Singing Along the Journey

Music

Posts that relate to making or listening to or thinking about music

Sunrises and ear worms…

Some mornings have a soundtrack, whether or not you want it. Right now, my morning walk falls in what I call the sunrise sweet spot. I step off in the dark, but, with any luck, at sometime during the walk, I see the passage from dark to light in the skies. And years of music, both church music and the secular classical world, mean that stored somewhere in that grey matter between my ears are a whole lot of tunes to feed my personal soundtrack. Today was one of those We Shall Behold Him kind of moments. Those moments happen often as I live into the arrival of the fall…
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

With the click of a mouse…

As I was putting the finishing touches on some hopeful, forward pointing thoughts for 2021, planned for release on the Feast of the Epiphany, the insurrection at the U.S. Capitol began.  That event, the culmination of forces at play in our world for much longer than an election cycle, happened just six blocks from my home.  Needless to say, the events of January 6 and the continued tension in which we are living change some of what I had written, but not all.  And so, now for some amended thoughts about the turning of the calendar, because, in so many ways, January 1, 2021, was hardly the first day of…
Read More

Let us break bread together…

I had a plan.  Since the beginning of Pandemic Times, I have not managed to sit down and write at all.  On a good day, maybe I have strung together a few thoughts on Instagram to go with the photography practice that has helped me maintain a slight hold on the thread of life, but words?  This many?  No.  This has not been possible. A few weeks ago, though, having survived my first video choral project, feeling like there might be some music left in this tossed and tumbled old soul, I thought to myself, I'll begin a series of essays.  I'll write about different pieces of music that I've…
Read More

Broken shards and forgiveness with a catchy beat…

And for days, my ear worm has been set on an old, old song from my days as a worship leader in a Unity School Church.  I had occasion in conversation to use a phrase that I don't use very often these days -- you are a beloved Child of God.  And that set off a firestorm of musical remembrance that has continued for days as every fiber of my being joins in the chorus of "I am the radiant life of God," written by Georgiana Tree West back in the 1930's at the beginnings of the Unity movement.  If you dare, you can listen to a great performance of…
Read More

Bless, the Lord, my soul…

Occasionally in life, a much-longed-for opportunity drops into your lap unexpectedly. This week, I had just such a chance -- one of the brothers from the community at Taize spent an hour with us at VTS.   We had the rare opportunity to talk with and worship with Brother Emmanuel last Tuesday. It is funny, to have known and loved the music for many years and yet, to never have learned more about the community itself.  And so I was mesmerized as Brother Emmanuel explained to the assembled participants the founding of the Taize community and the precepts of its mission.  Finally understanding the mission and intent of the community, for…
Read More

A Musical #TBT

Usually, if I was going to have a musical #TBT, I would post an old performance picture or video to social media and let that be.  Today, however,  I want to talk about a song -- a song from my past, a song that it seems is more foundational to everything I believe than I might have understood, even yesterday. I've been working on letting go of some things and some relationships in my life, things and people that perhaps I have held too close for too long.  Psychologists and theologians often agree that holding too tightly  to (or, as I like to say, making an idol of...) anything is…
Read More

A Holy Saturday Meditation: When the Sun Refused to Shine…

This morning the light dawned after the sadness and fear of Good Friday, but our hearts are sore as we remember the crucified body of Jesus lies in the tomb.  That is the meaning of this day in Holy Week, known as Holy Saturday, a day of unknowing tears that will end, I am told, with the great Easter vigil and our first knowledge of the Resurrection.  I am looking forward to participating in my first Easter Vigil tonight, an ecumenical version sponsored by St. Mark's Episcopal Church here in DC and including members of many denominational churches in the area. Right now, though, I'm thinking about everything we heard…
Read More

A Good Friday Meditation, Pt. 2: I Crucified Thee

My emotions around the images and stories we link to Good Friday are complicated at best. That is why over and over again, words are not sufficient for me:  I must turn to music.  And while the Isaac Watts hymn, "When I Survey the Wondrous Cross," speaks to the complex dance between sorry and love that is our human response to the life of Jesus, in particular the events at the end of his incarnated life,  it is Johann Heerman's Herzliebster Jesu  ( 1630) that speaks to the incredible guilt we can feel in our human failure to see the living God before us, each and every day. We know Heerman's fifteen…
Read More

Sunrises and ear worms…

Some mornings have a soundtrack, whether or not you want it. Right now, my morning walk falls in what I call the sunrise sweet spot. I step off in the dark, but, with any luck, at sometime during the walk, I see the passage from dark to light in the skies. And years of music, both church music and the secular classical world, mean that stored somewhere in that grey matter between my ears are a whole lot of tunes to feed my personal soundtrack. Today was one of those We Shall Behold Him kind of moments. Those moments happen often as I live into the arrival of the fall…
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

With the click of a mouse…

As I was putting the finishing touches on some hopeful, forward pointing thoughts for 2021, planned for release on the Feast of the Epiphany, the insurrection at the U.S. Capitol began.  That event, the culmination of forces at play in our world for much longer than an election cycle, happened just six blocks from my home.  Needless to say, the events of January 6 and the continued tension in which we are living change some of what I had written, but not all.  And so, now for some amended thoughts about the turning of the calendar, because, in so many ways, January 1, 2021, was hardly the first day of…
Read More

Let us break bread together…

I had a plan.  Since the beginning of Pandemic Times, I have not managed to sit down and write at all.  On a good day, maybe I have strung together a few thoughts on Instagram to go with the photography practice that has helped me maintain a slight hold on the thread of life, but words?  This many?  No.  This has not been possible. A few weeks ago, though, having survived my first video choral project, feeling like there might be some music left in this tossed and tumbled old soul, I thought to myself, I'll begin a series of essays.  I'll write about different pieces of music that I've…
Read More

Broken shards and forgiveness with a catchy beat…

And for days, my ear worm has been set on an old, old song from my days as a worship leader in a Unity School Church.  I had occasion in conversation to use a phrase that I don't use very often these days -- you are a beloved Child of God.  And that set off a firestorm of musical remembrance that has continued for days as every fiber of my being joins in the chorus of "I am the radiant life of God," written by Georgiana Tree West back in the 1930's at the beginnings of the Unity movement.  If you dare, you can listen to a great performance of…
Read More

Bless, the Lord, my soul…

Occasionally in life, a much-longed-for opportunity drops into your lap unexpectedly. This week, I had just such a chance -- one of the brothers from the community at Taize spent an hour with us at VTS.   We had the rare opportunity to talk with and worship with Brother Emmanuel last Tuesday. It is funny, to have known and loved the music for many years and yet, to never have learned more about the community itself.  And so I was mesmerized as Brother Emmanuel explained to the assembled participants the founding of the Taize community and the precepts of its mission.  Finally understanding the mission and intent of the community, for…
Read More

A Musical #TBT

Usually, if I was going to have a musical #TBT, I would post an old performance picture or video to social media and let that be.  Today, however,  I want to talk about a song -- a song from my past, a song that it seems is more foundational to everything I believe than I might have understood, even yesterday. I've been working on letting go of some things and some relationships in my life, things and people that perhaps I have held too close for too long.  Psychologists and theologians often agree that holding too tightly  to (or, as I like to say, making an idol of...) anything is…
Read More

A Holy Saturday Meditation: When the Sun Refused to Shine…

This morning the light dawned after the sadness and fear of Good Friday, but our hearts are sore as we remember the crucified body of Jesus lies in the tomb.  That is the meaning of this day in Holy Week, known as Holy Saturday, a day of unknowing tears that will end, I am told, with the great Easter vigil and our first knowledge of the Resurrection.  I am looking forward to participating in my first Easter Vigil tonight, an ecumenical version sponsored by St. Mark's Episcopal Church here in DC and including members of many denominational churches in the area. Right now, though, I'm thinking about everything we heard…
Read More

A Good Friday Meditation, Pt. 2: I Crucified Thee

My emotions around the images and stories we link to Good Friday are complicated at best. That is why over and over again, words are not sufficient for me:  I must turn to music.  And while the Isaac Watts hymn, "When I Survey the Wondrous Cross," speaks to the complex dance between sorry and love that is our human response to the life of Jesus, in particular the events at the end of his incarnated life,  it is Johann Heerman's Herzliebster Jesu  ( 1630) that speaks to the incredible guilt we can feel in our human failure to see the living God before us, each and every day. We know Heerman's fifteen…
Read More

Sunrises and ear worms…

Some mornings have a soundtrack, whether or not you want it. Right now, my morning walk falls in what I call the sunrise sweet spot. I step off in the dark, but, with any luck, at sometime during the walk, I see the passage from dark to light in the skies. And years of music, both church music and the secular classical world, mean that stored somewhere in that grey matter between my ears are a whole lot of tunes to feed my personal soundtrack. Today was one of those We Shall Behold Him kind of moments. Those moments happen often as I live into the arrival of the fall…
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

With the click of a mouse…

As I was putting the finishing touches on some hopeful, forward pointing thoughts for 2021, planned for release on the Feast of the Epiphany, the insurrection at the U.S. Capitol began.  That event, the culmination of forces at play in our world for much longer than an election cycle, happened just six blocks from my home.  Needless to say, the events of January 6 and the continued tension in which we are living change some of what I had written, but not all.  And so, now for some amended thoughts about the turning of the calendar, because, in so many ways, January 1, 2021, was hardly the first day of…
Read More

Let us break bread together…

I had a plan.  Since the beginning of Pandemic Times, I have not managed to sit down and write at all.  On a good day, maybe I have strung together a few thoughts on Instagram to go with the photography practice that has helped me maintain a slight hold on the thread of life, but words?  This many?  No.  This has not been possible. A few weeks ago, though, having survived my first video choral project, feeling like there might be some music left in this tossed and tumbled old soul, I thought to myself, I'll begin a series of essays.  I'll write about different pieces of music that I've…
Read More

Broken shards and forgiveness with a catchy beat…

And for days, my ear worm has been set on an old, old song from my days as a worship leader in a Unity School Church.  I had occasion in conversation to use a phrase that I don't use very often these days -- you are a beloved Child of God.  And that set off a firestorm of musical remembrance that has continued for days as every fiber of my being joins in the chorus of "I am the radiant life of God," written by Georgiana Tree West back in the 1930's at the beginnings of the Unity movement.  If you dare, you can listen to a great performance of…
Read More

Bless, the Lord, my soul…

Occasionally in life, a much-longed-for opportunity drops into your lap unexpectedly. This week, I had just such a chance -- one of the brothers from the community at Taize spent an hour with us at VTS.   We had the rare opportunity to talk with and worship with Brother Emmanuel last Tuesday. It is funny, to have known and loved the music for many years and yet, to never have learned more about the community itself.  And so I was mesmerized as Brother Emmanuel explained to the assembled participants the founding of the Taize community and the precepts of its mission.  Finally understanding the mission and intent of the community, for…
Read More

A Musical #TBT

Usually, if I was going to have a musical #TBT, I would post an old performance picture or video to social media and let that be.  Today, however,  I want to talk about a song -- a song from my past, a song that it seems is more foundational to everything I believe than I might have understood, even yesterday. I've been working on letting go of some things and some relationships in my life, things and people that perhaps I have held too close for too long.  Psychologists and theologians often agree that holding too tightly  to (or, as I like to say, making an idol of...) anything is…
Read More

A Holy Saturday Meditation: When the Sun Refused to Shine…

This morning the light dawned after the sadness and fear of Good Friday, but our hearts are sore as we remember the crucified body of Jesus lies in the tomb.  That is the meaning of this day in Holy Week, known as Holy Saturday, a day of unknowing tears that will end, I am told, with the great Easter vigil and our first knowledge of the Resurrection.  I am looking forward to participating in my first Easter Vigil tonight, an ecumenical version sponsored by St. Mark's Episcopal Church here in DC and including members of many denominational churches in the area. Right now, though, I'm thinking about everything we heard…
Read More

A Good Friday Meditation, Pt. 2: I Crucified Thee

My emotions around the images and stories we link to Good Friday are complicated at best. That is why over and over again, words are not sufficient for me:  I must turn to music.  And while the Isaac Watts hymn, "When I Survey the Wondrous Cross," speaks to the complex dance between sorry and love that is our human response to the life of Jesus, in particular the events at the end of his incarnated life,  it is Johann Heerman's Herzliebster Jesu  ( 1630) that speaks to the incredible guilt we can feel in our human failure to see the living God before us, each and every day. We know Heerman's fifteen…
Read More

Sunrises and ear worms…

Some mornings have a soundtrack, whether or not you want it. Right now, my morning walk falls in what I call the sunrise sweet spot. I step off in the dark, but, with any luck, at sometime during the walk, I see the passage from dark to light in the skies. And years of music, both church music and the secular classical world, mean that stored somewhere in that grey matter between my ears are a whole lot of tunes to feed my personal soundtrack. Today was one of those We Shall Behold Him kind of moments. Those moments happen often as I live into the arrival of the fall…
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

With the click of a mouse…

As I was putting the finishing touches on some hopeful, forward pointing thoughts for 2021, planned for release on the Feast of the Epiphany, the insurrection at the U.S. Capitol began.  That event, the culmination of forces at play in our world for much longer than an election cycle, happened just six blocks from my home.  Needless to say, the events of January 6 and the continued tension in which we are living change some of what I had written, but not all.  And so, now for some amended thoughts about the turning of the calendar, because, in so many ways, January 1, 2021, was hardly the first day of…
Read More

Let us break bread together…

I had a plan.  Since the beginning of Pandemic Times, I have not managed to sit down and write at all.  On a good day, maybe I have strung together a few thoughts on Instagram to go with the photography practice that has helped me maintain a slight hold on the thread of life, but words?  This many?  No.  This has not been possible. A few weeks ago, though, having survived my first video choral project, feeling like there might be some music left in this tossed and tumbled old soul, I thought to myself, I'll begin a series of essays.  I'll write about different pieces of music that I've…
Read More

Broken shards and forgiveness with a catchy beat…

And for days, my ear worm has been set on an old, old song from my days as a worship leader in a Unity School Church.  I had occasion in conversation to use a phrase that I don't use very often these days -- you are a beloved Child of God.  And that set off a firestorm of musical remembrance that has continued for days as every fiber of my being joins in the chorus of "I am the radiant life of God," written by Georgiana Tree West back in the 1930's at the beginnings of the Unity movement.  If you dare, you can listen to a great performance of…
Read More

Bless, the Lord, my soul…

Occasionally in life, a much-longed-for opportunity drops into your lap unexpectedly. This week, I had just such a chance -- one of the brothers from the community at Taize spent an hour with us at VTS.   We had the rare opportunity to talk with and worship with Brother Emmanuel last Tuesday. It is funny, to have known and loved the music for many years and yet, to never have learned more about the community itself.  And so I was mesmerized as Brother Emmanuel explained to the assembled participants the founding of the Taize community and the precepts of its mission.  Finally understanding the mission and intent of the community, for…
Read More

A Musical #TBT

Usually, if I was going to have a musical #TBT, I would post an old performance picture or video to social media and let that be.  Today, however,  I want to talk about a song -- a song from my past, a song that it seems is more foundational to everything I believe than I might have understood, even yesterday. I've been working on letting go of some things and some relationships in my life, things and people that perhaps I have held too close for too long.  Psychologists and theologians often agree that holding too tightly  to (or, as I like to say, making an idol of...) anything is…
Read More

A Holy Saturday Meditation: When the Sun Refused to Shine…

This morning the light dawned after the sadness and fear of Good Friday, but our hearts are sore as we remember the crucified body of Jesus lies in the tomb.  That is the meaning of this day in Holy Week, known as Holy Saturday, a day of unknowing tears that will end, I am told, with the great Easter vigil and our first knowledge of the Resurrection.  I am looking forward to participating in my first Easter Vigil tonight, an ecumenical version sponsored by St. Mark's Episcopal Church here in DC and including members of many denominational churches in the area. Right now, though, I'm thinking about everything we heard…
Read More

A Good Friday Meditation, Pt. 2: I Crucified Thee

My emotions around the images and stories we link to Good Friday are complicated at best. That is why over and over again, words are not sufficient for me:  I must turn to music.  And while the Isaac Watts hymn, "When I Survey the Wondrous Cross," speaks to the complex dance between sorry and love that is our human response to the life of Jesus, in particular the events at the end of his incarnated life,  it is Johann Heerman's Herzliebster Jesu  ( 1630) that speaks to the incredible guilt we can feel in our human failure to see the living God before us, each and every day. We know Heerman's fifteen…
Read More

Sunrises and ear worms…

Some mornings have a soundtrack, whether or not you want it. Right now, my morning walk falls in what I call the sunrise sweet spot. I step off in the dark, but, with any luck, at sometime during the walk, I see the passage from dark to light in the skies. And years of music, both church music and the secular classical world, mean that stored somewhere in that grey matter between my ears are a whole lot of tunes to feed my personal soundtrack. Today was one of those We Shall Behold Him kind of moments. Those moments happen often as I live into the arrival of the fall…
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

With the click of a mouse…

As I was putting the finishing touches on some hopeful, forward pointing thoughts for 2021, planned for release on the Feast of the Epiphany, the insurrection at the U.S. Capitol began.  That event, the culmination of forces at play in our world for much longer than an election cycle, happened just six blocks from my home.  Needless to say, the events of January 6 and the continued tension in which we are living change some of what I had written, but not all.  And so, now for some amended thoughts about the turning of the calendar, because, in so many ways, January 1, 2021, was hardly the first day of…
Read More

Let us break bread together…

I had a plan.  Since the beginning of Pandemic Times, I have not managed to sit down and write at all.  On a good day, maybe I have strung together a few thoughts on Instagram to go with the photography practice that has helped me maintain a slight hold on the thread of life, but words?  This many?  No.  This has not been possible. A few weeks ago, though, having survived my first video choral project, feeling like there might be some music left in this tossed and tumbled old soul, I thought to myself, I'll begin a series of essays.  I'll write about different pieces of music that I've…
Read More

Broken shards and forgiveness with a catchy beat…

And for days, my ear worm has been set on an old, old song from my days as a worship leader in a Unity School Church.  I had occasion in conversation to use a phrase that I don't use very often these days -- you are a beloved Child of God.  And that set off a firestorm of musical remembrance that has continued for days as every fiber of my being joins in the chorus of "I am the radiant life of God," written by Georgiana Tree West back in the 1930's at the beginnings of the Unity movement.  If you dare, you can listen to a great performance of…
Read More

Bless, the Lord, my soul…

Occasionally in life, a much-longed-for opportunity drops into your lap unexpectedly. This week, I had just such a chance -- one of the brothers from the community at Taize spent an hour with us at VTS.   We had the rare opportunity to talk with and worship with Brother Emmanuel last Tuesday. It is funny, to have known and loved the music for many years and yet, to never have learned more about the community itself.  And so I was mesmerized as Brother Emmanuel explained to the assembled participants the founding of the Taize community and the precepts of its mission.  Finally understanding the mission and intent of the community, for…
Read More

A Musical #TBT

Usually, if I was going to have a musical #TBT, I would post an old performance picture or video to social media and let that be.  Today, however,  I want to talk about a song -- a song from my past, a song that it seems is more foundational to everything I believe than I might have understood, even yesterday. I've been working on letting go of some things and some relationships in my life, things and people that perhaps I have held too close for too long.  Psychologists and theologians often agree that holding too tightly  to (or, as I like to say, making an idol of...) anything is…
Read More

A Holy Saturday Meditation: When the Sun Refused to Shine…

This morning the light dawned after the sadness and fear of Good Friday, but our hearts are sore as we remember the crucified body of Jesus lies in the tomb.  That is the meaning of this day in Holy Week, known as Holy Saturday, a day of unknowing tears that will end, I am told, with the great Easter vigil and our first knowledge of the Resurrection.  I am looking forward to participating in my first Easter Vigil tonight, an ecumenical version sponsored by St. Mark's Episcopal Church here in DC and including members of many denominational churches in the area. Right now, though, I'm thinking about everything we heard…
Read More

A Good Friday Meditation, Pt. 2: I Crucified Thee

My emotions around the images and stories we link to Good Friday are complicated at best. That is why over and over again, words are not sufficient for me:  I must turn to music.  And while the Isaac Watts hymn, "When I Survey the Wondrous Cross," speaks to the complex dance between sorry and love that is our human response to the life of Jesus, in particular the events at the end of his incarnated life,  it is Johann Heerman's Herzliebster Jesu  ( 1630) that speaks to the incredible guilt we can feel in our human failure to see the living God before us, each and every day. We know Heerman's fifteen…
Read More

Sunrises and ear worms…

Some mornings have a soundtrack, whether or not you want it. Right now, my morning walk falls in what I call the sunrise sweet spot. I step off in the dark, but, with any luck, at sometime during the walk, I see the passage from dark to light in the skies. And years of music, both church music and the secular classical world, mean that stored somewhere in that grey matter between my ears are a whole lot of tunes to feed my personal soundtrack. Today was one of those We Shall Behold Him kind of moments. Those moments happen often as I live into the arrival of the fall…
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

With the click of a mouse…

As I was putting the finishing touches on some hopeful, forward pointing thoughts for 2021, planned for release on the Feast of the Epiphany, the insurrection at the U.S. Capitol began.  That event, the culmination of forces at play in our world for much longer than an election cycle, happened just six blocks from my home.  Needless to say, the events of January 6 and the continued tension in which we are living change some of what I had written, but not all.  And so, now for some amended thoughts about the turning of the calendar, because, in so many ways, January 1, 2021, was hardly the first day of…
Read More

Let us break bread together…

I had a plan.  Since the beginning of Pandemic Times, I have not managed to sit down and write at all.  On a good day, maybe I have strung together a few thoughts on Instagram to go with the photography practice that has helped me maintain a slight hold on the thread of life, but words?  This many?  No.  This has not been possible. A few weeks ago, though, having survived my first video choral project, feeling like there might be some music left in this tossed and tumbled old soul, I thought to myself, I'll begin a series of essays.  I'll write about different pieces of music that I've…
Read More

Broken shards and forgiveness with a catchy beat…

And for days, my ear worm has been set on an old, old song from my days as a worship leader in a Unity School Church.  I had occasion in conversation to use a phrase that I don't use very often these days -- you are a beloved Child of God.  And that set off a firestorm of musical remembrance that has continued for days as every fiber of my being joins in the chorus of "I am the radiant life of God," written by Georgiana Tree West back in the 1930's at the beginnings of the Unity movement.  If you dare, you can listen to a great performance of…
Read More

Bless, the Lord, my soul…

Occasionally in life, a much-longed-for opportunity drops into your lap unexpectedly. This week, I had just such a chance -- one of the brothers from the community at Taize spent an hour with us at VTS.   We had the rare opportunity to talk with and worship with Brother Emmanuel last Tuesday. It is funny, to have known and loved the music for many years and yet, to never have learned more about the community itself.  And so I was mesmerized as Brother Emmanuel explained to the assembled participants the founding of the Taize community and the precepts of its mission.  Finally understanding the mission and intent of the community, for…
Read More

A Musical #TBT

Usually, if I was going to have a musical #TBT, I would post an old performance picture or video to social media and let that be.  Today, however,  I want to talk about a song -- a song from my past, a song that it seems is more foundational to everything I believe than I might have understood, even yesterday. I've been working on letting go of some things and some relationships in my life, things and people that perhaps I have held too close for too long.  Psychologists and theologians often agree that holding too tightly  to (or, as I like to say, making an idol of...) anything is…
Read More

A Holy Saturday Meditation: When the Sun Refused to Shine…

This morning the light dawned after the sadness and fear of Good Friday, but our hearts are sore as we remember the crucified body of Jesus lies in the tomb.  That is the meaning of this day in Holy Week, known as Holy Saturday, a day of unknowing tears that will end, I am told, with the great Easter vigil and our first knowledge of the Resurrection.  I am looking forward to participating in my first Easter Vigil tonight, an ecumenical version sponsored by St. Mark's Episcopal Church here in DC and including members of many denominational churches in the area. Right now, though, I'm thinking about everything we heard…
Read More

A Good Friday Meditation, Pt. 2: I Crucified Thee

My emotions around the images and stories we link to Good Friday are complicated at best. That is why over and over again, words are not sufficient for me:  I must turn to music.  And while the Isaac Watts hymn, "When I Survey the Wondrous Cross," speaks to the complex dance between sorry and love that is our human response to the life of Jesus, in particular the events at the end of his incarnated life,  it is Johann Heerman's Herzliebster Jesu  ( 1630) that speaks to the incredible guilt we can feel in our human failure to see the living God before us, each and every day. We know Heerman's fifteen…
Read More

Sunrises and ear worms…

Some mornings have a soundtrack, whether or not you want it. Right now, my morning walk falls in what I call the sunrise sweet spot. I step off in the dark, but, with any luck, at sometime during the walk, I see the passage from dark to light in the skies. And years of music, both church music and the secular classical world, mean that stored somewhere in that grey matter between my ears are a whole lot of tunes to feed my personal soundtrack. Today was one of those We Shall Behold Him kind of moments. Those moments happen often as I live into the arrival of the fall…
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

With the click of a mouse…

As I was putting the finishing touches on some hopeful, forward pointing thoughts for 2021, planned for release on the Feast of the Epiphany, the insurrection at the U.S. Capitol began.  That event, the culmination of forces at play in our world for much longer than an election cycle, happened just six blocks from my home.  Needless to say, the events of January 6 and the continued tension in which we are living change some of what I had written, but not all.  And so, now for some amended thoughts about the turning of the calendar, because, in so many ways, January 1, 2021, was hardly the first day of…
Read More

Let us break bread together…

I had a plan.  Since the beginning of Pandemic Times, I have not managed to sit down and write at all.  On a good day, maybe I have strung together a few thoughts on Instagram to go with the photography practice that has helped me maintain a slight hold on the thread of life, but words?  This many?  No.  This has not been possible. A few weeks ago, though, having survived my first video choral project, feeling like there might be some music left in this tossed and tumbled old soul, I thought to myself, I'll begin a series of essays.  I'll write about different pieces of music that I've…
Read More

Broken shards and forgiveness with a catchy beat…

And for days, my ear worm has been set on an old, old song from my days as a worship leader in a Unity School Church.  I had occasion in conversation to use a phrase that I don't use very often these days -- you are a beloved Child of God.  And that set off a firestorm of musical remembrance that has continued for days as every fiber of my being joins in the chorus of "I am the radiant life of God," written by Georgiana Tree West back in the 1930's at the beginnings of the Unity movement.  If you dare, you can listen to a great performance of…
Read More

Bless, the Lord, my soul…

Occasionally in life, a much-longed-for opportunity drops into your lap unexpectedly. This week, I had just such a chance -- one of the brothers from the community at Taize spent an hour with us at VTS.   We had the rare opportunity to talk with and worship with Brother Emmanuel last Tuesday. It is funny, to have known and loved the music for many years and yet, to never have learned more about the community itself.  And so I was mesmerized as Brother Emmanuel explained to the assembled participants the founding of the Taize community and the precepts of its mission.  Finally understanding the mission and intent of the community, for…
Read More

A Musical #TBT

Usually, if I was going to have a musical #TBT, I would post an old performance picture or video to social media and let that be.  Today, however,  I want to talk about a song -- a song from my past, a song that it seems is more foundational to everything I believe than I might have understood, even yesterday. I've been working on letting go of some things and some relationships in my life, things and people that perhaps I have held too close for too long.  Psychologists and theologians often agree that holding too tightly  to (or, as I like to say, making an idol of...) anything is…
Read More

A Holy Saturday Meditation: When the Sun Refused to Shine…

This morning the light dawned after the sadness and fear of Good Friday, but our hearts are sore as we remember the crucified body of Jesus lies in the tomb.  That is the meaning of this day in Holy Week, known as Holy Saturday, a day of unknowing tears that will end, I am told, with the great Easter vigil and our first knowledge of the Resurrection.  I am looking forward to participating in my first Easter Vigil tonight, an ecumenical version sponsored by St. Mark's Episcopal Church here in DC and including members of many denominational churches in the area. Right now, though, I'm thinking about everything we heard…
Read More

A Good Friday Meditation, Pt. 2: I Crucified Thee

My emotions around the images and stories we link to Good Friday are complicated at best. That is why over and over again, words are not sufficient for me:  I must turn to music.  And while the Isaac Watts hymn, "When I Survey the Wondrous Cross," speaks to the complex dance between sorry and love that is our human response to the life of Jesus, in particular the events at the end of his incarnated life,  it is Johann Heerman's Herzliebster Jesu  ( 1630) that speaks to the incredible guilt we can feel in our human failure to see the living God before us, each and every day. We know Heerman's fifteen…
Read More

Sunrises and ear worms…

Some mornings have a soundtrack, whether or not you want it. Right now, my morning walk falls in what I call the sunrise sweet spot. I step off in the dark, but, with any luck, at sometime during the walk, I see the passage from dark to light in the skies. And years of music, both church music and the secular classical world, mean that stored somewhere in that grey matter between my ears are a whole lot of tunes to feed my personal soundtrack. Today was one of those We Shall Behold Him kind of moments. Those moments happen often as I live into the arrival of the fall…
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

With the click of a mouse…

As I was putting the finishing touches on some hopeful, forward pointing thoughts for 2021, planned for release on the Feast of the Epiphany, the insurrection at the U.S. Capitol began.  That event, the culmination of forces at play in our world for much longer than an election cycle, happened just six blocks from my home.  Needless to say, the events of January 6 and the continued tension in which we are living change some of what I had written, but not all.  And so, now for some amended thoughts about the turning of the calendar, because, in so many ways, January 1, 2021, was hardly the first day of…
Read More

Let us break bread together…

I had a plan.  Since the beginning of Pandemic Times, I have not managed to sit down and write at all.  On a good day, maybe I have strung together a few thoughts on Instagram to go with the photography practice that has helped me maintain a slight hold on the thread of life, but words?  This many?  No.  This has not been possible. A few weeks ago, though, having survived my first video choral project, feeling like there might be some music left in this tossed and tumbled old soul, I thought to myself, I'll begin a series of essays.  I'll write about different pieces of music that I've…
Read More

Broken shards and forgiveness with a catchy beat…

And for days, my ear worm has been set on an old, old song from my days as a worship leader in a Unity School Church.  I had occasion in conversation to use a phrase that I don't use very often these days -- you are a beloved Child of God.  And that set off a firestorm of musical remembrance that has continued for days as every fiber of my being joins in the chorus of "I am the radiant life of God," written by Georgiana Tree West back in the 1930's at the beginnings of the Unity movement.  If you dare, you can listen to a great performance of…
Read More

Bless, the Lord, my soul…

Occasionally in life, a much-longed-for opportunity drops into your lap unexpectedly. This week, I had just such a chance -- one of the brothers from the community at Taize spent an hour with us at VTS.   We had the rare opportunity to talk with and worship with Brother Emmanuel last Tuesday. It is funny, to have known and loved the music for many years and yet, to never have learned more about the community itself.  And so I was mesmerized as Brother Emmanuel explained to the assembled participants the founding of the Taize community and the precepts of its mission.  Finally understanding the mission and intent of the community, for…
Read More

A Musical #TBT

Usually, if I was going to have a musical #TBT, I would post an old performance picture or video to social media and let that be.  Today, however,  I want to talk about a song -- a song from my past, a song that it seems is more foundational to everything I believe than I might have understood, even yesterday. I've been working on letting go of some things and some relationships in my life, things and people that perhaps I have held too close for too long.  Psychologists and theologians often agree that holding too tightly  to (or, as I like to say, making an idol of...) anything is…
Read More

A Holy Saturday Meditation: When the Sun Refused to Shine…

This morning the light dawned after the sadness and fear of Good Friday, but our hearts are sore as we remember the crucified body of Jesus lies in the tomb.  That is the meaning of this day in Holy Week, known as Holy Saturday, a day of unknowing tears that will end, I am told, with the great Easter vigil and our first knowledge of the Resurrection.  I am looking forward to participating in my first Easter Vigil tonight, an ecumenical version sponsored by St. Mark's Episcopal Church here in DC and including members of many denominational churches in the area. Right now, though, I'm thinking about everything we heard…
Read More

A Good Friday Meditation, Pt. 2: I Crucified Thee

My emotions around the images and stories we link to Good Friday are complicated at best. That is why over and over again, words are not sufficient for me:  I must turn to music.  And while the Isaac Watts hymn, "When I Survey the Wondrous Cross," speaks to the complex dance between sorry and love that is our human response to the life of Jesus, in particular the events at the end of his incarnated life,  it is Johann Heerman's Herzliebster Jesu  ( 1630) that speaks to the incredible guilt we can feel in our human failure to see the living God before us, each and every day. We know Heerman's fifteen…
Read More

Sunrises and ear worms…

Some mornings have a soundtrack, whether or not you want it. Right now, my morning walk falls in what I call the sunrise sweet spot. I step off in the dark, but, with any luck, at sometime during the walk, I see the passage from dark to light in the skies. And years of music, both church music and the secular classical world, mean that stored somewhere in that grey matter between my ears are a whole lot of tunes to feed my personal soundtrack. Today was one of those We Shall Behold Him kind of moments. Those moments happen often as I live into the arrival of the fall…
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

With the click of a mouse…

As I was putting the finishing touches on some hopeful, forward pointing thoughts for 2021, planned for release on the Feast of the Epiphany, the insurrection at the U.S. Capitol began.  That event, the culmination of forces at play in our world for much longer than an election cycle, happened just six blocks from my home.  Needless to say, the events of January 6 and the continued tension in which we are living change some of what I had written, but not all.  And so, now for some amended thoughts about the turning of the calendar, because, in so many ways, January 1, 2021, was hardly the first day of…
Read More

Let us break bread together…

I had a plan.  Since the beginning of Pandemic Times, I have not managed to sit down and write at all.  On a good day, maybe I have strung together a few thoughts on Instagram to go with the photography practice that has helped me maintain a slight hold on the thread of life, but words?  This many?  No.  This has not been possible. A few weeks ago, though, having survived my first video choral project, feeling like there might be some music left in this tossed and tumbled old soul, I thought to myself, I'll begin a series of essays.  I'll write about different pieces of music that I've…
Read More

Broken shards and forgiveness with a catchy beat…

And for days, my ear worm has been set on an old, old song from my days as a worship leader in a Unity School Church.  I had occasion in conversation to use a phrase that I don't use very often these days -- you are a beloved Child of God.  And that set off a firestorm of musical remembrance that has continued for days as every fiber of my being joins in the chorus of "I am the radiant life of God," written by Georgiana Tree West back in the 1930's at the beginnings of the Unity movement.  If you dare, you can listen to a great performance of…
Read More

Bless, the Lord, my soul…

Occasionally in life, a much-longed-for opportunity drops into your lap unexpectedly. This week, I had just such a chance -- one of the brothers from the community at Taize spent an hour with us at VTS.   We had the rare opportunity to talk with and worship with Brother Emmanuel last Tuesday. It is funny, to have known and loved the music for many years and yet, to never have learned more about the community itself.  And so I was mesmerized as Brother Emmanuel explained to the assembled participants the founding of the Taize community and the precepts of its mission.  Finally understanding the mission and intent of the community, for…
Read More

A Musical #TBT

Usually, if I was going to have a musical #TBT, I would post an old performance picture or video to social media and let that be.  Today, however,  I want to talk about a song -- a song from my past, a song that it seems is more foundational to everything I believe than I might have understood, even yesterday. I've been working on letting go of some things and some relationships in my life, things and people that perhaps I have held too close for too long.  Psychologists and theologians often agree that holding too tightly  to (or, as I like to say, making an idol of...) anything is…
Read More

A Holy Saturday Meditation: When the Sun Refused to Shine…

This morning the light dawned after the sadness and fear of Good Friday, but our hearts are sore as we remember the crucified body of Jesus lies in the tomb.  That is the meaning of this day in Holy Week, known as Holy Saturday, a day of unknowing tears that will end, I am told, with the great Easter vigil and our first knowledge of the Resurrection.  I am looking forward to participating in my first Easter Vigil tonight, an ecumenical version sponsored by St. Mark's Episcopal Church here in DC and including members of many denominational churches in the area. Right now, though, I'm thinking about everything we heard…
Read More

A Good Friday Meditation, Pt. 2: I Crucified Thee

My emotions around the images and stories we link to Good Friday are complicated at best. That is why over and over again, words are not sufficient for me:  I must turn to music.  And while the Isaac Watts hymn, "When I Survey the Wondrous Cross," speaks to the complex dance between sorry and love that is our human response to the life of Jesus, in particular the events at the end of his incarnated life,  it is Johann Heerman's Herzliebster Jesu  ( 1630) that speaks to the incredible guilt we can feel in our human failure to see the living God before us, each and every day. We know Heerman's fifteen…
Read More

Sunrises and ear worms…

Some mornings have a soundtrack, whether or not you want it. Right now, my morning walk falls in what I call the sunrise sweet spot. I step off in the dark, but, with any luck, at sometime during the walk, I see the passage from dark to light in the skies. And years of music, both church music and the secular classical world, mean that stored somewhere in that grey matter between my ears are a whole lot of tunes to feed my personal soundtrack. Today was one of those We Shall Behold Him kind of moments. Those moments happen often as I live into the arrival of the fall…
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

With the click of a mouse…

As I was putting the finishing touches on some hopeful, forward pointing thoughts for 2021, planned for release on the Feast of the Epiphany, the insurrection at the U.S. Capitol began.  That event, the culmination of forces at play in our world for much longer than an election cycle, happened just six blocks from my home.  Needless to say, the events of January 6 and the continued tension in which we are living change some of what I had written, but not all.  And so, now for some amended thoughts about the turning of the calendar, because, in so many ways, January 1, 2021, was hardly the first day of…
Read More

Let us break bread together…

I had a plan.  Since the beginning of Pandemic Times, I have not managed to sit down and write at all.  On a good day, maybe I have strung together a few thoughts on Instagram to go with the photography practice that has helped me maintain a slight hold on the thread of life, but words?  This many?  No.  This has not been possible. A few weeks ago, though, having survived my first video choral project, feeling like there might be some music left in this tossed and tumbled old soul, I thought to myself, I'll begin a series of essays.  I'll write about different pieces of music that I've…
Read More

Broken shards and forgiveness with a catchy beat…

And for days, my ear worm has been set on an old, old song from my days as a worship leader in a Unity School Church.  I had occasion in conversation to use a phrase that I don't use very often these days -- you are a beloved Child of God.  And that set off a firestorm of musical remembrance that has continued for days as every fiber of my being joins in the chorus of "I am the radiant life of God," written by Georgiana Tree West back in the 1930's at the beginnings of the Unity movement.  If you dare, you can listen to a great performance of…
Read More

Bless, the Lord, my soul…

Occasionally in life, a much-longed-for opportunity drops into your lap unexpectedly. This week, I had just such a chance -- one of the brothers from the community at Taize spent an hour with us at VTS.   We had the rare opportunity to talk with and worship with Brother Emmanuel last Tuesday. It is funny, to have known and loved the music for many years and yet, to never have learned more about the community itself.  And so I was mesmerized as Brother Emmanuel explained to the assembled participants the founding of the Taize community and the precepts of its mission.  Finally understanding the mission and intent of the community, for…
Read More

A Musical #TBT

Usually, if I was going to have a musical #TBT, I would post an old performance picture or video to social media and let that be.  Today, however,  I want to talk about a song -- a song from my past, a song that it seems is more foundational to everything I believe than I might have understood, even yesterday. I've been working on letting go of some things and some relationships in my life, things and people that perhaps I have held too close for too long.  Psychologists and theologians often agree that holding too tightly  to (or, as I like to say, making an idol of...) anything is…
Read More

A Holy Saturday Meditation: When the Sun Refused to Shine…

This morning the light dawned after the sadness and fear of Good Friday, but our hearts are sore as we remember the crucified body of Jesus lies in the tomb.  That is the meaning of this day in Holy Week, known as Holy Saturday, a day of unknowing tears that will end, I am told, with the great Easter vigil and our first knowledge of the Resurrection.  I am looking forward to participating in my first Easter Vigil tonight, an ecumenical version sponsored by St. Mark's Episcopal Church here in DC and including members of many denominational churches in the area. Right now, though, I'm thinking about everything we heard…
Read More

A Good Friday Meditation, Pt. 2: I Crucified Thee

My emotions around the images and stories we link to Good Friday are complicated at best. That is why over and over again, words are not sufficient for me:  I must turn to music.  And while the Isaac Watts hymn, "When I Survey the Wondrous Cross," speaks to the complex dance between sorry and love that is our human response to the life of Jesus, in particular the events at the end of his incarnated life,  it is Johann Heerman's Herzliebster Jesu  ( 1630) that speaks to the incredible guilt we can feel in our human failure to see the living God before us, each and every day. We know Heerman's fifteen…
Read More