Today’s prelude is a whimsical number by French composer Louis Vierne. It delights. But that’s the nature of a piece that’s full of spirit. It titillates, tickles, and teases. It is wiggly like a small, free-spirited creature. How fun! The creative act is spontaneous. You never know when the spirit will nip at you. Like […]

Fear paralyzes, especially when used in teaching. I’ve had teachers who have put the fear of God in me, but I never found them to be terribly effective. However, fear is a common educational tool. Call it “old school,” but I think it’s time for some “new school.” My grandparents attended a Pentecostal church, and […]

Tracing one’s roots is an important existential activity. You can find connectivity in anything, just as you can find differences. That’s no, new discovery. Einstein taught us that our universe is relative. For example, even though the prelude and the postlude are vastly different sounding, there is an underlying unity that’s hard to put into […]

Today’s music is brought to you by one of my favorites, Felix Mendelssohn. The organ voluntaries are from his treasured organ sonatas, and today’s anthem is “Verleih uns Frieden,” a Martin Luther text. It’s a paraphrase of Da pacem Domine, a Latin prayer for peace from the 6th or 7th century. It was a regular […]

I love the text of today’s offertory. It was composed by Walter Stanton who was known affectionately as “WK” by his students. As a boy, he was trained at Salisbury Cathedral, then received his diplomas at Merton College in Oxford. He then went on to be Professor of Music at Bristol University and conductor of […]

I love the idea of Advent – longing expectancy. You hear this hand-wringing yearning in the prelude, Come, Savior of the Heathens, where Bach is trying to plead with the nonbeliever. We hear this same kind of idea in the offertory, Paul Manz’s E’en So Lord Jesus. This piece was written by the bedside of […]

My friend, Ken says, “Don’t should yourself.” When you think that you should be or shouldn’t be; or that something in your life should or shouldn’t be; or that the world should or shouldn’t be, it makes reality seem like a hot mess. After all, should happens, right? No, reality happens. What should or shouldn’t […]

We have two contrasting anthems today. The offertory comes from Handel’s oratorio, Samson, which was sketched out while he was working on Messiah in 1741. Our rector requested this piece for today, and we have enjoyed working on it. It’s a triumphant, majestic piece, perfect for Christ the King Sunday. Our communion anthem has a […]

The title of today’s offertory is Geistliches Lied or “Sacred Song.” The piece is in the form of a double canon. The sopranos and tenors sing the same tune, but two measures apart and likewise with the basses and altos. It was written as part of a musical exchange between Brahms and his friend Joseph […]

Our offertory is a splendid work for treble voices by English composer Simon Lole. What a melodic craftsman! Although his harmony is traditional, it’s fresh and never detracts from the meaning of the words. I particularly love the middle section, “God is love, and those who live in love, live in God, and God lives […]