My work is music and worship, granted. But such heavenly pursuits don't exempt me from eating.
Month after month marches by. The table surprises never let up. I'm talking here about the Table of Plenty (Zion's 3 times a week meal for the meal-less, marginalized) Easter meal/feast last Thursday. What a gastronomical highlight!
Specifically, I'm talking about pineapple filling. Everyone around the talke with me is like, yeah, that's pineapple filling. I'm like, you gotta be kidding! This recipe must have come from heaven by direct revelation.
Souderton is a very special culinary island of secret dishes.
Saturday, March 22, 2008
Friday, March 21, 2008
Maunday Thursday, what to do
Pastor Hunter gave me the bulletin from the 2007 and 2006 Maundy Thursday services. I was supposed to propose readings and music for this year, yesterday.
All that happened. He made the final tweaking of the details. I thought I was done except for the music preparation.
I was wrong. Hunter takes the minster crew to the sanctuary and we set up. His guiding principle was "intimate." He wanted these most somber verses of scriptures to be felt deeply.
What finally emerged was a "circle," with the communion elements and cross set on a small table at the corner of the platform. The amen corner with the choir would face south, the church board members readers would sit on a semi-circle of chairs placed on the platform, the rest of the congregation would face west, seating restricted to the window side tier of benches.
A lot of church musicians restrict instrumental music at this service, remembering the arrest and trial of Jesus. Except for a little piano support for the choir for the anthem at the beginning right before communion, I decided to go cold turkey and go for broke with acappella.
Results? Remember, we are used to singing most hymns with organ and some songs with a modest worship band. Result? People told me afterwards--we actually sang, we sang parts, on hymns not very familiar by the second verse we were sounding good.
I'm glad I trusted the people to take a small musical risk. Something changes among the people when the crutch of accompaniment is taken away. Something enabling after the first little fear that "we won't sound very good."
No sermon. The bread and cup. The shuffle of the congregants' feet as in silence they went to the "table" to eat the sacred meal--that was what finally gave me a holy moment. We are hungry. We are going to go where there is nourishment. That made me tremble with a holy moment.
Oh, sure. The rest nourished me. The readings of the story. The snuffing out of the twelve candles, one by one. The dimming of the hall lights. The singing. The silence.
All that happened. He made the final tweaking of the details. I thought I was done except for the music preparation.
I was wrong. Hunter takes the minster crew to the sanctuary and we set up. His guiding principle was "intimate." He wanted these most somber verses of scriptures to be felt deeply.
What finally emerged was a "circle," with the communion elements and cross set on a small table at the corner of the platform. The amen corner with the choir would face south, the church board members readers would sit on a semi-circle of chairs placed on the platform, the rest of the congregation would face west, seating restricted to the window side tier of benches.
A lot of church musicians restrict instrumental music at this service, remembering the arrest and trial of Jesus. Except for a little piano support for the choir for the anthem at the beginning right before communion, I decided to go cold turkey and go for broke with acappella.
Results? Remember, we are used to singing most hymns with organ and some songs with a modest worship band. Result? People told me afterwards--we actually sang, we sang parts, on hymns not very familiar by the second verse we were sounding good.
I'm glad I trusted the people to take a small musical risk. Something changes among the people when the crutch of accompaniment is taken away. Something enabling after the first little fear that "we won't sound very good."
No sermon. The bread and cup. The shuffle of the congregants' feet as in silence they went to the "table" to eat the sacred meal--that was what finally gave me a holy moment. We are hungry. We are going to go where there is nourishment. That made me tremble with a holy moment.
Oh, sure. The rest nourished me. The readings of the story. The snuffing out of the twelve candles, one by one. The dimming of the hall lights. The singing. The silence.
Thursday, March 20, 2008
sports in their place
Yesterday's Reporter had this "sound off" letter and I quote:
"As someone who had two children involved in sports...I would gladly melt all their trophies and burn all their ribbons if either one of them could play a musical instrument." Whoah! Off to a daring start.
Then: "Sports is so overrated. When you're in your 40s, 50s, and 60s you're not going to be out there throwing a ball. But if you can play a piano, or a flute, or a saxophone, wouldn't that be enjoyable?"
As a church musician I gotta add--or if you sing in a choir. I've had singers in their late 80s singing away in choirs making a great contribution.
"As someone who had two children involved in sports...I would gladly melt all their trophies and burn all their ribbons if either one of them could play a musical instrument." Whoah! Off to a daring start.
Then: "Sports is so overrated. When you're in your 40s, 50s, and 60s you're not going to be out there throwing a ball. But if you can play a piano, or a flute, or a saxophone, wouldn't that be enjoyable?"
As a church musician I gotta add--or if you sing in a choir. I've had singers in their late 80s singing away in choirs making a great contribution.
Monday, March 17, 2008
all-team session
Here's Barry Murphy. He's a musical bridge
between types of music and groups. He leads one of the worship teams.
Mar. 8 I had the three worship teams together for a coordinating session. Here's the gist of the agenda:
What brought your team together, when?
What defines your team now?
Some reflections and handouts, exceprts from articles and books about worship and music.
As interim minister of worship, how can I best relate to your team?
What are you hearing from the congregation about worship teams?
One thing I learned is that the teams are the successors to the contemporary choir.
between types of music and groups. He leads one of the worship teams.Mar. 8 I had the three worship teams together for a coordinating session. Here's the gist of the agenda:
What brought your team together, when?
What defines your team now?
Some reflections and handouts, exceprts from articles and books about worship and music.
As interim minister of worship, how can I best relate to your team?
What are you hearing from the congregation about worship teams?
One thing I learned is that the teams are the successors to the contemporary choir.
Friday, March 14, 2008
how early can Easter be?
This year Easter falls on March 23. Could it ever be earlier? Technically, yes. It can fall on March 22. That is quite rare. The last time it did was the year 1818, when James Monroe was President of the US
.
Think you can stick around for the next time Easter falls on March 22. Good luck trying. The next year it is that early is the year 2285.
March 23 happens a little more frequently. The last time Easter was on March 23 was in 1913. If you're 95 years old or older you were around then. The next time it comes March 23 will be 220 years from now, in 2228.
What's the deal? The celestial spheres, that's the deal. Easter is fixed to come the first Sunday after the first full moon after the spring equinox, which is March 20 or 21. How do I know all this? I read it in the Christian Century.
Easter can come anytime in your subjective heart you want. But I like the objective reality of the system we have had for centuries. It also makes it harder for secular societies to co-opt it and make it fit in the commercial flow of things. Oh, those daffodils are not from this year. I had to use a late March, 2007, photo, taken behind my barn.
Easter is a response to universe-wide reality. Hallelujah!
.Think you can stick around for the next time Easter falls on March 22. Good luck trying. The next year it is that early is the year 2285.
March 23 happens a little more frequently. The last time Easter was on March 23 was in 1913. If you're 95 years old or older you were around then. The next time it comes March 23 will be 220 years from now, in 2228.
What's the deal? The celestial spheres, that's the deal. Easter is fixed to come the first Sunday after the first full moon after the spring equinox, which is March 20 or 21. How do I know all this? I read it in the Christian Century.
Easter can come anytime in your subjective heart you want. But I like the objective reality of the system we have had for centuries. It also makes it harder for secular societies to co-opt it and make it fit in the commercial flow of things. Oh, those daffodils are not from this year. I had to use a late March, 2007, photo, taken behind my barn.
Easter is a response to universe-wide reality. Hallelujah!
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