The Sunday Musical Offering - The Music of Sergei Rachmaninov

Today I celebrate one of my all time favorite composers, Sergei Rachmaninoff, with a treasure trove of musical examples that will keep you listening well into the next hour or so.

A Russian composer, pianist, and conductor, Rachmaninoff is widely considered one of the finest pianists of his day and, as a composer, one of the last great representatives of Romanticism in Russian classical music. His music had a pronounced lyricism, expressive breadth, structural ingenuity, and a tonal palette of rich, distinctive orchestral colors. The first selection is perhaps my favorite of all symphonies (only the four symphonies by Johannes Brahms hold a higher place of priviledge in my heart.): this is the Symphony No. 2 with Andre Previn leading the NHK Symphony Orchestra. The second selection is the first movement from the Second Piano Concerto with Hélène Grimaud as soloist and Claudio Abbado conducting.

The Isle of the Dead, Op. 29, is a symphonic poem inspired by Arnold Böcklin's painting, Isle of the Dead, which the composer saw in Paris in 1907. I learned to love this piece in High School when our music director selected it as one of the compositions of an all Rachmaninoff program for our School/Community Project. Here it is led by Sir Andrew Davis and the Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra.

The Spring Cantata Op. 20, is a single-movement cantata for baritone, chorus and orchestra, written in 1902. The work is based on a poem by Nikolay Nekrasov and describes the return of the Zelyoniy shum, or "green rustle". The poem tells of a husband who, fraught with murderous thoughts towards his unfaithful wife during the winter season, is ultimately freed from his frustration and choler by the return of spring. Here it is performed by the State Symphony Orchestra of the Republic of Tatarstan under their Artistic Director Alexander Sladkovsky.

The Bells Op. 35, is a choral symphony written in 1913. The words are from the poem The Bells by Edgar Allan Poe, very freely translated into Russian by the symbolist poet Konstantin Balmont. The traditional Gregorian melody Dies Irae is used frequently throughout the work. It was one of Rachmaninoff's two favorite compositions and is considered by some to be his secular choral masterpiece. Rachmaninoff called the work both a choral symphony and his Third Symphony shortly after writing it; however, he would later write a purely instrumental Third Symphony during his years in exile. This recent performance took place in Boston with the BU Symphony Orchestra and Chorus.

Finally the Vocalise, originally one of fourteen songs of the composer's Opus 34, is included here simply because my wife adores Joshua Bell. A performance recorded live at the BBC Proms in 2007. Enjoy, Kathy!

Love One Another - Brian

The Weekly Round-Up for September 29, 2012

An interesting past week where it seemed as if everybody was running out of something: time, books, support, etc. For example, world leaders met at the United Nations in New York where the Prime Minister of Israel in the midst of his address to the General Assembly pulls out a drawing of a bomb suggesting that there was limited time in dealing with threats from Iran. In some locations across the globe, book stores scrambled to keep the latest JK Rowling book on the shelves as demand soared for her latest "adult" offering. And the most distressing news out last week was that the world is running out of bacon! (OMG - I knew they were giving smaller portions at Bob Evans last week!!)

Well, at least here at the John 13:34, we are not running out of fascinating and stimulating thought from around the globe. The Weekly Round-Up begins right now....


The Best Editorial of the Week
The Guardian, London

Unthinkable? Elect the Archbishop of Canterbury - Give Church Goers the Vote (Make sure to read the comments)

The Second Best Editorial of the Week
The New York Times, New York

The Shocking News About Cod

The Best Musical Posts of the Week
Various writers and sources

This is Jeopardy - Clues from The MET

Great Organs on the Westside of Manhattan

Minnesota Opera's: Nabucco

Singing: Key To Long Life

And Now A "WORD" from The Monastery
Kevin Hackett, ssje.org

Gratitude

This One Will Make You Think
Democracy in America, economist.com

The Splendour of Empire

This One Will Make You Think, Too
motherjones.com

More Guns, More Mass Shootings - Coincidence?

This One Will Make You Think As Well
Robert Wright, The Atlantic

Never Mind Jesus - Did God Have A Wife?

The Best Religious Postings of the Week
Various Writers and Sources

Bivocational Bishops?

Honest Change - Not Just "Buzzwords"

We Want Growing Churches

Replacement Clergy

Progressive Christianity Is Not Progressive Politics

O Christ, It's You Again

Yom Kippur: The Day of Returning

Obama at The U.N. - A New Religion Doctrine

Living A Board Game Spirituality

The Place of the Church and the Agony of Anglicanism

"Loving Your Neighbor" Wasn't Just A Suggestion

No Tax, No Blessing: German Church Insists on Levy

Secretive Committee Still "Discerning" The Next Archbishop of Canterbury

Most Viewed Post at the John 13:34 Blog This Week
Monday, September 24, 2012

What If Jesus Had A Wife?

Always End With Children, Animals or Adults Having Fun
Youtube.com

Love One Another - Brian

Friday Night Lights V

Tonight the 4-1 Hudson Explorers travel to Garfield Heights to play the 2-3 Bulldogs. On paper, this does not look like much of a contest with Hudson having scored 100 more points in its first five games than the Bulldogs (179-75). The Explorers are averaging almost 36 points a game this season with an explosive offense led by senior running back Ben Gedeon.

What goes well with a great football team is an outstanding marching band! Hudson High School has one of the finest in the land and this week the "Swing" Band will be marching a drill written by yours truly to Deborah Harray's 1980 classic "Call Me". The Band is rockin' it and I can't wait to witness the first performance this evening. Thanks to Bev O'Connor for allowing me the opportunity to create a drill for 48 squads marching to 1 minute and 51 seconds of music! When I began the chart, I had no idea how difficult the process would be. The many hours of charting and trying to make sure each squad knew which direction to march (something I have to continue to improve on) was a real challenge and an unexpected joy. My appreciation for great marching bands, like Hudson, the Ohio State University and others is at an all time high. These young men and women who serve in the band are amazing and talented individuals who make my work look easy. It is going to be a great night. 52 squads next year!!

A couple of photos from last week's Homecoming game (rain - no pixs for me). Thanks to Ken Klemencic for the photos and the HHS Music Association for the pre-game video.

Love One Another - Brian 

(c) Ken Klemencic, 2012

Hudson 46 Cuyahoga Falls 28
(c) Ken Klemencic, 2012



The Voice of the Hudson "Swing" Band - Sergio Iriarte
(c) Ken Klemencic



"Lord, teach us to pray...." Prayer and Identity

I have always been attracted to the thoughts and writings of Thomas Merton, who began his spiritual life as an Anglo Catholic writer and mystic before turning to Roman Catholicism. A Trappist monk of the Abbey of Gethsemani, Kentucky, he was a poet, social activist, and student of comparative religion. In 1949, Merton was ordained to the priesthood and given the name Father Louis. The excerpt below appeared in a March 2009 issue of Cross Currents and is a splendid example of Merton’s views on prayer and the spiritual life.

“We come to prayer with ambiguous hearts, and we have in ourselves the same doubts as other people to some extent. We are not safely walled off from the world in a little religious universe where everything is secure. Our faith is not secure in the modern world, not that the modern world attacks our faith but that we are simply modern people and therefore ambiguous, and therefore, we tend to doubt. We don’t have the simple, direct faith that people of another, less complicated, age were able to have, and we don’t have to have that simple, direct faith. We are bound to have a certain element of doubt in our lives because we are ambiguous people, and it is simplicity to recognize this and not to pretend that we are totally out of it. Of course some are more simple and less complicated than others. You don’t have a duty to be ambiguous. I’m not saying that your whole life has to become that of playing the role of an ambiguous, doubting person; but with the sincerity that we have in our own hearts, we must respond to God in prayer.

“It is God who calls us to prayer. So prayer, first of all, is a response to a call from God, a personal call from God, and I think we should look at it that way even though we don’t feel like praying. Let’s admit that very often we don’t feel like praying and that there are a lot of other things we’d rather do than pray.

…

“Guardini says that if the heart yields to the call, then something happens to it: for the first time appears the genuine center. The genuine center, the counterpart of the divine center that is calling, for the first time awakens – the genuine God-intended self, the real self. So what we are aiming for in prayer – right now I’m talking especially of meditative prayer – is this awakening of a genuine center, an authentic personal center that is the counterpart to the divine center that is calling. They are both within us, and yet we don’t find them by introspection. Introspection is usually not helpful for prayer.

“In this opening up and acceptance of God’s call in our genuine center, our depth, Guardini says, the mystery of that absolute initiative by which God reveals himself gives light, touches the bottom of the heart so effectively that it unbinds itself, opens, and recovers sight and freedom. So, a further development in our life of prayer is this interior opening up, this unbinding of the inner self at the touch of God, to recover sight and above all to recover freedom. (The reference is to Romano Guardini’s Pascal for Our Time)

…

“Of course here we come to the problem of the new consciousness of modern man, which is such a great problem because it is our problem to a great extent. We all have this problem of modern man for whom, as they say, God is dead. Of course that can mean all kinds of things. It may mean just that modern man is unable to conceive God in any way and remains inarticulate before him. [Then there is] the so-called self-withholding of God that somebody has spoken of: that modern man is inevitably in a position where God withholds himself from modern man. But is this true? This is no dogma of faith; this is no axiom. We know that God does not withhold himself; but people who are too influenced by what other people are saying are soon going to be running around saying God is simply inaccessible to any of us: what’s the use of trying to pray, what’s the use of anything like this; we must find God in some totally different way – because he withholds himself we have no access to him, and so forth. This is not true; it just simply is not true, and we as Christians realize that even though we may at times have moments of great dryness and desolation and so forth and so forth, it doesn’t mean a thing. God does not withhold himself from his children. We have received his Spirit; we live in Christ. Does God withhold himself? He gives us the Body and Blood of his Son. What do you mean, withholds himself? We don’t need feelings of consolation to realize that God gives himself.

“To confuse God’s giving of himself with feelings of consolation, that’s –well, it’s an old-time mistake; we know that’s delusive. But we have to realize that God is an infinitely higher reality than we are, and  when a higher reality meets a lower one, Guardini says, this occurs in such a way that the higher reality appears questionable from the point of view of the lower reality, so we instinctively doubt God. It’s understood that we are creatures of doubt, but doubt and faith in a certain way can coexist in the same person – not real theological doubt but questioning, self-questioning above all. We must not confuse our self-questioning with our questioning of God, our self-doubt with our doubt of God. We come to God in prayer with a great deal of doubt of ourselves, a great deal of doubt of our own authenticity, and we should because we’re not totally authentic, but that should not become also a doubt of God.

“Nevertheless, when we do come face to face with him we find that he is questionable from our point of view, until faith breaks through and, by his gift, that question is resolved: not by our figuring, not by our reasoning, not by our reading, and not by somebody else telling us, but simply by God resolving the difficulty.” (Thomas Merton, Prayer and Identity)

Love One Another - Brian

Sabbath Rest

Tuesday is the weekly Sabbath Day for the John 13:34 Blog. Thanks for checking in. Back at it again tomorrow.

What If Jesus Had A Wife?

The mail box at the g-mail account has been filled with questions this past week about my thoughts on the recently revealed papyrus claiming that Jesus had a wife. Even more queries peppered my Thursday evening Introduction to the New Testament course where I have a large group of former church goers and a few members of some very conservative congregations in the area. What should we make of such a discovery? Does it throw the whole Christian faith into chaos? Does the text prove that Jesus was married? What do other texts from the time say about Jesus being married? Will this change contemporary Christianity? What if the papyrus is a forgery? What do you think the Vatican response will be?

Whoa! Everybody take a deep breath.

Harvard Magazine

First, what we have before us is an amazing archeological find thanks to a remarkable scholar: Dr. Karen King of Harvard University. Last week, Harvard Magazine featured the professor and the fragment in question: “Written on a piece of papyrus now reduced to just four centimeters high and eight wide, the fragment addresses issues of family and discipleship. ‘This is the only extant ancient text which explicitly portrays Jesus as referring to a wife,’ King writes in her scholarly paper on the ‘The Gospel of Jesus’s Wife,’ which she presented at the Tenth International Congress of Coptic Studies. The session took place across the street from the Vatican at the Institutum Patristicum Augustinianum, a research center within the faculty of theology at the Pontifical Lateran University (known as the Pope’s University).”

Harvard Magazine

The article went on to say, “King emphasized that this new discovery does not prove that the historical Jesus was married. This gospel, like others dated to the second century which make opposing claims—that Jesus was celibate, for example—are too late, historically speaking, to provide any evidence as to whether the historical Jesus was married or not, she says. But the fragment does suggest that 150 years or so after Jesus’s birth, Christians were already taking positions on such questions. Significantly, this new text pushes the date at which some Christians were asserting that Jesus was married back to a time contemporaneous with the earliest assertions that he was celibate.”  (http://harvardmagazine.com/2012/09)

Okay…. did you carefully read that first sentence from the last paragraph? Again, “King emphasized that this new discovery does not prove that the historical Jesus was married.” What it proves is what we already knew about Christians who lived in the second through fourth centuries. They were quite serious in asking questions about Jesus: Who was he? Where did he come from? Did he have a family? Was Jesus human? Was Jesus divine? So is it too far out of the realm of possibility to believe that some early Christians believed Jesus had a wife? Certainly not.

This tiny piece of papyrus is a fabulous, awesome, and stunning archeological find, that if proven to be authentic will force scholars, theologians, and regular folks like you and me to think again about who this Jesus of Nazareth really was. That process is not a bad thing to engage in from time to time for as I look over the course of my fifty-one years, the Jesus I knew as a child was very different from the Jesus I worshipped during my college days to the Jesus whom I love and follow as Lord today.

Second, in the end, who really cares if Jesus was married? Probably the “boys” at the Vatican have the most to lose in such a debate. But in the end, even that does not matter. Here is what matters most when it comes to Jesus of Nazareth….

Death and Resurrection.

That is what matters most about Jesus – his death and resurrection. In the end, my faith is not going to be rocked if Jesus was married or not, if he had a child or not, if he and his wife had a large family or not. I follow my Lord because of his extraordinary teachings on love and compassion; his witness to express those values not only in words but more importantly in deeds to folks who lived primarily on the margins of society; and most importantly the resurrection from the dead which gives meaning to this life and promise for the life which is to come. That is what really matters to me.

If Jesus had a wife, I hope her name was Rachel. A nice Jewish girl from Sepphoris. I have always loved that name…..

Love One Another - Brian

The Sunday Musical Offering - Gabriel Faure: Requiem (Introït et Kyrie, Offertoire)

This selection just felt right today with all that is happening in the world and in the local community. These are the first two portions of the Requiem in D minor, Op. 48 by Gabriel Fauré (1845-1924). Performed here by the Radio Kamer Filharmonie Orchestra and Capella Amsterdam Choir. The conductor is Ed Spanjaard with soprano, Ilse Eerens, and baritone, Henk Neven.

I. Introït et Kyrie 

Grant eternal rest to them, Lord,

and let perpetual light shine on them.

A hymn befits you, God in Zion,

and a vow to you shall be fulfilled in Jerusalem.

Hear my prayer,

for unto you all flesh shall come.

 

Lord, have mercy upon us.

Christ, have mercy upon us.

Lord, have mercy upon us.

II. Offertoire

O Lord Jesus Christ, King of Glory,

free the souls of the dead

from infernal punishment, and from the deep abyss.

Free them from the mouth of the lion,

do not let Hell swallow them up,

do not let them fall into the darkness.

Sacrifices and prayers of praise

we offer to you, O Lord.

Receive them for the souls of those

whom we commemorate today.

Lord, make them pass from death to life,

as you once promised to Abraham, and to his seed.

Love One Another - Brian

The Weekly Round-Up for September 22, 2012

Fall greets us at 10:49 am this morning (or something like that). The leaves here in Northeast Ohio are slowly turning and I look forward to that morning when you wake up and all of a sudden the trees are awash in color. Nothing like the fall. The Weekly Round-Up is ready to go for another week. I hope you enjoy it, dear reader. Thanks for your support of the John 13:34 Blog.

Best Editorial of the Week
Thomas Friedman, The New York Times

Look In Your Mirror

Second Best Editorial of the Week
Jim Wallis, sojo.net

Ethical Opportunity of a Video

This One Will Make You Think
Denise Heap, rationaldemocrat.wordpress.com

Thirteen Principles

This One Will Make You Think Too
Patrick David Heery, justiceunbound.org

America Held Hostage by Gun Violence

And Now A "WORD" from the Monastery
Curtis Almquist, ssje.org

Source

A Random Act of Kindness - This Will Make You Feel Good About HumanitySarah Medina, huffingtonpost.com

Winnipeg Bus Driver

Best Science Post of the Week
Natalie Wolchover, huffington.post.com

Science & God

Best Musical Posts of the Week
Various Writers and sources

Are You Working Hard Enough on Stage?

The Commoditization of Symphony Orchestra Musicians

Music to Give By

"And On This Farm He Had A Wife..... E..I..E..I..O"
Various Writers and Sources

The Gospel of Jesus' Wife (The New York Times)

A New Gospel Revealed (Harvard Magazine)

Coptic Text Mentions Jesus' Wife (Exploring Our Matrix)

Questions About the Gospel of Jesus' Wife (All Things Necessary Blog)

Five Big Questions About "Jesus' Wife" Discovery (Episcopal News Service)

The Best of Religious Thought for the Week
Various Writers and Sources

Crossing Borders at the Jewish Museum

Coptic Christians Live Quietly in New Jersey Town

Christianity Needs Revolution

It's Time for Islamophobic Evangelicals to Choose

Dalai Lama Tells Facebook Friends: "Religion is No longer Adequate"

Survey: Americans Overstate Size of Religious Minorities

Where are the Blessed Peacemakers?

Did Jesus Die to Save Us from God?

For Young Jews: A Service that States "Please, Do Text"

Is It Time to Write the Eulogy? The Future of Seminary Education

Church Wellness: What Can We Do?

Progressive Christianity: The 8 Points

Most Viewed Post At the John 13:34 Blog This Week
Wednesday, September 19

Divisions in the Church and the Need for Reformation

Always End with Kids, Animals or Even Adults Having Fun
Youtube.com

A dear friend of mine showed her Briard this week in Pittsburgh at the National Dog Show. In honor of Dante's performance, a little info and background on a most wonderful breed of dog.

Love One Another - Brian

Friday Night Lights IV

Last week, a disappointing loss to Brunswick, 26-22. Tonight, the Hudson Explorers hope to rebound against their rivals the Black Tigers from Cuyahoga Falls. Two teams with identical 3-1 records. This game may determine if Hudson heads to the playoffs or not. More importantly, there will be two exceptional bands playing at halftime so come out and enjoy the awesome music by some 400+ High School students. Hope to see you this evening at Memorial Field. Great pregame show at 6:40 followed by the 7:00 pm kick-off. What follows below are candids from last week's contest.

Love One Another - Brian

"Determination"

"Seven Nation Army"

"Quads"

"Sunshine"

"Waiting and Watching"

"All Shapes and Sizes"

"Trio"

"Miss Lucy"

"The Rockets Red Glare"

"Senior Duet"

Divisions in the Church and the need for Reformation

I was truly struck by the words of Don Underwood, pastor of Christ United Methodist Church in Plano, Texas, the other day when he posted a reflection on his blog entitled "The Church Is Dying". He made some very salient points about the state of the institutional Church and how divisions, animosity, and judgment will be the institution’s downfall. You can read more of his excellent refection here.

Thom Rainer, a church consultant, who I had the pleasure of serving with many years ago in North Carolina, posted an article on his blog about the Eight Warning Signs for Forced Termination of Pastors. Thom’s research is based on a series of different studies which have taken place in the larger church with the number one reason being division and strife. His post can be seen here.

From my own life experience of the past eighteen months, I understand both of these pastor’s positions all too well. Yet, with all that has happened over the course of these days, I am still convinced that the Church can be the place where people can find hope over despair, light instead of darkness, life instead of death. How can this happen?

It is not a revolution that the institutional Church so desperately needs. It is a reformation. It is a reclaiming of the idea that Jesus’ call to follow him was more about a movement than an established institution. The reformation that I see is a call to follow the Master into a new understanding about God, about abundant life in the here and now, about treating each other with respect and dignity especially when we disagree with one another, and most importantly, it is about helping others when they cannot help themselves.

Jean Vanier

Ever since I began my ministry twenty three years ago, I have followed the philosophy and writing of Jean Vanier. You may never have heard of this remarkable Christian but his story and witness is pretty close to the reformation of which I speak. Vanier was born in Canada and after an early career as a naval officer; he was led to follow a call to earn a degree in moral philosophy. In 1964, Vanier invited two men with Down’s syndrome to leave the institution and live with him. That simple act of kindness grew into what is called today the L’Arche movement, with nearly one hundred residential homes throughout the world providing care for the most vulnerable of this world.

In 1988, Vanier was asked by Harvard University to present two lectures about living the spiritual life in the contemporary age. These lectures became the inspiration for an insightful book entitled, “From Brokenness to Community.” Vanier’s philosophy about true community is very close to what I believe Jesus envisioned for his disciples. Vanier writes:

“It is my belief that in our mad world where there is so much pain, rivalry, hatred, violence, inequality, and oppression, it is people who are weak, rejected, marginalized, counted as useless, who can become a source of life and of salvation for us as individuals as well as for our world. And it is my hope that each one of you may experience the incredible gift of friendship of people who are poor and weak, that you too, may receive life from them. For they call us to love, to communion, to compassion, and to community.

“I am always very moved when I read the Gospel, and see how Jesus lives and acts, how he enters into relationship with each person: “Will you come with me? I love you. Will you enter into communion with me?” He calls each one he meets into a personal intimate relationship with himself. But as he invites people to follow him, he is also telling them that they must make a choice. If they chose one thing, it means refusing another. If they chose to follow Jesus, they receive a gift of love and communion, but at the same time they must say ‘no’ to the ways of the world and accept loss; they must own their choice.

“Then Jesus calls his friends into community with others who have been chosen for the same path. This is when all the problems begin! We see the disciples squabbling among themselves, wondering who is the greatest, the most important among them! Community is a wonderful place, it is life-giving; but it is also a place of pain because it is a place of truth and of growth – the revelation of our pride, our fear, and our brokenness.

“My experience has shown me that when we welcome people from this world of anguish, brokenness and depression, and when they gradually discover that they are wanted and loved as they are and that they have a place, then we witness a real transformation – I would even say ‘resurrection.’ Their tense, angry, fearful, depressed body gradually becomes relaxed, peaceful, and trusting. This shows through the expression on the face and through all their flesh. As they discover a sense of belonging, that they are part of a ‘family’, then the will to live begins to emerge. I do not believe it is of any value to push people into doing things unless this desire to live and to grow has begun to emerge.

“To live in communion with someone, to be in communion means to be with someone and to discover that we actually belong together. Communion means accepting people just as they are, with all of their limits and inner pain, but also with their gifts and their beauty and their capacity to grow: to see the beauty inside all of the pain. To love someone is not first of all to do things for them, but to reveal to them their beauty and value, to say to them through our attitude: ‘You are beautiful. You are important. I trust you. You can trust yourself.” We all know well that we can do things for others and in the process crush them, making them feel that they are incapable of doing things for themselves. To love someone is to reveal to them their capacities for life, the light that is shining in them.” (From Brokenness to Community, pages 9-11, 15-16).

What is happening in so many communities of faith today is a travesty. My heart weeps for what has happened to the faith community that I had been called to serve. But until judicatories, vestries, clergy (myself included), and the laity decide to follow the teachings and example of Jesus instead of the gods of the institution where power, manipulation, control, and malice persist in destroying the creatures of God, then we will continue to witness the decline, and perhaps the demise, of the intuitional Church.

I refuse to be part of dying Church. I would rather be part of the reformation. I desire to be part of a community and a movement where people acknowledge freely their woundedness and yet love one another in such a way where healing leads to transformation; where abundant life is seen and experienced in real and tangible ways. I wish to follow Jesus. Don’t you?

Love One Another - Brian

Sabbath Rest

Tuesday is the weekly Sabbath Day for the John 13:34 Blog. Thanks for checking in. Back at it again tomorrow.

 

Is The Church Dying?

Don Underwood leads a 6,000+ member church in Plano, Texas. Founding pastor of Christ United Methodist Church, with more than 26 years of experience at the helm, Don is more than qualified to offer the following post which appeared on his blog late last week. Interesting thoughts from a pastor who serves a thriving congregation of faith.

"If you love the church as I do, this will not be good news. Nevertheless, the church as we know it today is dying. It is a slow death, perhaps imperceptible to most, but it is a reality that cannot be denied. I am not talking simply about my denomination, United Methodism. The fact is that most expressions of the Christian church in America are in decline to one degree or another.

"These are the words used by a huge percentage of people to describe the church in America today: narrow-minded, judgmental, doctrinaire, mean spirited, political, irrelevant. This may not describe your church, but it describes how many people perceive the church in general, and more people are choosing every day to abstain from church attendance.

"Here are what appear to me to be some really good reasons to not attend church:

1) The message seems to be more about politics, ideology or the culture wars than about the Good News of Jesus;

2) You are told that there is only one way to interpret Holy Scripture and that you are not permitted to question certain theological assumptions;

3) You are provided with the latest verdict about who is saved and who is not;

4) You get the impression that you are not allowed to embrace both your faith and a modern scientific perspective;

5) The church feels more like a social club than a faith community;

6) The worship service and sermons are boring, irrelevant, or both.

"It occurs to me that the time has come to liberate Jesus and his Good News from the greedy clutches of the church. When Jesus walked along the Sea of Galilee to recruit his first disciples, he was creating a movement, not a church. He didn’t quiz the disciples about theology or doctrine, he didn’t demand a particular ideological or political perspective, nor did he require them to fully understand who he was or his mission on earth. He simply invited them to a life-changing journey that would be centered in their relationship with God. When you read about the disciples in the Bible it is clear that they were, from beginning to end, works-in-progress.

"Here is a thought experiment for you to try. If you were to bump into Jesus on your daily walk through your neighborhood or at the mall, what do you think he would say and what would he invite you to do? Do you think he would condemn you or encourage you to condemn others? Do you think he would engage you in conversation about the latest political drama in America? Or would he simply invite you, as he did Peter and John and the others, to follow him? To take a journey with him even though you don’t have all the answers.

"Ultimately, of course, we don’t need to liberate Jesus because it is Jesus who liberates us. And we don’t have to worry about saving the church. The challenge, in our time and place, is to simply follow him. Everything else falls into place." (http://donunderwood.wordpress.com/2012/09/07/the-church-is-dying/)

Following Jesus.... a life-changing journey.... a work in progress.... what a concept.

Love One Another - Brian

The Sunday Musical Offering - Beethoven, Symphony 1 (First Movement)

I had a conversation this week with a good friend who teaches music and directs the orchestra at the High School here in Hudson. Roberto was telling me about the repertory that he had selected for his students and mentioned that the members of the orchestra would be playing the first movement of the Symphony No. 1 by Beethoven later in the year. As soon as he said those words I knew what the selection would be for the Sunday Musical Offering this week.

The First Symphony of Beethoven has always been a favorite of mine dating back to my conservatory days. Scored for 2 flutes, 2 oboes, 2 clarinets in C, 2 bassoons, 2 horns in C and F, 2 trumpets in C, timpani and strings, the First Symphony is indebted to Beethoven's predecessors, particularly his teacher Joseph Haydn in addition to Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. That said, the characteristics that mark the piece as uniquely “Beethoven” are the frequent use of sforzandi and the prominent, more independent use of wind instruments.

The premiere of this symphony took place on April 2, 1800 at the K.K. Hoftheater nächst der Burg in Vienna. Oh, to have been in the hall that evening for the concert program consisted of his Septet and Piano Concerto No. 2, as well as a symphony by Mozart, and an aria and a duet from Haydn's oratorio The Creation. Can you imagine what that performance must have been like? In essence, the concert served to announce the composer’s talents to aristocrats of Vienna.

Here is the First Movement (Adagio molto, Allegro con brio) of the First Symphony of Ludwig van Beethoven performed by Maestro Christian Thielemann and the members of the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra.

Love One Another - Brian