It started with an e-mail I sent to Dustbury about some guy complaining that a piece of sacred music that sounds like the theme of My Little Pony; Dustbury wrote about this. He then replied to me, “I imagine he also didn’t like Leonard Bernstein’s 1971 Mass Continue reading Lenten music Friday: Leonard Bernstein's Mass
Tag Archives: Lent
Easter is new
One of the things my pastors, and pastors before them, have often said is that you should be different on Good Friday than you were on Ash Wednesday. It’s not always easy to do that. The texts tend to be SO familiar that one has a tendency to “mail it in,” theologically. “Oh, yeah, that scripture; I know EXACTLY what that means.” I think, remarkably, that I did not “mail it in” this Lent.
Frankly, I’ve been puzzled by people who look at Scripture as though God handed it down in 17th century English. Continue reading Easter is new
Fridays in Lent: Handel Messiah, Part 2
One year for Christmas, I gave my sister the score of the entire Messiah, we sang from it so much in high school. Since then I’ve sung much of Part 1, the section associated with Advent/Christmastime, at least a half dozen times. Continue reading Fridays in Lent: Handel Messiah, Part 2
The Lenten devotional post, in five minutes or less
Among others, I was requested to make a submission to the FOCUS churches Lenten devotional calendar/booklet. I received the email because “you have either submitted an entry in the past [I had not] or have demonstrated interest in writing for public consumption [maybe THAT’S it]… There are texts assigned for each day and… parameters…for this project.”
After failing to respond, five days later, On January 31, I was asked if I had received the invitation. Eventually I acceded to do one entry, about 2 paragraphs, based on 1 Corinthians 2:10-16. “It has Paul talking about spiritual vs those who are unspiritual. Continue reading The Lenten devotional post, in five minutes or less
Monday Thursday
When I was a child, I never understood the idea of Monday being on a Thursday. I mean, I knew it was a tough week for Jesus, and would only get worse. But why Monday? Oh wait, I have late word that it is actually Maundy Thursday, which may be derived “from the Latin mandatum, the first word of the phrase Continue reading Monday Thursday