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

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

A Good Friday Meditation, Part 1: Sorrow and Love Flow Mingled Down

Last Sunday, Palm Sunday, as Christians everywhere entered into the annual act of remembrance that is known as Holy Week, I was singing with the choir at the Old Presbyterian Meeting House in Alexandria, VA.   The music was lovely, the choir very, very good, and the sermon meaningful, but what stuck with me through this week of preparation and searching and devotion was the offertory anthem we sang.  It was not some famous work or some especially difficult piece -- it was just a Hal Hopson arrangement of that most famous of famous hymn texts by Isaac Watts, "When I Survey the Wondrous Cross."  The words were so familiar,…
Read More

And why is it that I follow Jesus?

Yes, that is our question of the day.  Not an easy question, but one with a simple answer:  I follow Jesus because that is what I must do.   And if I tell the truth, there are days I would rather not. There are days when the price feels too high, in terms of energy and sacrifice. There are days when it feels really, really lonely to follow Jesus. There are days when it seems like a fairy tale, a myth, a totally implausible belief that God could be made flesh and walk upon this earth, experiencing anger and illness and pain and joy, just as we do.  There are many days when…
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

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

A Good Friday Meditation, Part 1: Sorrow and Love Flow Mingled Down

Last Sunday, Palm Sunday, as Christians everywhere entered into the annual act of remembrance that is known as Holy Week, I was singing with the choir at the Old Presbyterian Meeting House in Alexandria, VA.   The music was lovely, the choir very, very good, and the sermon meaningful, but what stuck with me through this week of preparation and searching and devotion was the offertory anthem we sang.  It was not some famous work or some especially difficult piece -- it was just a Hal Hopson arrangement of that most famous of famous hymn texts by Isaac Watts, "When I Survey the Wondrous Cross."  The words were so familiar,…
Read More

And why is it that I follow Jesus?

Yes, that is our question of the day.  Not an easy question, but one with a simple answer:  I follow Jesus because that is what I must do.   And if I tell the truth, there are days I would rather not. There are days when the price feels too high, in terms of energy and sacrifice. There are days when it feels really, really lonely to follow Jesus. There are days when it seems like a fairy tale, a myth, a totally implausible belief that God could be made flesh and walk upon this earth, experiencing anger and illness and pain and joy, just as we do.  There are many days when…
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

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

A Good Friday Meditation, Part 1: Sorrow and Love Flow Mingled Down

Last Sunday, Palm Sunday, as Christians everywhere entered into the annual act of remembrance that is known as Holy Week, I was singing with the choir at the Old Presbyterian Meeting House in Alexandria, VA.   The music was lovely, the choir very, very good, and the sermon meaningful, but what stuck with me through this week of preparation and searching and devotion was the offertory anthem we sang.  It was not some famous work or some especially difficult piece -- it was just a Hal Hopson arrangement of that most famous of famous hymn texts by Isaac Watts, "When I Survey the Wondrous Cross."  The words were so familiar,…
Read More

And why is it that I follow Jesus?

Yes, that is our question of the day.  Not an easy question, but one with a simple answer:  I follow Jesus because that is what I must do.   And if I tell the truth, there are days I would rather not. There are days when the price feels too high, in terms of energy and sacrifice. There are days when it feels really, really lonely to follow Jesus. There are days when it seems like a fairy tale, a myth, a totally implausible belief that God could be made flesh and walk upon this earth, experiencing anger and illness and pain and joy, just as we do.  There are many days when…
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

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

A Good Friday Meditation, Part 1: Sorrow and Love Flow Mingled Down

Last Sunday, Palm Sunday, as Christians everywhere entered into the annual act of remembrance that is known as Holy Week, I was singing with the choir at the Old Presbyterian Meeting House in Alexandria, VA.   The music was lovely, the choir very, very good, and the sermon meaningful, but what stuck with me through this week of preparation and searching and devotion was the offertory anthem we sang.  It was not some famous work or some especially difficult piece -- it was just a Hal Hopson arrangement of that most famous of famous hymn texts by Isaac Watts, "When I Survey the Wondrous Cross."  The words were so familiar,…
Read More

And why is it that I follow Jesus?

Yes, that is our question of the day.  Not an easy question, but one with a simple answer:  I follow Jesus because that is what I must do.   And if I tell the truth, there are days I would rather not. There are days when the price feels too high, in terms of energy and sacrifice. There are days when it feels really, really lonely to follow Jesus. There are days when it seems like a fairy tale, a myth, a totally implausible belief that God could be made flesh and walk upon this earth, experiencing anger and illness and pain and joy, just as we do.  There are many days when…
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

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

A Good Friday Meditation, Part 1: Sorrow and Love Flow Mingled Down

Last Sunday, Palm Sunday, as Christians everywhere entered into the annual act of remembrance that is known as Holy Week, I was singing with the choir at the Old Presbyterian Meeting House in Alexandria, VA.   The music was lovely, the choir very, very good, and the sermon meaningful, but what stuck with me through this week of preparation and searching and devotion was the offertory anthem we sang.  It was not some famous work or some especially difficult piece -- it was just a Hal Hopson arrangement of that most famous of famous hymn texts by Isaac Watts, "When I Survey the Wondrous Cross."  The words were so familiar,…
Read More

And why is it that I follow Jesus?

Yes, that is our question of the day.  Not an easy question, but one with a simple answer:  I follow Jesus because that is what I must do.   And if I tell the truth, there are days I would rather not. There are days when the price feels too high, in terms of energy and sacrifice. There are days when it feels really, really lonely to follow Jesus. There are days when it seems like a fairy tale, a myth, a totally implausible belief that God could be made flesh and walk upon this earth, experiencing anger and illness and pain and joy, just as we do.  There are many days when…
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

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

A Good Friday Meditation, Part 1: Sorrow and Love Flow Mingled Down

Last Sunday, Palm Sunday, as Christians everywhere entered into the annual act of remembrance that is known as Holy Week, I was singing with the choir at the Old Presbyterian Meeting House in Alexandria, VA.   The music was lovely, the choir very, very good, and the sermon meaningful, but what stuck with me through this week of preparation and searching and devotion was the offertory anthem we sang.  It was not some famous work or some especially difficult piece -- it was just a Hal Hopson arrangement of that most famous of famous hymn texts by Isaac Watts, "When I Survey the Wondrous Cross."  The words were so familiar,…
Read More

And why is it that I follow Jesus?

Yes, that is our question of the day.  Not an easy question, but one with a simple answer:  I follow Jesus because that is what I must do.   And if I tell the truth, there are days I would rather not. There are days when the price feels too high, in terms of energy and sacrifice. There are days when it feels really, really lonely to follow Jesus. There are days when it seems like a fairy tale, a myth, a totally implausible belief that God could be made flesh and walk upon this earth, experiencing anger and illness and pain and joy, just as we do.  There are many days when…
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

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…
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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…
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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…
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A Good Friday Meditation, Part 1: Sorrow and Love Flow Mingled Down

Last Sunday, Palm Sunday, as Christians everywhere entered into the annual act of remembrance that is known as Holy Week, I was singing with the choir at the Old Presbyterian Meeting House in Alexandria, VA.   The music was lovely, the choir very, very good, and the sermon meaningful, but what stuck with me through this week of preparation and searching and devotion was the offertory anthem we sang.  It was not some famous work or some especially difficult piece -- it was just a Hal Hopson arrangement of that most famous of famous hymn texts by Isaac Watts, "When I Survey the Wondrous Cross."  The words were so familiar,…
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And why is it that I follow Jesus?

Yes, that is our question of the day.  Not an easy question, but one with a simple answer:  I follow Jesus because that is what I must do.   And if I tell the truth, there are days I would rather not. There are days when the price feels too high, in terms of energy and sacrifice. There are days when it feels really, really lonely to follow Jesus. There are days when it seems like a fairy tale, a myth, a totally implausible belief that God could be made flesh and walk upon this earth, experiencing anger and illness and pain and joy, just as we do.  There are many days when…
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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…
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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…
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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…
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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

A Good Friday Meditation, Part 1: Sorrow and Love Flow Mingled Down

Last Sunday, Palm Sunday, as Christians everywhere entered into the annual act of remembrance that is known as Holy Week, I was singing with the choir at the Old Presbyterian Meeting House in Alexandria, VA.   The music was lovely, the choir very, very good, and the sermon meaningful, but what stuck with me through this week of preparation and searching and devotion was the offertory anthem we sang.  It was not some famous work or some especially difficult piece -- it was just a Hal Hopson arrangement of that most famous of famous hymn texts by Isaac Watts, "When I Survey the Wondrous Cross."  The words were so familiar,…
Read More

And why is it that I follow Jesus?

Yes, that is our question of the day.  Not an easy question, but one with a simple answer:  I follow Jesus because that is what I must do.   And if I tell the truth, there are days I would rather not. There are days when the price feels too high, in terms of energy and sacrifice. There are days when it feels really, really lonely to follow Jesus. There are days when it seems like a fairy tale, a myth, a totally implausible belief that God could be made flesh and walk upon this earth, experiencing anger and illness and pain and joy, just as we do.  There are many days when…
Read More