Category Archives: music

Begin: Advent Word 14

Posted on December 16, 2023 by Boz

Mark 1:1, the scripture from which today’s Advent Word was taken, is a mere preface: “The beginning of the good news of Jesus Christ.” In the verses that follow, Mark pinpoints that beginning in a passage from Isaiah about the … Continue reading →

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Awake: Advent Word 7

Posted on December 9, 2023 by Boz

Johann Sebastian Bach’s “Wachet auf, ruft uns die Stimme” was first performed  on November 25, 1731, the 27th Sunday after Trinity. Based on the parable of the wise and foolish virgins (Matthew 25: 1-13), this message of this stunning cantata … Continue reading →

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The Evening and the Morning

Posted on July 27, 2023 by Boz

And God made the firmament, and divided the waters which were under the firmament from the waters which were above the firmament: and it was so. And God called the firmament Heaven. And the evening and the morning were the second … Continue reading →

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The Ineffable Mystery: To Know God and Make Him Known

Posted on May 30, 2022 by Boz

In medias res . . . If I wish to tell this story at all, I will have to begin in the midst of things. Is there really any other way to begin, I wonder? Who knows when anything started? I … Continue reading →

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Even at the grave we make our song . . .

Posted on April 4, 2021 by Boz

. . . but not during the Paschal celebration of the Resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ–at least in the Episcopal Church.

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Fruition: 2018

Posted on December 30, 2018 by Boz

As I began to ponder the year soon coming to a close, it seemed necessary and fitting that I end the longest hiatus of my blog-writing career with a brief narration of the project–now complete–that has consumed my life for … Continue reading →

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The Mother of Beauty: World War I in Word, Image, and Song

Posted on November 11, 2018 by Boz

Published below is the text of a talk I will give tomorrow to commemorate the Armistice centenary as part of a series of events entitled “FTCC Remembers World War I: 1914-1918.” “Death is the mother of beauty,” wrote Wallace Stevens, … Continue reading →

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The Mother of Beauty: War in Words and Music

Posted on April 14, 2018 by Boz

For the past two years, I have immersed myself in a personal and professional commemoration of the centenary of World War I. For a freshman composition class I designed in writing across the curriculum, I have read extensively in the … Continue reading →

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Miracles Do Happen–If We Listen

Posted on March 16, 2018 by Boz

Saturday, March 4, in Columbia, South Carolina, I witnessed what I can describe only as a miracle, the University of South Carolina’s performance of Leonard Bernstein’s MASS. By Monday, when I could not stop pondering–seeing, hearing, singing–those 110 minutes of capital-T … Continue reading →

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Embrace: Advent Word 18

Posted on December 20, 2017 by Boz

I love a Gershwin tune, and I must confess that I seldom use the word embrace unless I’m belting out, “Embrace me, my sweet embraceable you.” Hug, hold, cuddle–almost never embrace. So today my task is to write about a word that … Continue reading →

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