me in terms of temperature and crowded sidewalks.  In the heat of the past month here in DC, the word subtleties would not have seemed to apply to the way I experienced the sun on my morning race to get my exercise in while being outside was still mildly possible. But as August moves into September, more and more days, my feet step out onto the pavement with light, yes, but with…
Read More

Contemplating the unexpected…

I owe the phrase of this title to my friend the Rev. Kathy Guin. Sometimes, others can see so much better than I can, even when I know that I see something. Sometimes it is through the eyes of others that we actually can see what we are doing, and a little bit about why we do it. I was just surprised by the presence of a light, dainty, pink rose after weeks of a Washington-style heat wave. I mean, I was only able to write, "As the hottest stretch of summer continues, all over the neighborhood, the roses have decided to bloom again...this little one is mine, on a…
Read More

Were you there?

I've had the computer screen open for 30 minutes now.  Nothing.  And yet my head and heart are so full of the things...all the things, in modern phraseology.  Finally, I decided to take my own advice, the advice that I give to my writing students -- just write.  You can always change it later; after all, this is a digital world. I want to tell you all about something and I am struggling.  I suppose that is the nature of the topic.  No, it is not some earth-shattering, life-altering personal news...or is it?  Hmm...but my topic for today, the one that I cannot put down, is this: witness.  Being a…
Read More

Grief and joy too personal for words…

If you have a minute, I would like to tell you a story.  It is my story to tell, and, I thought that I had told it.  But we cannot tell what we ourselves do not understand, even though we are in the midst of living it, no matter how many words we use. Let me begin with the punchline.  Healing, my friends, is not over when our bodies have knit themselves together after an accident or a treatment of some kind.  Healing may be the most powerful word-metaphor for the whole human condition, because, after all, isn't that really what most of us seek with each and every breath?…
Read More

The most priestly work of all…

I would like to say that my current state of mind is a result of the season, but that would be an excuse. The first hint of fall has just arrived in the Mid-Atlantic region -- summer held tight until just yesterday, the grass continued to grow, only the maple leaves show that hint of orange, and some of the flowers began to bloom again after the desperate heat of August.  Meteorological fall may have been here, but the weather had not caught up -- no leaves falling, no crisp, cool air, until today, that is. And yet, despite the lack of atmospheric cues, the wistfulness that many associate with…
Read More

Lux aeterna luceat eis…

One of my favorite parts of Giuseppe Verdi's Requiem is the Lux Aeterna, Movement 6. I've only sung it a few times, but I suppose that I like it so much because the voicing is unexpected.  These beautiful words of peace and comfort are usually given to the soprano to sing, giving them an ethereal presence instead of the more grounded one that comes from a trio made up of the three lower voices: the mezzo, the tenor, and the bass/baritone.  In Verdi's work, It is as if these words are less remote, that they come from our humanity rather than as a blessing from above: Let perpetual light shine upon…
Read More

And yes, now it is time for a research paper…

Seven years ago (such a very long time ago, it seems now), I had the idea to produce a concert on Good Friday at my then very new place of employment, the Calvary Baptist Church.  I was not yet a member.  The truth was, very few people in the congregation knew anything about me except that I sang with great gusto in the choir and seemed to be pleasant enough to talk to at the coffee hour.  In the previous year, someone of great importance in my musical and spiritual life had died, and I wanted to do a concert in his honor for one of his favorite charities.  I…
Read More

What’s my style, anyway?

This week we read a variety of works on writing style.  It was interesting to go back and read Strunk and White's essay on style again, many years and many words after the first reading.  And it is an even more interesting task to answer the question of the week:  what's my style, anyway?  That wasn't specifically the question we are asked to answer, but it is my summary of the exercise. Actually, I realize after reading our assigned writings that the question of style almost never crosses my mind.  Because I have done so many different types of writing (almost everything except fiction and poetry), the primary concern for…
Read More

Park benches and the water of life…

Lately I am noticing the subtleties of a summer sunrise. I mean not even I can rise early enough in June and July to walk before the sun is fully risen, no matter what advantage that would give me in terms of temperature and crowded sidewalks.  In the heat of the past month here in DC, the word subtleties would not have seemed to apply to the way I experienced the sun on my morning race to get my exercise in while being outside was still mildly possible. But as August moves into September, more and more days, my feet step out onto the pavement with light, yes, but with…
Read More

Contemplating the unexpected…

I owe the phrase of this title to my friend the Rev. Kathy Guin. Sometimes, others can see so much better than I can, even when I know that I see something. Sometimes it is through the eyes of others that we actually can see what we are doing, and a little bit about why we do it. I was just surprised by the presence of a light, dainty, pink rose after weeks of a Washington-style heat wave. I mean, I was only able to write, "As the hottest stretch of summer continues, all over the neighborhood, the roses have decided to bloom again...this little one is mine, on a…
Read More

Were you there?

I've had the computer screen open for 30 minutes now.  Nothing.  And yet my head and heart are so full of the things...all the things, in modern phraseology.  Finally, I decided to take my own advice, the advice that I give to my writing students -- just write.  You can always change it later; after all, this is a digital world. I want to tell you all about something and I am struggling.  I suppose that is the nature of the topic.  No, it is not some earth-shattering, life-altering personal news...or is it?  Hmm...but my topic for today, the one that I cannot put down, is this: witness.  Being a…
Read More

Grief and joy too personal for words…

If you have a minute, I would like to tell you a story.  It is my story to tell, and, I thought that I had told it.  But we cannot tell what we ourselves do not understand, even though we are in the midst of living it, no matter how many words we use. Let me begin with the punchline.  Healing, my friends, is not over when our bodies have knit themselves together after an accident or a treatment of some kind.  Healing may be the most powerful word-metaphor for the whole human condition, because, after all, isn't that really what most of us seek with each and every breath?…
Read More

The most priestly work of all…

I would like to say that my current state of mind is a result of the season, but that would be an excuse. The first hint of fall has just arrived in the Mid-Atlantic region -- summer held tight until just yesterday, the grass continued to grow, only the maple leaves show that hint of orange, and some of the flowers began to bloom again after the desperate heat of August.  Meteorological fall may have been here, but the weather had not caught up -- no leaves falling, no crisp, cool air, until today, that is. And yet, despite the lack of atmospheric cues, the wistfulness that many associate with…
Read More

Lux aeterna luceat eis…

One of my favorite parts of Giuseppe Verdi's Requiem is the Lux Aeterna, Movement 6. I've only sung it a few times, but I suppose that I like it so much because the voicing is unexpected.  These beautiful words of peace and comfort are usually given to the soprano to sing, giving them an ethereal presence instead of the more grounded one that comes from a trio made up of the three lower voices: the mezzo, the tenor, and the bass/baritone.  In Verdi's work, It is as if these words are less remote, that they come from our humanity rather than as a blessing from above: Let perpetual light shine upon…
Read More

And yes, now it is time for a research paper…

Seven years ago (such a very long time ago, it seems now), I had the idea to produce a concert on Good Friday at my then very new place of employment, the Calvary Baptist Church.  I was not yet a member.  The truth was, very few people in the congregation knew anything about me except that I sang with great gusto in the choir and seemed to be pleasant enough to talk to at the coffee hour.  In the previous year, someone of great importance in my musical and spiritual life had died, and I wanted to do a concert in his honor for one of his favorite charities.  I…
Read More

What’s my style, anyway?

This week we read a variety of works on writing style.  It was interesting to go back and read Strunk and White's essay on style again, many years and many words after the first reading.  And it is an even more interesting task to answer the question of the week:  what's my style, anyway?  That wasn't specifically the question we are asked to answer, but it is my summary of the exercise. Actually, I realize after reading our assigned writings that the question of style almost never crosses my mind.  Because I have done so many different types of writing (almost everything except fiction and poetry), the primary concern for…
Read More

Park benches and the water of life…

Lately I am noticing the subtleties of a summer sunrise. I mean not even I can rise early enough in June and July to walk before the sun is fully risen, no matter what advantage that would give me in terms of temperature and crowded sidewalks.  In the heat of the past month here in DC, the word subtleties would not have seemed to apply to the way I experienced the sun on my morning race to get my exercise in while being outside was still mildly possible. But as August moves into September, more and more days, my feet step out onto the pavement with light, yes, but with…
Read More

Contemplating the unexpected…

I owe the phrase of this title to my friend the Rev. Kathy Guin. Sometimes, others can see so much better than I can, even when I know that I see something. Sometimes it is through the eyes of others that we actually can see what we are doing, and a little bit about why we do it. I was just surprised by the presence of a light, dainty, pink rose after weeks of a Washington-style heat wave. I mean, I was only able to write, "As the hottest stretch of summer continues, all over the neighborhood, the roses have decided to bloom again...this little one is mine, on a…
Read More

Were you there?

I've had the computer screen open for 30 minutes now.  Nothing.  And yet my head and heart are so full of the things...all the things, in modern phraseology.  Finally, I decided to take my own advice, the advice that I give to my writing students -- just write.  You can always change it later; after all, this is a digital world. I want to tell you all about something and I am struggling.  I suppose that is the nature of the topic.  No, it is not some earth-shattering, life-altering personal news...or is it?  Hmm...but my topic for today, the one that I cannot put down, is this: witness.  Being a…
Read More

Grief and joy too personal for words…

If you have a minute, I would like to tell you a story.  It is my story to tell, and, I thought that I had told it.  But we cannot tell what we ourselves do not understand, even though we are in the midst of living it, no matter how many words we use. Let me begin with the punchline.  Healing, my friends, is not over when our bodies have knit themselves together after an accident or a treatment of some kind.  Healing may be the most powerful word-metaphor for the whole human condition, because, after all, isn't that really what most of us seek with each and every breath?…
Read More

The most priestly work of all…

I would like to say that my current state of mind is a result of the season, but that would be an excuse. The first hint of fall has just arrived in the Mid-Atlantic region -- summer held tight until just yesterday, the grass continued to grow, only the maple leaves show that hint of orange, and some of the flowers began to bloom again after the desperate heat of August.  Meteorological fall may have been here, but the weather had not caught up -- no leaves falling, no crisp, cool air, until today, that is. And yet, despite the lack of atmospheric cues, the wistfulness that many associate with…
Read More

Lux aeterna luceat eis…

One of my favorite parts of Giuseppe Verdi's Requiem is the Lux Aeterna, Movement 6. I've only sung it a few times, but I suppose that I like it so much because the voicing is unexpected.  These beautiful words of peace and comfort are usually given to the soprano to sing, giving them an ethereal presence instead of the more grounded one that comes from a trio made up of the three lower voices: the mezzo, the tenor, and the bass/baritone.  In Verdi's work, It is as if these words are less remote, that they come from our humanity rather than as a blessing from above: Let perpetual light shine upon…
Read More

And yes, now it is time for a research paper…

Seven years ago (such a very long time ago, it seems now), I had the idea to produce a concert on Good Friday at my then very new place of employment, the Calvary Baptist Church.  I was not yet a member.  The truth was, very few people in the congregation knew anything about me except that I sang with great gusto in the choir and seemed to be pleasant enough to talk to at the coffee hour.  In the previous year, someone of great importance in my musical and spiritual life had died, and I wanted to do a concert in his honor for one of his favorite charities.  I…
Read More

What’s my style, anyway?

This week we read a variety of works on writing style.  It was interesting to go back and read Strunk and White's essay on style again, many years and many words after the first reading.  And it is an even more interesting task to answer the question of the week:  what's my style, anyway?  That wasn't specifically the question we are asked to answer, but it is my summary of the exercise. Actually, I realize after reading our assigned writings that the question of style almost never crosses my mind.  Because I have done so many different types of writing (almost everything except fiction and poetry), the primary concern for…
Read More