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Category Archives: music
Giving Thanks . . . in All Things
According to one of the origin myths that bind us together as a unique American people, the day of gratitude we celebrate today traces its origins to a 1621 harvest festival shared between the English Pilgrims in the Plymouth Colony … Continue reading
Begin: Advent Word 14
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
Posted in #Advent Word, Advent, Advent Word, begin, music
Tagged Advent, Advent Word, begin, King's College Cambridge, music
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Awake: Advent Word 7
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
Posted in Advent, Advent Word, Bach, music
Tagged #AdventWord, Advent, Advent Word, awake, Bach
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The Evening and the Morning
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
The Ineffable Mystery: To Know God and Make Him Known
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
Even at the grave we make our song . . .
. . . but not during the Paschal celebration of the Resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ–at least in the Episcopal Church.
Fruition: 2018
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
Posted in art, books, education, history, literature, movies, music, poetry, World War I
Tagged art, history, literature, music, World War I
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The Mother of Beauty: World War I in Word, Image, and Song
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
Posted in art, history, literature, music, poetry, World War I
Tagged art, history, literature, music, poetry, World War I
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The Mother of Beauty: War in Words and Music
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
Posted in history, literature, music, peace, World War I
Tagged beauty, fiction, literature, music, poetry, truth, war, World War I
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Miracles Do Happen–If We Listen
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