Recovering rhythm
There’s been a schism; we’ve lost our rhythm. (it’s what we used to rely on the world to supply) What’s slowed our pace has nearly stopped our race. But hey, stay-at-home is not stuck alone. Turn up the volume, be inspired dial the inner music even higher. Let it lead you, even feed you. Feel […]
Thank you for letting us sing to you: Confessions of a choir crasher
You’ve heard of party crashers and wedding crashers, but perhaps you have never heard of a choir crasher. That’s me, the person who, back in the doldrums of September as election campaigns were still in full swing, shorter days and longer nights were just beginning to descend, and when Christmas trees were not yet at […]
Play needs no purpose
Play needs no purpose. That is why play can go on and on as long as players find it meaningful. After all, we do not dance in order to get somewhere. We dance around and around. A piece of music doesn’t come to an end when its purpose is accomplished. It has no purpose, strictly […]
I sing all the verses at Christmas
It is the music that makes it feel like Christmas to me. To the chagrin of my family, I turn on the Christmas stations and put in the Christmas CDs and hum along with the songs piped in at the mall. I am positively impossible at Christmastime. But this year is not like previous Christmas […]
Against All Odds
What lingers? Our hearts and senses are left to fend for themselves. To remember, but not with our minds exactly, more with our spirits. We no longer have the crutch of words or explanations or analysis. We can no longer touch or taste or see or hear. But we still feel. Something remains. What is […]
Finding perfect pitch
Tuning pins, I think they call them. Those tiny knobs you twist to wind the strings and pull them taut. I was always fascinated by folks who did this, ear to the strings. They would pluck and turn, pluck and turn, listening for just the right pitch. Are there really people like this? Who have […]
Our enemy is not format but following along
Yesterday I attended what’s known at Floris church as the “11:00 service.” It’s the more traditional service, with more traditional hymns, more traditional liturgy. You get it. However, it is held in a sanctuary that holds 800 or more people that is equipped with large screens, sound booth and video capability. In other words, it’s […]
The Instrument of Prayer
Prayer is the instrument we play for a listening God. Our prayers do not flow like a concerto, nor are they fluid like a symphony, nor rhythmic like a march. They are halting and unsure, like a child’s first piano piece. God is patient. Still, they are music to God’s ears. God knows the melody, […]
All By Myself, but not alone
Isn’t it funny how you can feel the difference between “no one is home” and “no one will be home for the next 6 hours”? That’s what it was like when the crowd thinned this morning and I had the whole house to myself. I wrote that on Wednesday morning (2 days ago), the second day […]