https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M0vo43hu_HQ Virtual Choir, FAPCinNYC, Sept. 27, 2020 There's an image in Gary Snyder's "How Poetry Comes to Me" that I like very much. He compares poetry, the creative impulse, to a wild animal that comes up to his campfire, but stays just out of range at the edge of the darkness. So, says the poet, … Continue reading ‘I will arise and go to Jesus’: Seeking a personal God for a dark February twilight of the soul in Ilia Delio’s christology
Hark! A doleful song for the 196th anniversary of Springfield’s first public hanging Nov. 26, 1826
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g4FHvJvrElM ''Hark, from the tombs ...' | Filmed by Alan Lomax and crew, 1982 We have an anniversary coming up this week in Springfield. We probably won't observe the occasion, but Saturday will be the 196th anniversary of the first public hanging here, on Nov. 26, 1826. There's a good story behind it, too. A … Continue reading Hark! A doleful song for the 196th anniversary of Springfield’s first public hanging Nov. 26, 1826
Praying for trust, acceptance and other graces in the emergency room, ‘singing softly … like the south wind blows’
Longleaf pines, Weymouth Woods, N.C. (CC 2.0 license, Wikipedia Commons) Depend upon it, sir, when a man knows he is to be hanged in a fortnight, it concentrates his mind wonderfully -- Samuel Johnson (Goodreads). Welp, I don't plan on being hanged in two weeks' time, but a worrisome CT scan and a midnight trip … Continue reading Praying for trust, acceptance and other graces in the emergency room, ‘singing softly … like the south wind blows’
‘Christ child … singing softly’ like the south wind blows in the treetops — startling image in an African American folk carol
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FyIfCmGYRi4 Peggy Seeger singing "Child of God," American Folk Songs for Christmas, 1989. For the last few weeks, I've been playing Christmas carols by the fireplace at night. We have the lights up (well, actually, they've been for two years now), and I've got a hunch playing the carols might be a good spiritual exercise. … Continue reading ‘Christ child … singing softly’ like the south wind blows in the treetops — startling image in an African American folk carol
‘How Firm a Foundation’: Calling on a shape-note folk hymn in the hospital … and later by my fireside at home
Cross-posted to my trad music blog Hogfiddle. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UzUUkWwBZdI Recorded for online worship service on Sept. 6, 2020, Providence Church, Austin, Texas. This is the story of how I came to be singing an old Baptist folk hymn from the Sacred Harp under my breath as the anesthesia was taking hold last week in the cath … Continue reading ‘How Firm a Foundation’: Calling on a shape-note folk hymn in the hospital … and later by my fireside at home
‘Christ was born in Bethlehem’ — an Appalachian ballad that sums up Holy Week and the Easter season
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hzmzb1ZyL6c Norm Williams, Amanda Parker and Bob Mallalieu, Maidencreek Festival, Maier's Grove, Blandon, Pa., Aug. 29, 2010 (song begins at 1:29). Our services for Holy Week are all online this year, and it's quite a different experience for someone who always sang in the choir and couldn't quite shake the feeling they were performances. I … Continue reading ‘Christ was born in Bethlehem’ — an Appalachian ballad that sums up Holy Week and the Easter season
Of a gentle nudge from Jehovah, a Scots-Irish folk hymn and a childhood table grace on the interstate north of Lincoln
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uRdS5dIVmbM RESIGNATION, "My shepherd will supply my need ..." (Southern Harmony, No. 38) Bob Meeks Memorial Singing at Harrods Creek Baptist Church, Brownsboro, Ky., April 28-29, 2012. Before I get into what I'm about to say, I'd like to state for the record I don't believe the Common Lectionary was designed with me in mind. … Continue reading Of a gentle nudge from Jehovah, a Scots-Irish folk hymn and a childhood table grace on the interstate north of Lincoln
Ordinary Time 