Click to see the Wikipedia entry for the title “Pontifex Maximus.”
Category: Art & Music
Visual art opening and exploring the texts we “read, study, learn and inwardly digest.” Music and notes about music used to open and celebrate the texts read in worship.
A 23 Art for October 9 St. Paul
Can we by searching find out God or formulate his ways?
Paul exclaimed, “I want to know Christ…” (Philippians 3:10). On Sunday 10/2/2011 we explored this statement in our Sunday Morning Forum. “How do YOU know Christ? Where have YOU encountered Christ?” were among the questions we asked, sharing our answers around the table.
Once again, music was mentioned, specifically hymns used in worship, as a place of encounter and inspiration and knowledge. Bill shared one of his favorites, which happens to follow our readings from Philippians pretty closely: “Can we by searching find out God or formulate his ways?” which Hymn 476 in the 1982 Episcopal Hymnal.
Here are the lyrics
Can we by searching find out God
or formulate his ways?
Can numbers measure what he is
or words contain his praise?
Although his being is too bright
for human eyes to scan,
his meaning lights our shadowed world
through Christ, the Son of Man.
Our boastfulness is turned to shame,
our profit counts as loss,
when earthly values stand beside
the manger and the cross.
There God breaks in upon our search,
makes birth and death his own;
he speaks to us in human terms
to make his glory known. [1]
Let us hear what the Spirit is saying. Share your favorite hymn of encounter, inspiration, encouragement, or knowledge by leaving a reply and continuing the Sunday conversation here.
____________
[1] Words: Elizabeth Cosnett (b. 1936), alt.
Music: Epworth, melody att. Charles Wesley (1757–1834), alt.; harm. Martin Fallas Shaw (1875–1958), alt.
Whom shall I send?
Continuing the conversation about music and faith, Barbara wrote (and permitted me to share) this:
My MOST favorite hymn is “Here I Am Lord”. I used that hymn as “my song” when I gave my talk on laity at a Cursillo some time ago. I still love it!
Here are the lyrics:
I, the Lord of sea and sky,
I have heard my people cry.
All who dwell in deepest sin
My hand will save.
I who made the stars of night,
I will make their darkness bright.
Who will bear my light to them?
Whom shall I send?
Refrain
Here I am, Lord. Is it I, Lord?
I have heard you calling in the night.
I will go, Lord, if you lead me,
I will hold your people in my heart.
I, the Lord of snow and rain,
I have borne my peopleís pain.
I have wept for love of them,
They turn away.
I will break their hearts of stone,
Give them hearts for love alone.
I will speak my word to them.
Whom shall I send? Refrain
I, the Lord of wind and flame,
I will tend the poor and lame.
I will set a feast for them,
My hand will save.
Finest bread I will provide
Till their hearts be satisfied.
I will give my life to them.
Whom shall I send? Refrain
Hymn 812 in the Episcopal hymnal Wonder, Love, and Praise
Words: Daniel L. Schutte
Music: Daniel L. Schutte
This response is part of our conversation begun on Sunday morning, September 25th. Do you have a favorite hymn or 2? Share them with the group. Let us continue the conversation that Paul started long ago by quoting a hymn in his letter to the Philippians.
A Proper 22 Art for Readings October 2, 2011
Note: Be sure to turn on your sound then click the play arrow. I could only find this on youtube so at the end of the clip youtube will present a variety of other video suggestions. Click them at your own risk.
What would we do without Jewish comics?!
Of course the Ten Commandments are not the whole Law but one of the great summations of the Law in the Bible. Others include:
Deut 6:4-9
Hear, O Israel: The Lord is our God, the Lord alone. You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your might. Keep these words that I am commanding you today in your heart. Recite them to your children and talk about them when you are at home and when you are away, when you lie down and when you rise. Bind them as a sign on your hand, fix them as an emblem on your forehead, and write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates.
Micah 6:8
He has told you, O mortal, what is good;
and what does the Lord require of you
but to do justice, and to love kindness,
and to walk humbly with your God?
Matthew 22:37-39
He said to him, “ ‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind.’ This is the greatest and first commandment. And a second is like it: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.
The New Revised Standard Version, (Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson Publishers) 1989.
Art for September 30:Jerome; Priest, and Monk of Bethlehem
Words or music? Music or words?
Sometimes the melody is all it takes to move my heart into the heart of God (or God’s heart into mine). Though I love to sing the words of this hymn and make them real by my actions, it is the melody which both embraces me and sends me heavenward.
Continuing the conversation begun on Sunday (9/25) “Be thou my vision” is the song I share today:
Be thou my vision, O Lord of my heart;
all else be nought to me, save that thou art;
thou my best thought, by day or by night,
waking or sleeping, thy presence my light.
Be thou my wisdom, and thou my true word;
I ever with thee and thou with me, Lord;
thou my great Father; thine own may I be;
thou in me dwelling, and I one with thee.
High King of heaven, when victory is won,
may I reach heaven’s joys, bright heaven’s Sun!
Heart of my heart, whatever befall,
still be my vision, O Ruler of all.
Hymn 488 in the Episcopal Hymnal 1982
Words: Irish, ca. 700; versified Mary Elizabeth Byrne (1880–1931); tr. Eleanor H. Hull (1860–1935), alt.
Music: Slane, Irish ballad melody; adapt. The Church Hymnary, 1927; harm. David Evans (1874–1948)
I mean to be one too
What hymns or songs or music help you “have the mind of Christ” that the Apostle wants you to have? (Philippians 2:1-13) It doesn’t even have to be “sacred music” that inspires you. Where does this question (and invitation to share) come from?
In yesterday’s Forum (9/25/11) we listened to Paul: “Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility regard others as better than yourselves. Let each of you look not to your own interests, but to the interests of others. Let the same mind be in you that was in Christ Jesus,” (Philippians 2:3-5) We listened to the Spirit and we listened to each other. We wondered:
How do you do know the mind of Christ? How do you live with the mind (intentionality) of Christ?
Among the answers, affirming what Paul says—“it is God who is at work in you” (v. 13)—we agreed to a person that we know the mind of Christ and we live revealing Christ, by the grace of God: grace encountered in prayer and worship, grace encountered in serving others for the love of God, grace encountered in personal and communal study like this one.
Paul, according to most biblical scholars, quotes from a hymn (vv. 6-11) to help his readers understand “the mind of Christ.” In the next few days I will share some of the hymns that help me understand the mind of Christ and help me renew my dedication to live my life with the mind of Christ.
I invite you to share hymns and songs and even music—from ancient to contemporary, secular or sacred—that help you know the mind of Christ and act with the mind of Christ.
Today’s hymn for me: “I sing a song of the saints of God” (Hymn 293 in the Episcopal Hymnal 1982). Playful, an easy melody (for me), a celebration recalling that “the saints of God are just folk like me,” and a grace-filled dedication to send me on— “and I mean to be one too” —make this one of my favorites and puts me in mind of the Apostle’s teaching.
I sing a song of the saints of God,
patient and brave and true,
who toiled and fought and lived and died
for the Lord they loved and knew.
And one was a doctor, and one was a queen,
and one was a shepherdess on the green:
they were all of them saints of God and I mean,
God helping, to be one too.
They loved their Lord so dear, so dear,
and his love made them strong;
and they followed the right, for Jesus’ sake,
the whole of their good lives long.
And one was a soldier, and one was a priest,
and one was slain by a fierce wild beast;
and there’s not any reason no, not the least,
why I shouldn’t be one too.
They lived not only in ages past,
there are hundreds of thousands still,
the world is bright with the joyous saints
who love to do Jesus’ will.
You can meet them in school, or in lanes, or at sea,
in church, or in trains, or in shops, or at tea,
for the saints of God are just folk like me,
and I mean to be one too.
Hear what the Spirit is saying 