Vaughan Williams, "Song of Thanksgiving"

D R A F T

Capitol Fax, a blog covering Illinois government and politics owned and operated by Rich Miller, http://capitolfax.com/2015/11/25/question-of-the-day-2162/#comments

also have a personal tradition of listening to Ralph Vaughn Williams’ “A Song of Thanksgiving.” I still get chills when the children start their part of song, imagining what it was like for the war-weary people to hear them in the aftermath of WW2:

Teach us the strength that cannot seek, By deed, or thought, to hurt the weak; That, under thee, we may possess Man’s strength to comfort man’s distress. Teach us delight in simple things, The mirth that has no bitter springs; Forgiveness free of evil done, And love to all men ‘neath the sun.

http://behindtheblack.com/behind-the-black/the-evening-pause/ralph-vaughan-williams-a-song-of-thanksgiving/ http://behindtheblack.com/behind-the-black/the-evening-pause/ralph-vaughan-williams-a-song-of-thanksgiving/

Robert Zimmerman, free-lance writer and blogger of the Washington, D.C., area, who recommends, "Go here for the full lyrics. It is absolutely worthwhile to print them out and read them as you watch this video. The images and words work together with amazing force, and illustrate well the importance of giving thanks on this day.

The BBC asked RVW to write a "thanksgiving anthem" to mark the end of World War 2 and this is the result. Originally called "Thanksgiving for Victory", it was later re-named and has been recorded several times. A lesser composer might have regarded such a commission as a mere 'job-of-work' - an occasional piece that would be performed once or twice and then forgotten; but Vaughan Williams, of course, gave it his all and came up with a work of poignant sincerity and emotional power; patriotic but never jingoistic or triumphalist. He selected the text himself from the bible, Shakespeare and Rudyard Kipling.

This performance is to be found on a DUTTON disc. Sir Adrian Boult conducts the London Philharmonic Orchestra, the Luton Choral Society and members of Luton Girls' Choir. The soprano soloist is Betty Dolemore and the speaker was Robert Speight. It was recorded at the Abbey Road Studios on 18th December 1951.

Johann Walter Geystliche gesangk Buchleyn (1537)

Johann Walter, Geystliche gesangk Buchleyn [Wittembergisch Geistlich Gesangbuch von 1524 zu drei, vier, und fünf Stimmen]. 1537. Otto Kade, ed. Publikation älterer praktischer und theoretischer Musik-Werke, Vol. 7. Berlin: T. Trautwein'sche Buch- und Musikalienhandlung, 1878. http://imslp.org/wiki/Geystliche_gesangk-Buchleyn_(Walter,_Johann)

Contemporary service music, Nov. 22, Atonement-Faith-Luther Memorial Church -- Saturday before Christ the King Sunday

Here is the music line up for this coming weekend. Central theme of the worship set this weekend is the kingdom of God.

Scripture this week is John 18:33-37.

Pilate entered the headquarters again, summoned Jesus, and asked him, “Are you the King of the Jews?” Jesus answered, “Do you ask this on your own, or did others tell you about me?” Pilate replied, “I am not a Jew, am I? Your own nation and the chief priests have handed you over to me. What have you done?” Jesus answered, “My kingdom is not from this world. If my kingdom were from this world, my followers would be fighting to keep me from being handed over to the Jews. But as it is, my kingdom is not from here.” Pilate asked him, “So you are a king?” Jesus answered, “You say that I am a king. For this I was born, and for this I came into the world, to testify to the truth. Everyone who belongs to the truth listens to my voice.”

Opening Song: That's Why We Praise Him - Jessica, Adam, Jamie, band

Worship Set:

-- Here I Am To Worship -- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CoxopsRSfdU

-- He is Exalted (I think most everyone will know this one) -- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FUPPVMynphU

**we will do the sharing of the peace here (at least that's my plan) - band will continue to play while sharing goes on, we'll come back in on He is Exalted after the sharing

-- Lord Most High (this is new, but it is an echo song - congregation should be able to follow easily) -- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pnDPt7igFcQ

Sung Lord's Prayer

Sending Song: Shout to the North -- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U-BRLSq_bJM

"Deck Us All With Boston Charlie" -- by Lambert, Hendricks & Ross

A holiday classic performed by Lambert, Hendricks and Ross

So I'm scrambling around printing out lead sheets/dulcimer tab for the Clayville-Prairieland Strings' annual Advent performance, and I blunder into the Walt Kelly classic, "Deck Us All With Boston Charlie." As everyone d'un certain age no doubt remembers, it was sung by Pogo the possum and his compères in the Okefenokee Swamp of Kelly's imagination in the comic strip Pogo, to the tune of "Deck the Halls With Boughs of Holly."

I've tried several times in recent years to explain Pogo's appeal to people who didn't live through the 1960s reading it every morning, and I've come up short each time. (I guess you had to be there?) So I'll just link to Wikipedia at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pogo_(comic_strip), which says it "combined both sophisticated wit and slapstick physical comedy in a heady mix of allegory, Irish poetry, literary whimsy, puns and wordplay, lushly detailed artwork and broad burlesque humor."

Like all good things, Pogo didn't last long enough. It went out of production with Kelly's death in 1973. I guess you could say it was the "Calvin and Hobbes" of its day.

So this afternoon I'm on the Internet looking for the lyrics to "Deck Us All With Boston Charlie." Last year John Wiseman brought in a set of lyrics -- hat tip to John, by the way -- but I've misplaced them, and I know I won't find them again till January or February, well after Christmas in any event.

And I found a recording on YouTube by Lambert, Hendricks and Ross. They were a talented group of jazz singers in the early 60s that specialized in scat, a vocal technique of singing improvised vocables or nonsense syllables to a melody (details on the group at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lambert,_Hendricks_%26_Ross and the technique at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scat_singing). The appeal of Walt Kelly's nonsensical Christmas song to Lambert, Hendricks and Ross is obvious -- and very, very lucky. Their arrangement is every bit as whimsical and well executed as the comic strip.

Lambert, Hendricks and Ross only sing one verse, and there are those of us who would argue there's really only the one verse. It goes:

Deck us all with Boston Charlie,
Walla walla, Wash., an' Kalamazoo!
Nora's freezin' on the trolley,
Swaller dollar cauliflower alley'garoo!
Don't we know archaic barrel,
Lullaby lilla boy, Louisville Lou?
Trolley Molly don't love Harold,
Boola boola Pensacoola hullabaloo!

But there are several others verses on the Lyrics Mania website. As I recall, they were suggested by other characters from time to time. But that first verse, with Nora freezing on the trolly in Walla Walla, Wash., is the one that appeared on the funny pages every year. The others are available on line at:

http://www.lyricsmania.com/deck_us_all_with_boston_charlie_lyrics_lambert,_hendricks_and_ross.html

Matt Redman "10,000 Reasons (Bless the Lord)"

Heard today at services for our next-door-neighbor John Robert Holderread, June 3, 1943-Nov. 8, 2015, at Staab Funeral Home:

Music video by Matt Redman performing 10,000 Reasons (Bless the Lord). (P) (C) 2012 sixstepsrecords/Sparrow Records. All rights reserved.

Article on evangelism [formerly] on ELCA's Living-Lutheran.org website

Editor's note [June 9, 2016]. In November, when Springfield's blended congregation now known as Peace Lutheran Church was first organizing an evangelism committee, I had no idea what "evangelism" meant -- other than a suspicion it sounded preachy and a vague notion it might have something to do with public relations. So I Googled it, and I found an article by Jennifer Phelps Ollikainen, titled "Worship and Evangelism," in Living Lutheran magazine on the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America's website. It made so much sense, I posted some excerpts to my blog for future reference.

Then, when I came back to them, I discovered ELCA has taken the article down.

But I still have the excerpts. Here they are:

WORSHIP AND EVANGELISM
Jennifer Phelps Ollikainen

Worship is evangelism. Evangelism is worship.

When we look at the definitions of these two practices, it is clear that they are intertwined.

Christian worship forms the Christian community into the body of Christ proclaiming the good news of Jesus Christ in word, sacrament, song and prayer.

Evangelism strategies look to share this good news intentionally with those who have yet to experience it.

Unfortunately, ELCA congregations have often fallen into practices for both worship and evangelism that separate the essential intertwining of the two.

Established worshiping communities often forget that worship is not just about proclaiming the good news for those already in the congregation. Proclamation reaches beyond the walls of the sanctuary to those who have not yet come to believe.

* * *

Understanding the foundational center of worship and evangelism as the proclamation of the good news of Jesus Christ for the sake of the world leads the congregation to ask hard questions that get to the core of our faith:

- How deeply do we believe that what happens in worship in the community of Christ is the living, transformative encounter with the gospel of Jesus Christ? How do we show this belief to those who are outside of worship?

- Into what do we invite people through our evangelism efforts? How do we make clear that it isn’t about membership into a particular congregation or attendance in worship but rather deep transformation in our lives on account of the gospel of Jesus Christ?

Responses to these questions will lead to practical implications for the congregation that seeks to shepherd the transforming and far-reaching proclamation of the good news of Jesus Christ through worship.

Jennifer Phelps Ollikainen. "Worship and Evangelism." 2013. Living Lutheran. Formerly available at http://www.elca.org/en/Living-Lutheran/Seeds/2013/03/130329 [dead link]. Ollikainen, of Allentown, Pa., is the southeast Pennsylvania congregational coordinator for Lutheran Congregational Services, an affiliate of Liberty Lutheran Services.

Evangelism in action

Here's a screen shot of the error message I got when I tried to Google into Ollikainen's article.

This year Living Lutheran and The Lutheran Magazine consolidated into one print and online publication, and I imagine the online back issues of Living Lutheran were taken down when that occurred. I thought the error message is pretty classy, anyway. Note especially the invitation in the lower left-hand corner: "This is Christ's church. There is a place for you here ..."

Now that's what I call evangelism.

Joni Mitchell -- BBC telecast from 1970 w/ dulcimer

dulcimer at 16:15 ( 29:38)

AllMusic Review by Richie Unterberger

A bootleg this may be, but you'll be hard-pressed to find a better early live half-hour video of Joni Mitchell, done for the BBC on October 9, 1970. Performing solo on guitar, piano, and (most interestingly, on "California") on zither, Mitchell presented seven songs from her first four albums. The sound and image are excellent (and in color), and Mitchell looks happy and at ease as she delivers the material in fine voice, though she oddly notes near the end that her pipes are going. Though a few of the songs are among her most famous early compositions ("Chelsea Morning," "Both Sides Now," "Big Yellow Taxi"), for the serious fans there are also some less celebrated early album cuts ("Cactus Tree," "My Old Man," "For Free," "California"). The only mild complaints to offer are that it's too short (her comment to the audience that her voice wouldn't have allowed her to sing much longer notwithstanding), and that there's a time code strip on the screen. That latter problem would presumably be fixable if this could somehow be cleared for official release.

my FB feed "California" (Live) by Joni Mitchell (1970) — For more videos like this, please follow (Like) the Official Facebook Page of Sydney Urshan! The instrument that Joni Mitchell plays in this video is an Appalachian dulcimer...

https://www.facebook.com/SydneyUrshanPage/posts/699640370172333 Sydney Urshan Happy 72nd Birthday Joni Mitchell! (born November 7, 1943) "Both Sides, Now" (Live) by Joni Mitchell (1970)

"Rock the Cradle Joe" (Joseph?) and a playlist for the Clayville-Prairieland jam session group's annual Advent performance at Atonement-Faith-Luther Memorial

Don Pedi, at left, joins in playing "Rock the Cradle Joe" in Athens, Ala.

Saturday's video

... shows my dulcimer teacher, Don Pedi of Madison County, N.C. (at left), jamming on one of the tunes I want to play at our jam session from 10 a.m. to noon Saturday, Nov. 7, in the barn at Clayville Historic Site, Ill. 125, Pleasant Plains.

We'll practice our selections Saturday for the annual soup supper gig. It's the third Wednesday in Advent this year, Dec. 16 (exact time TBA). Then we'll go around the room and call for tunes, songs -- or whatever -- we want to play. I've always wanted to sneak "Rock the Cradle Joe" into the Christmas program, maybe calling it "Rock the Cradle Joseph" in honor of the season? But I've always been overruled on that.

Playlist for Dec. 16

Here also, for convenient reference, is the music for Dec. 16. Links are to dulcimer tab w/ guitar chords available on line. But these songs are pretty standard, and the chords -- as always -- can be varied as you see fit. The songs are:

-- I Saw Three Ships -- (we'll play as an instrumental) http://barbfeick.com/vaudeville/Tabs/Dulcimer/Christmas%20DAA/I_Saw_Three_Ships_DAA.pdf.

-- Cherry Tree Carol -- (lyrics and chords on "DAA" tab) http://archive.dulcimersessions.com/dec07/smith.html.

-- What Child is This -- (dulcimer tab with lyrics and chords) http://www.thedulcimerhymnal.com/resources/media/What_Child_Is_This2.pdf (in E minor, a key that dulcimers can play in DAD tuning).

-- Joy to the World -- (dulcimer tab with lyrics and chords) http://www.thedulcimerhymnal.com/resources/media/Joy_to_the_World.pdf

-- Silent Night -- (melody and chords) http://www.threeriversdulcimersociety.net/Music/Silent%20Night%20-%203RDS%20(ME%20111213).pdf.

-- Silent Night -- (lyrics and chords in D) -- https://tabs.ultimate-guitar.com/s/sponge_cola/silent_night_crd.htm.

They're all in "D for dulcimer," except "What Child is This" in Em.

"God Himself is Present" -- a postcolonial Lutheran chorale for Reformation Day 2015

Jumala on läsnä [God Himself is Present] by Narrow Way

Jumala on Läsnä #KatajainenKansa

"Otu li moipafi, yakalunga ketu..."

"God, reveal your presence: gladly we adore you..."

"Jumala on läsnä, Häntä rukoilkaamme..."

"Gott ist gegenwärtig, lasset uns anbeten..."

The hymn is by 17th- and early 18th-century German Reformed mystic Gerhard Tersteegen, sung to a chorale melody by Joachim Neander. [1] It is widely sung in both the Reformed (Calvinist) and Lutheran traditions, and it has been translated variously. I know it as "God Himself is Present" (LBW 249) from singing it at Atonement Lutheran Church (ELCA) in Springfield, and today I came across it in a post by the Rev. Marjaana Toiviainen of Helsinki on a Lutheran World Federations website.

When I went looking for the hymn on YouTube, I found the interpretations embedded above.

• One is by Narrow Way, a gospel choir made up of African members of the Joensuu Evangelical Lutheran Congregation in Joensuu, a city in eastern Finland. [2]

• The other is a very cool version by Katajainen Kansa, a Christian reggae band of Helsinki. [3]

For a 350-year-old song, "God Himself is Present" certainly gets around.

That's interesting in itself, for a guy who's up to his neck in a historical analyis of cultural hybridity and creolization in Swedish-American hymnals. Tersteegen hailed from a part of Germany where political and cultural boundaries were fluid in the 17th and 18th centuries, as were relations between the Reformed and Lutheran faith traditions of the day. His hymn spread widely in northern Europe, and I even found a variant melody called TYSK (the Swedish word for German) that Hymnary.org attributes to "a chorale sung at Stockholm, 1718; Psalm und Choralbuch, 1719" -- a mystery to look into later when I get the time.

But Marjaana Toiviainen has concerns on her mind that are much more immediate.

A pastor in an inner-city mission in Helsinki and a doctoral candidate at Lund University in Sweden, she was inspired by hearing "God Himself is Present" as a delegate at LWF's "Global Perspectives and the Reformation" this month in Namibia. she wrote in an Oct. 29 post to the LWF's Faith in Action Worldwide weblog [3]:

The hymn resonated through my body and onto the walls of the church at Paulinum United Lutheran Theological Seminary [in Windhoek, the capital city of Namibia]. An impressive range of languages surrounded us and the Namibian sky echoed the words with the power of lightning and thunder. It was raining and we thanked God for that.

To Toiviainen, a lot of things came together in that moment -- the languages, the rain toward the end of the dry season in a drought-stricken nation that consists largely of desert, the community of church people "gathered together to reflect how to approach the Reformation anniversary in 2017." And what it means to live one's faith as a Lutheran -- a Christian, Jew, Muslim, Buddhist, Hindu or a follower of any other faith tradition in a broken, increasingly globalized world. She said:

In his sermon, Bishop emeritus Zephania Kameeta [of the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Nambia] reminded us what it is to be liberated by God's grace in that manner. Our faith lets us stand up in a healing community. But this faith does not only help us love and act, but also get lost and dirty. It forces us to take a cross and carry it. So we are not here to write or read theology. We are here to live theology, not hide it in the archives. Theology that is not afraid to be fragile and vulnerable. Theology that is lived, experienced and embodied.

In her doctoral studies at Lund, Toiviainen is concentrating on post-colonial theologies, global Christianity and inter-religious relations. On the way to the conference in Nambia, an independent republic in southwestern Africa [5], she was forcefully reminded what it means to exist in a broken, globalized world:

Just before leaving Helsinki, my home city, I had met a Syrian woman with her three children. She had lost her husband in Germany and they were not allowed to be reunited. They were oh so close to one another, but were not allowed to be together. And then I took off for Namibia. The flights had been booked and paid for, the seats arranged, the vaccinations organized and no visa was needed. To get to the other side of the world I had to do nothing but sit still and watch some movies on the plane. When one smiled at me at the security check, I could only think of the Syrian family and their struggle. The world sure is not fair.

During our opening worship I realized once again that the only way we as a community can tackle this unfair reality is through listening to everyone's story: different perspectives, reflections from our contexts, the world and Lutheranism as we see it. We have all been shaped by different issues, insights and events. Let us remember to listen to those stories, for they are where the Reformation of today arises from.

No happy endings here. Just more work to do. And more songs to sing.

NOTES

[1] "God Himself is Present," to give it its name in the Lutheran Book of Worship (No. 249), is usually matched with the tune ARNSBERG (called WUNDERBARER KÖNIG in Lutheran hymnals), according to Calvin College's Hymnary.org website at http://www.hymnary.org/hymn/GG2013/412. It is found today in 50 hymnals of all denominations. The alternate tune, TYSK, appears at http://www.hymnary.org/tune/tysk, and a sound file is available at http://hymndescants.org/tysk, along with this note: "The tune TYSK, which appeared in Stockholm in 1718, derives its name from the Nordic word for 'German,' evidently referring to a German church? style? - or perhaps hinting at an earlier tune for the text God himself is with us, which tune (ARNSBERG) was composed 40 years earlier by Joachim Neander - a name synonymous with German hymnody. In the English-speaking world, TYSK appears in very few hymnals at the moment - Epsicopal, Anglican, and Reformed almost exclusively."

[2] Narrow-Way, according to its Facebook page,

... is a musical group under Joensuu Evangelical Lutheran Congregation. The group is composed of Africans currently resident in Joensuu, Finland. The group was established in March 2013 to provide more variety of music in the Christian music landscape. Narrow-way thus specializes in rhythmic African music and acapella. Our music encompasses local African languages, English and Finnish compositions.

Our mission is to inspire, encourage and motivate our audience about the Christian faith.

Narrow-Way. Joensuu, Finland. https://www.facebook.com/narrowwayfinland/

[3] Katajainen Kansa (which means something like "juniper nation" in English), combines "Jamaican rhythms, world music and plaintive accordion" in exprssing the "Christian beliefs and spiritual heritage of our people," according to the band's website http://www.katajainenkansa.com/.

[4] Marjaana Toiviainen, "My Story and Our Story," 29 October 2015. Faith in Action Worldwide, Lutheran World Federation. https://www.lutheranworld.org/blog/my-story-and-our-story.

[5] Namibia, known from 1884 to 1920 as German South-West Africa, was ruled by South Africa after Germany lost its colonies in World War I. Located along the Atlantic coast in southern Africa, it was incorporated into a British mandate in South Africa and known as Southwest Africa. It became an independent republic in 1990. During the protracted struggle against apartheid and South African rule, the Lutheran churches were heavily involved. German missionaries were active in what is now Namibia from the 1880s onward, and about half its population of 2.1 million is Lutheran (see Katherine Caufield Arnold's honors thesis "The Transformation of the Lutheran Church in Namibia", William and Mary, 2009).

VIDEOS

• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KP3MBde05b4 Jumala on läsnä (a truly awesome interprtation by Katajainen Kansa, a Christian reggae band of Helsinki).

• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZmZ43Z2I6QA St. John's Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod, Hubbard, Iowa.

• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bLlDIdBx1zE "God Himself Is With Us," Waggoner and MacLaren, First Presbyterian Church, Perkasie, Pa.

• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ymw1hR_0Zsg CLL-2014, Chorleiterlehrgang 2014 im Tagungszentrum Bernhäuser Forst, Festlicher Abend. Ulmer Sonderdruck 27 (instrumental by brass choir).
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NY0ydRMNLLI Gemeinsames Lied zum EJT kurz vor dem Gottesdienst (congregational song shortly before the European Youth Day service of the New Apostolic Church, a charismatic group that has split off from the Catholic Church in Germany).

Messiah @ Bethany College, Lindsborg, Kansas

Verbatim excerpts:

Bethany College. "Messiah Festival of the Arts: The Tradition." http://www.bethanylb.edu/art-music-theatre/messiah-festival-of-the-arts/history/

Dr. Carl Aaron Swensson succeeded [Olof] Olsson as pastor of Bethany Lutheran Church in 1879. Bethany College was founded in the sacristy of the church on October 15, 1881, when ten children of the immigrant families began their higher education. The founding of Bethany College brought remarkable energetic people and ideas to this part of the Great Plains instilling both college and community with deep appreciation for music and art.

The Bethany Oratorio Society was founded in December 1881, when 40 parishioners were welcomed to the parsonage of Pastor Swensson and his wife Alma to learn the words and music of Messiah. Almost all of them were immigrants from Sweden who still lived in a pioneer world of sod houses. Alma Swensson, an accomplished musician, worked with the singers throughout the winter and spring in helping them learn the music as well as the English words. The first performance by the Bethany Oratorio Society was on March 28, 1882, in Bethany Lutheran Church. Every Palm Sunday and Easter Sunday since, the College and the people of Lindsborg have come together to perform Handel’s great oratorio. The annual tradition continues today as the oldest continuous annual performance of the Messiah in the United States.

Beccy Tanner. "'Messiah' is an Easter tradition in Lindsborg." Wichita Eagle, April 10, 2011 http://www.kansas.com/entertainment/arts-culture/article1060309.html.

LINDSBORG — When the opening strains of Handel's "Messiah" are sounded this Palm Sunday, it will mark one of the oldest Lenten traditions in North America.

Each year — often for nearly three months in advance of Easter — local farmers, homemakers, college students and business owners gather twice a week to rehearse the three-hour piece.

The end result is a 200-person chorus with a full-volume organ — one of the largest in the Midwest — and a class-act, nimble-fingered orchestra.

* * *

In 1879, 22-year-old Carl Aaron Swensson and his wife, Alma, arrived in Lindsborg and he became pastor of the Bethany Lutheran Church. Within two years, he started Bethany College for the immigrant children of the parish to receive a higher education.

Swensson had been a graduate of Augustana Seminary in Rock Island, Ill. When he returned to Rock Island for the spring graduation, Swensson saw a local church's rendition of the "Messiah" and vowed to produce it in Lindsborg.

That winter, Alma Swensson, a gifted singer, began working with Lindsborg parishioners to learn the "Messiah."

It was an ambitious undertaking.

"She taught people a phrase at a time, both notes and English words," said Jim Ruble, vice president of advancement at Bethany College.

On March 28, 1882, the Bethany Oratorio Society performed the "Messiah" in Bethany Lutheran Church as a fundraiser for the new college.

It was such a success, Alma Swensson took the show on the road, "in lumber wagons along dusty Kansas roads, to the neighboring towns of Salemsburg, Salina and New Gotland," Time magazine reported in 1939 when it featured Lindsborg's "Messiah."

Read more here: http://www.kansas.com/entertainment/arts-culture/article1060309.html#storylink=cpy

Bethany College. "Messiah Festival Proudly Announces Our 135th Season." http://www.bethanylb.edu/art-music-theatre/messiah-festival-of-the-arts/.

Kicking off the Festival will be the Bethany Theatre Department’s production of Lucas Hnath’s “The Christians” on March 18 and 19, directed by Professor Greg LeGault, who brought the incredible “Jesus Christ Superstar” production to last year’s Festival. Bethany’s Theatre Department is, at this time, one of a small number of non-professional/educational theatres nationwide to acquire production rights to the play, which made its New York City premiere on September 18, 2015, at Playwrights Horizons. A talk-back session will be scheduled in conjunction with the production. This performance will take place at Burnett Center on the campus of Bethany College both nights, and tickets are $15 regular admission, and $12 for students & Bethany faculty/staff.

Good Friday, March 25, sees the 86th annual performance of the Bethany Oratorio Society’s“Passion According to St. Matthew” by J.S. Bach

The 135th Messiah Festival will conclude with the historic performance of Handel’s “Messiah” on Easter Sunday, March 27, at 3 p.m. in Presser Auditorium, by the Bethany Oratorio Society and four of today’s brightest operatic talents, also directed by Dr. Lucas. The foundational event of the Messiah Festival of the Arts, this concert has long been an incredible musical experience for thousands of patrons every Holy Week since 1882. The performance will begin at 3 p.m. in Presser Auditorium. Tickets are $22 and $25, and will go on sale Jan. 1.

Hilton Als, "Divine Intervention: The Strange World of Lucas Hnath." New Yorker Sept. 7, 2015 http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2015/09/07/divine-intervention.

He is an artist whose particular brand of American strangeness grows along with his strengths, many of which—a sense of high drama, and a deep understanding of how the patriarchy wants to hold on to just that—are not immediately apparent in his minimal scripts, which look, on the page, less like dialogue than like poems.

from Orlando, MFA New York University

Michael Paulson, "Lucas Hnath’s ‘The Christians’ Tackles a Schism Among the Flock" New York Times, Sept. 3, 2015 http://www.nytimes.com/2015/09/06/theater/lucas-hnaths-the-christians-tackles-a-schism-among-the-flock.html.

But Mr. Hnath (pronounced nayth) is not going there himself. He has written an essay for the theater’s website, and the show’s program, explaining that he is choosing not to discuss his own beliefs or practices, believing that audiences need to decide for themselves how to respond to a play that depicts a typical American megachurch fractured by a dispute over salvation and damnation. Mr. Hnath, 36, is happy to talk about his upbringing — he went to Christian elementary and middle schools, helped out with youth ministry, tagged along with his mother to seminary classes — but his religious life after high school is off limits, leaving it up to theatergoers to ponder whether “The Christians” is fundamentally sympathetic to, or critical of, the kind of community it depicts.

Outline of my creolization paper for the Illinois Historical Journal

Posted here because it's likely to be the most complete outline I come up with for my article in the Illinois Historical Journal, and I don't want to lose it in all the cat videos, daily updates from "Bloom County," selfies and political memes on my Facebook page:

Atonement-Faith-Luther Memorial worship music, Saturday, Oct. 31

LIFE Today: Phillips Craig and Dean "Your Love is Amazing"

This week's scripture is Mark 12:28-34:

One of the scribes came near and heard [Jesus and the Sadducees] disputing with one another, and seeing that [Jesus] answered them well, he asked him, “Which commandment is the first of all?” Jesus answered, “The first is, ‘Hear, O Israel: the Lord our God, the Lord is one; you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind, and with all your strength.’ The second is this, ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no other commandment greater than these.” Then the scribe said to him, “You are right, Teacher; you have truly said that ‘he is one, and besides him there is no other’; and ‘to love him with all the heart, and with all the understanding, and with all the strength,’ and ‘to love one’s neighbor as oneself,’—this is much more important than all whole burnt offerings and sacrifices.” When Jesus saw that he answered wisely, he said to him, “You are not far from the kingdom of God.” After that no one dared to ask him any question.

Music:

• Hallelujah (Your Love is Amazing) - listen to the Phillips, Craig, and Dean version -- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FrymzdmMrVE
• Love the Lord by Lincoln Brewster -- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U8mr839-TVs
• I Love You Lord (an oldie, but goodie) -- Laurie Klein -- this version recorded by Maranatha! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SYV0ce3ybEA

During communion: What Kind of Love is This? - Adam & Michele & band

Sending Song: Love the Lord by Lincoln Brewster - send 'em out with one of the main points from the scripture. Below: Lincoln Brewster talks about "Love The Lord" off his new album 'Today Is The Day' - Available Now from Integrity Music.

Lincoln Brewster - Love The Lord - Song Story

Worship set, Saturday, Oct. 25, Atonement-Faith-Luther Memorial

"Open the Eyes of My Heart," Paul Baloche

• Open the Eyes of My Heart
• You Are My King (we did this a couple of weeks ago - no medley with Word of God this time though)
• Turn Your Eyes Upon Jesus - CHORUS ONLY
• Trading My Sorrows

Videos:

Open the Eyes of My Heart -- Paul Baloche -- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d8ful0cmPNQ

You Are My King -- Billy J. Foote -- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lcUxXOJfsh0

Turn Your Eyes Upon Jesus -- Helen H. Lemmel -- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ApHvOw_sURc

Trading My Sorrows -- Darryl Evans -- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gHDix8HHWCg

"Trading My Sorrows," Darryl Evans

Shakespeare's songs -- podcast from Folger library

Folger Shakespeare Library. Shakespeare Unlimited: Episode 33 http://www.folger.edu/shakespeare-unlimited-episode-33

David Lindley, professor emeritus of literature and music at the University of Leeds, is our guest for this episode of Shakespeare Unlimited. His book, Shakespeare and Music, appeared in 2006 in the Arden Critical Companions series. He is interviewed by Neva Grant.

This episode is called “Ay, prithee, sing.”

https://soundcloud.com/folgershakespearelibrary/music-for-shakespeares-lyrics

From the Shakespeare Unlimited podcast series. © October 7, 2015. Folger Shakespeare Library. All rights reserved.

Of the Chicago Cubs, the Communion of Saints and the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen

Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. Hebrews 11:1

A fine piece on the Daily Beast website at http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2015/10/17/priest-the-real-miracle-would-be-a-cubs-win.html", by the Rev. Nathaniel Katz, an Episcopal priest in California. The web address, which is also the headline, sums it up better than I could.

Mike Royko, back when the Chicago Tribune pretended to be a real newspaper, had a similar column. He said growing up on the Northwest Side and cheering for the Cubs was a spiritual discipline, kind of like having Lent all year around. I'm pretty sure I saw it in the Rock Island Argus in the fall of 1984.

Katz' column in the Daily Beast was similar. He said he finds a commonality between being a Cubs fan and being a Christian.

"Fundamental to both," he said, "is the deeply held belief that someday all the pain and suffering we have experienced in this life will come to an end through a great act of reconciliation. Cubs fans anticipate the moment when their dreams of a World Series title will be realized. Christians anticipate the return of Christ, when God will 'wipe every tear from [our] eyes. Death will be no more; mourning and crying and pain will be no more,' as is promised in one of my favorite scriptural passages found in the book of Revelation."

Katz said he's a fourth-generation Cubs fan, beginning with his great-grandmother Edna Blaesing, who "was born in Chicago in 1900, among the first generation of her German immigrant family to be born in the United States." He added:

She came of age as jazz and prohibition arrived in the Windy City. She joined the thousands who marched through her city’s streets demanding that women be granted the right to vote. And in the midst of all that, she came to love a baseball team that made its home on the north side of town—a team that brought glory to the city in her childhood by winning a World Series title."

In time the family moved to Michigan, and Katz never knew his great-grandmother. But he grew up with stories of her "devotion to the church where my mother had been baptized, and where my grandmother served as organist for decades," and of "her devotion to the Cubs." He added, "It was the telling and re-telling of these stories that shaped my own identity — both as a Christian and a Cubs fan."

Katz said the last game of this year's World Series, should it go to five games, will be Nov. 1, which is also All Saints' Day in the Episcopal liturgical calendar. He added:

... All Saints’ is a feast day that celebrates a time of nearness to those saints who have touched our lives — those who have nurtured us and shaped our ability to recognize ourselves, and one another, as children of God.

On this All Saints’ Day, I will lead an evening prayer service for students and young adults that I was given the honor of establishing just over a year ago at the Episcopal Cathedral in Los Angeles. We will gather in the darkness to read scripture and offer prayers by candlelight. That light will remind us of the constant presence of God’s radical and unconditional love—a love that dares to shine in the darkness and guides our way through life’s uncertainty.

Toward the end of the service, we will read the names of those women and men whose lives have taught us that we are recipients of God’s radical and redeeming love. Among the names that will be read that night is Edna Blaesing.

I believe that I will feel my great-grandmother’s nearness that night, as I have felt it many times before. And, who knows? This time we may find ourselves united in a new way — as Cubs fans who have witnessed our team crowned as World Series champions. Whether that reconciliation should happen this year or in a fall classic yet to come, it will have been worth the wait.

Darlene Zschech and Michael W Smith -- "Shout to the Lord" and "Agnus Dei" live in Alabama

Shout To The Lord (Darlene Zschech) and Agnus Dei (Michael W Smith). A cut on Zschech's Revealing Jesus CD featuring Darlene Zschech, Michael W. Smith (Keyboard and Vocal) and Alabama School of Fine Arts Strings

Comment by jaxbus3000 conveys something important: "I saw Darlene and Hillsong at a rather small church in San Diego about 9 years ago. First thing she said was we don't do concerts, we do church. She was so humble and yet had such talent backed by a strong faith, you just felt it. Needless to say it was a fantastic experience. "

Review at http://www.al.com/entertainment/index.ssf/2013/03/christian_singer_darlene_zsche.html on the Huntsville (Ala.) Times' website:

A new CD/DVD released today by Darlene Zschech, the Christian singer-songwriter and speaker, has several Birmingham connections. Recorded live at Church of the Highlands on Sept. 28-29, 2012, "Revealing Jesus: A Live Worship Experience," was arranged and conducted by UAB [University of Alabama Birmingham] Professor Henry Panion III and features string players from Alabama School of Fine Arts.

Review by Abraham and Natasha at http://www.modernjamming.com/note/darlene-zschech-revealing-jesus-album-review:

Revealing Jesus was released at March 19th, 2013 worldwide and recorded live at the Church of the Highlands in Birmingham, Alabama, on September 28 and 29 of last year. Produced by Grammy Award Winning producer Israel Houghton, Darlene was accompanied by New Breed and some famous song writers, Dove Award 2013 Winner Kari Jobe and Michael W. Smith.

And this, by Abraham:

One of the reason why I like Hillsong's song in Darlene era is because the unity, when they play a song. It's like a unison of a team that worshiping God, in a way that even their music style is simple, I can still feel a complicated reason behind their style. In this Revealing Jesus album, I can feel the same unison and complicated style. The same reason why I like Hillsong, I find it here; especially all of the Worship songs.

Full track list in Modern Jamming review.

Contemporary service music, Saturday, Oct. 17, Atonement-Faith-Luther Memorial blended congregation

"Rise Up & Praise Him," Gary Sadler & Paul Baloche

"Rise Up and Praise Him" -- Sadler and Baloche

Call to Worship/Opening: Rise Up & Praise Him (Gary Sadler & Paul Baloche) -

Worship Set:
-- Let Everything That Has Breath (Matt Redman)
-- Shout to the Lord (Darlene Zschech)
-- sharing of the peace (band plays Shout underneath)
-- Agnus Dei (Michael W. Smith) - this will come in right after sharing, connected from Shout to the Lord

After the message: Make Me a Servant (Kelly Willard) (will start with flute & guitar, then Jessica sings, then all praise team and congregation join)

Sending: Cry of My Heart (Terry Butler)

YouTube videos:

• Let Everything That Has Breath -- Matt Redman -- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n7lvyd1JdQU [10-03]

• Shout to the Lord -- Darlene Zschech -- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y78aKBa917I [9-22]

• Agnus Dei -- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KVFzxazTQNM

• Make Me a Servant -- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aPZy5HKn9AY

• Cry of My Heart -- Terry Butler -- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JHt4V4-YIoc [9-30]

  Service music (same every week)

  • Because We Believe -- Nancy Gordon and Jamie Harvill -- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e4BogEf_LpQ

  • The Lord's Prayer -- Matt Shephardson -- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=POW4IdhEJNQ

Michael Smith's Agnus Dei in live performance (10:15 min.):

Another performance (featuring Smith with Catalonian Choir) at Franklin Graham Festival de la Esperanza in Barcelona, May 2, 2015: http://billygraham.org/video/agnus-dei-michael-w-smith-live-in-barcelona/.

Dandy Dulcimer mentioned in Chapters XV and XXXVI

http://www.gutenberg.org/files/16003/16003-h/16003-h.htm#link2HCH0035

Chapter XV.[DD and the stranger leave Dublin, return to Ballytrain]

There was nothing further now to detain the stranger in town. He accordingly posted it at a rapid rate to Ballytrain, accompanied by Dandy and his dulcimer, who, except during the evenings among the servants in the hotel, had very little opportunity of creating a sensation, as he thought he would have done as an amateur musician in the metropolis.

Chapter XXXVI. Contains a Variety of Matters
—Some to Laugh and some to Weep at.

She was sitting on a lounger as she spoke, and the poor affectionate girl, who loved her as she did her life, threw herself over, and leaning her head upon her mistress's knees wept bitterly.

"Sit beside me, Alice," said she; "whatever distance social distinctions may have placed between us, I feel that the truth and sincerity of those tears justify me in placing you near my heart. Sit beside me, but compose yourself; and then you must assist me to bed."

"They are killing you," said Alley, still weeping. "What devil can tempt them to act as they do? As for me, miss, it's breaking my heart, that I see what you are suffering, and can't assist you."

"But I have your love and sympathy, your fidelity, too, my dear Alice; and that now is all I believe the world has left me."

"No, miss," replied her maid, wiping her eyes, and striving to compose herself, "no, indeed; there is another—another gentleman, I mean—as well as myself, that feels deeply for your situation."

Had Lucy's spirit been such as they were wont to be, she could have enjoyed this little blunder of Alice's; but now her heart, like some precious jewel that lies too deep in the bosom of the ocean for the sun's strongest beams to reach, had sunk beneath the influence of either cheerfulness or mirth.

"There is indeed, miss," continued Alice,

"And pray, Alice," asked her mistress, "how do you know that?"

"Why, miss," replied the girl, "I am told that of late he is looking very ill, too. They say he has lost his spirits all to pieces, and seldom laughs—the Lord save us!"

"They say!—who say, Alice?"

"Why," replied Alice, with a perceptible heightening of her color, "ahem! ahem! why, Dandy Dulcimer, miss."

"And where have you seen him? Dulcimer, I mean. He, I suppose, who used occasionally to play upon the instrument of that name in the Hall?" "Yes, ma'am, the same. Don't you remember how beautiful he played it the night we came in the coach to town?"

"I remember there was something very-unpleasant between him and a farmer, I believe; but I did not pay much attention to it at the time."

"I am sorry for that, miss, for I declare to goodness, Dandy's dulcimer isn't such an unpleasant instrument as you think; and, besides, he has got a new one the other day that plays lovely."

Lucy felt a good deal anxious to hear some further information from Alley upon the subject she had introduced, but saw that Dandy and his dulcimer were likely to be substituted for it, all unconscious as the poor girl was of the preference of the man to the master. "He looks ill, you say, Alice?"

"Never seen him look so rosy in my life, miss, nor in such spirits."

Lucy looked into her face, and for a moment's space one slight and feeble gleam, which no suffering could prevent, passed over it, at this intimation of the object which Alley's fancy then dwelt upon.

"He danced a hornpipe, miss, to the tune of the Swaggerin' Jig, upon the kitchen table," she proceeded; "and, sorra be off me, but it would do your heart good to see the springs he would give—every one o' them a yard high—and to hear how he'd crack his fingers as loud as the shot of a pistol."

A slight gloom overclouded Lucy's face; but, on looking at the artless transition from the honest sympathy which Alley had just felt for her to a sense of happiness which it was almost a crime to disturb, it almost instantly disappeared.

Ch. XLI. DENEOUMENT

Dandy Dulcimer and Alley followed the example of their master and mistress, and were amply provided for by their friends, with whom they lived in confidential intimacy for the greater portion of their lives.

Miscellaneous links for Thursday's Clayville-Prairieland slow jam and song-learning session -- "Wild Mountain Thyme," "Hard Times" and our Advent playlist

Blast email sent out this evening to everyone on the Clayville-Prairieland Pioneer Academy of Music electronic mailing lists.

Somehow the third Thursday of the month came sneaking up on me when I wasn't looking. (OK, OK, it's because Oct. 1 fell on a Thursday. It happens every seven months or so, and I should have been looking out for it.) Anyway, our "third Thursday" Clayville-Prairieland slow jam and song learning session is this Thursday, Oct. 15, at our usual location, Atonement-Faith-Luther Memorial Church, 2800 West Jefferson. Same place, new name.

Rather than introduce a new tune this week, I'm linking you to to lyrics, guitar chords (in D), lead sheets and dulcimer tab for a couple of songs we've done in the past -- "Wild Mountain Thyme" and "Hard Times Come Again No More." I'm also linking to performances I found on YouTube that were posted from the BBC-4 television series "Transatlantic Sessions," that brought together roots musicians from Ireland, the UK and the US (especially Nashville) in 1996. Both performances are stunning.

And I'm posting links to dulcimer tab for our holiday performance. In the past, we have played at Atonement's Advent soup supper in December as our way of saying thanks for the use of the building, and I will keep you posted as plans develop for the new blended parish.

Lots of links this time -- you can either save this email message or go to my blog where I will copy this message and embed the videos at:

http://hogfiddle.blogspot.com/2015/10/wild-mountain-thyme-hard-times-advent.html [this location]!

ADVENT/CHRISTMAS PLAYLIST

At our last session, we decided on the music for our annual holiday performance. Links are to dulcimer tab w/ guitar chords available on line. But these songs are pretty standard, and the chords -- as always -- can be varied as you see fit. The songs are:

-- I Saw Three Ships -- http://barbfeick.com/vaudeville/Tabs/Dulcimer/Christmas%20DAA/I_Saw_Three_Ships_DAA.pdf.

-- Cherry Tree Carol -- http://archive.dulcimersessions.com/dec07/smith.html.

-- What Child is This -- http://www.thedulcimerhymnal.com/resources/media/What_Child_Is_This2.pdf (in E minor, a key that dulcimers can play in DAD tuning).

-- Joy to the World -- http://www.thedulcimerhymnal.com/resources/media/Joy_to_the_World.pdf

-- Silent Night -- http://www.threeriversdulcimersociety.net/Music/Silent%20Night%20-%203RDS%20(ME%20111213).pdf.

If you have other sheet music, I'm sure it will work just as well.

WILD MOUNTAIN THYME

As performed by Dick Gaughan, Emmylou Harris, The McGarrigles and Rufus Wainwright on BBC-4's Transatlantic Sessions.

Mountain dulcimer tab. EverythingDulcimer.com has three sets of tab. We want the one posted by RL Walker -- in DAD and DAA -- because it has lyrics and suggested guitar chords:

http://www.everythingdulcimer.com/files/tab/wild_mountain_thyme.pdf.

Lyrics and chords. This song is usually in G -- I don't know who could possibly sing it that high. Sopranos? Men who had had an unfortunate accident? -- but the UltimateGuitar.com website has it in D. When you go to print out a copy, click on "font size" a time or two (I did it three times) to enlarge it. Link here:

http://tabs.ultimate-guitar.com/t/traditional_irish/wild_mountain_thyme_crd.htm.

HARD TIMES COME AGAIN NO MORE

Kate & Anna McGarrigle and friends (Rufus Wainwright - son of Kate -, Emmylou Harris, Mary Black, Karen Matheson, Rod Paterson) perform Stephen Foster's Hard times come again no more during the Transatlantic sessions.

Shelley Stevens http://archive.dulcimersessions.com/feb06/foster.html.

Steve Smith http://www.everythingdulcimer.com/files/tab/hard_times.pdf.

Guitar chords http://tabs.ultimate-guitar.com/s/stephen_foster/hard_times_come_again_no_more_crd.htm.

"Bonnie Brown Girl" -- links and documentation

"My Pretty Fair Maid" https://thesession.org/tunes/1377

Also known as An Cailin Deasdonn, Óró Bog Liom Í, The Pretty Brown Girl.

Five settings in abc notation with PDF and MIDI files by user Caoimhin -- " am a fiddle player living in Springfield, Ohio. I am the founder and organizer of the Dayton Session as well as other various Irish Trad music events in the Dayton area." added tunes 12 to 2 years ago -- all are up-tempo similar to O'Neill's melody.

Documentation: Sean Williams of Evergreen State College in Washington state, who studied under storyteller Joe Heaney and knows a thing of two about Irish song traditions, says “The Pretty Brown Girl” is one of a number of “upbeat, somewhat salacious, Irish-language songs” in 6/8 time that deal with sex and love readily granted, in the context of humor.” (181-83).

Irish singers, Williams says in her introductory college textbook Focus: Irish Traditional Music, have an expression – “say a song, tell a story” (179). It means that “the important relationship between story and song cannot be overstated.” That’s true even with a confection like “The Pretty Brown Girl.”