Carter at 12
on Category: life
on Musical Friendships
on On my commute this morning, I was shuffling tunes and realized that many of the tunes I was hearing were recommended to me by friends through the years. Based on the songs that came my way this morning, here’s a tribute / thanks to the people who made the world a little brighter by introducing me these bands. I’m sure there are many more of you who’ve improved my life by music you’ve shared, but these are the tunes that showed up today.
Bill Hair -> First Aid Kit
Deanna Toten-Bear -> Dry the River
David Burns -> Alabama Shakes
Juli Royster -> Patty Griffin
Ellen Filgo -> Over the Rhine
Stephen Bolech -> Death Cab for Cutie
and my blast from the past tribute: to Dale Connally for introducing me to Cowboy Junkies (on cassette tape!) while on a roadtrip to the Grand Canyon some 25 years ago!
Thank you for enriching my experience, both with your friendship and your music.
Like a father…
on On father’s day, we sang a hymn at church entitled “Loving Spirit” written by New Zealand hymn writer Shirley Erena Murray (b.1931), set to one of my favorite tunes, RESTORATION*, from Walker’s Southern Harmony of 1835.
Full disclosure — I picked this hymn (as the music director of our church). I should also add that I’m not a fan of letting secular holidays or observances horn in on the worship of the church. In my view, Worship isn’t about Mother’s Day, Veteran’s Day, etc. But that’s not what this post is about. It just so happens that this hymn uses father imagery (as well as mother, friend, and lover imagery) to explore the nature of the Holy Spirit. But it did seem particularly poignant to me as I stood in the pew with Ann and our two boys on Father’s Day, that this hymn included this line:
“Like a father you protect me, teach me the discerning eye, hoist me up upon your shoulder, let me see the world from high.”
It caught my attention for a number of reasons– the joy and responsibility that comes with being a parent, that parents are called to protect and to teach. But what really moved me was this idea of helping our children (as well as God helping us as God’s children) to see the world in a different way, from a larger, higher-altitude perspective than a child could on his or her own. The image of hoisting up on our shoulders is beautiful. It also made me sad to think of all the times when Max (our now six year old) has asked me to put him on my shoulders and I’ve said, “you’re too heavy” or “it’ll hurt my back” or “we’re too busy for that right now.” I’m going home after work today and putting him on my shoulders just because I can and to think about what such an act means. I’m also thinking about what such an act looks like with our oldest, Carter (now eleven and almost as tall as me!)– perhaps more figuratively than literally! This act is not just about the mechanics of one person sitting on top of another person’s shoulders. It’s about connecting, doing for others, of partnership, of being a servant, of lifting up another, of sharing an experience and view of life.
*Here’s a link to an organ arrangement of the tune by Herbert Colvin, who was my music theory professor during my undergrad.
Confession and Absolution
on This is an excerpt from the confession and absolution during a recent Lenten service at my church, St. Matthew Lutheran, that was particularly meaningful to me:
Pastor: Talk is cheap. There is an enormous gulf between a word said and a deed done. We know too well the pain of broken promises and the hurt caused by empty assurances. People have failed us. But we know that we also struggle to keep our word. We have caused and continue to cause our own hurt and pain. We have failed others. We have failed God.
Congregation: Lord God, I have not been faithful. I have made promises that I could not keep. I have spoken a word of agreement and then forgotten to uphold it. I have given assurances and then failed to follow through. I have committed and then changed my mind when it became difficult. Forgive me for my empty words. Forgive me for my broken promises. Forgive me for being faithless.
Pastor: When we are faithless, He remains faithful…
on capturing life
on while i really like the idea of a journal or diary, i’ve never been very successful at it. i’m still not, but i’ve been using an online tool that has certainly helped and has shown me a benefit of journaling: http://ohlife.com/. each evening, i receive an email saying “how’d your day go?” and by replying to the email, i’ve added an entry to my online journal at ohlife. i like the reminder and the ease. sometimes i write a sentence, sometimes more, sometimes i delete it feeling like i’m too busy or my inbox is stressing me out. most times i don’t reply until the next day (who knows what’ll happen latter that night you’d want to write about!) and sometimes (though i don’t recommend it), i catch up on replying to several days worth of emails all at once.
here’s what i really love about this tool though. the “how’d your day go?” email always includes this: “remember this? one month ago you wrote… [along whatever you submitted that day]. the time machine varies, sometimes it’s a month ago, a week ago, a year ago, etc. i’ve even seen things like “800 days ago you wrote…”. pretty cool. but the part i love the most is that i am reminded of really great moments of life, that quickly get lost in the busyness and tedium of life. i’ve realized that often, no matter how meaningful a life moment might be, that it is so easy for it to get buried under layers and layers of other life, and then in many ways, lost. here’s a an example that arrived in my inbox recently that resurfaced the kind of thing i want to remember. to me, this is the real beauty of recording life in a journal.
Remember this? One month ago you wrote…
easy start to the morning everyone in the kitchen eating at roughly the same time. running some errands before our trip. after we got home, carter and I stood in the garage with the door open watching the rain and talking. it was clear it was a moment that I want to remember and cherish. carter was carrying some stuff in from the car and said, “I’m going to take this inside and then I’ll come back and we can talk some more.” 🙂 he’s already not that talkative at age 10, so this was a really great moment.
this morning’s run
on HEre’s a view of my morning run along the canal in downtown Indy. Beautiful running weather (at 37 degrees!) but no rain like yesterday morning. Lots of great art and architecture along this path that you can see on this google map of the run:
on running
on Ran across a phrase this weekend that spoke to me and that summed up nicely what running has meant for me lately. It was in an editorial by David Willey, Editor-in-Chief of Runner’s World magazine:
” . . . [I] felt my senses shift from desk-bound and stressed out to alert and alive.”
God’s Love Made Visible
on Jazz legend Dave Brubeck died yesterday, 5 December 2012, one day short of his 92nd birthday. A noted composer, pianist, and band leader, he is probably best remembered for his recording of the 1959 classic “Take Five” (composed by fellow band member and saxophonist Paul Desmond), the first jazz recording to sell over a million copies. Brubeck’s fascination with exploring non traditional time signatures (at least for jazz at the time), is seen in other works from the time as well, such as his “Blue Rondo à la Turk (in 9/8 time). In addition to his work in jazz, he also composed orchestral works, ballets, oratorios, and cantatas.
In the 1970s, he collaborated with his wife, Iola, on the cantata La Fiesta de la Posada, reflecting the Mexican Christmas tradition commemorating the journey of Mary and Joseph and their search for lodging in Bethlehem.
Brubeck says about the musical tradition that inspired Fiesta de la Posada: This music “reflects those qualities I most admire in people…dignity in moments of tragedy, infectious high spirits in moments of joy, and an unshakable religious faith made evident in a strong sense of one’s own worth and a deep respect for the shared values of one’s group — family, church, village. These qualities, I think, are universal to people with a strong communal sense — an increasingly rare attribute in urban culture. It is this sense of sharing in an event which I have tried to capture in the simple retelling of the Christmas story.”
(source)
I had the wonderful opportunity to experience this cantata performed by Dave Brubeck and his trio in San Antonio in 1984.
From this cantata comes one of my most favorite “christmas songs” — God’s Love Made Visible!. Dave Brubeck incorporate the same 5/4 time signature used in “Take Five”, but here blends it with a joyful Mexican musical style (complete with claves, maracas with interjections from a celebratory pair of trumpets). Iola’s text beautifully sums up the the most central theme of Christmas:
God’s love made visible! Incomprehensible!
Christ is invincible! His love shall reign!
From love so bountiful, blessings uncountable
make death surmountable! His love shall reign!
Joyfully pray for peace and good will!
All of our yearning he will fulfill.
Live in a loving way! Praise him for everyday!
Open your hearts and pray. His love shall reign!
God gave the Son to us to dwell as one of us –
a blessing unto us! His love shall reign!
To him all honor bring, heaven and earth will sing,
praising our Lord and King! His love shall reign!
Open all doors this day of his brith,
all of good will inherit the earth.
His star will always be guiding humanity
throughout eternity! His love shall reign!
The Most Beautiful Place in the World
on Ann asked me to check a book out from the library to read to her class and she shared with me this beautiful ending to the book:
I started to wonder if San Pablo really was the most beautiful place in the world. I wasn’t sure my grandmother had ever been anyplace else, but I still thought she’d know.
“Grandma,” I said, is it?”
“Is what?” she said.
“Is San Pablo the most beautiful place in the world?”
My grandmother made a little face.
“The most beautiful place in the world,” she said, “is anyplace.”
“Anyplace?” I repeated.
“Anyplace you can hold your head up. Anyplace you can be proud of who you are.”
“Yes,” I said.
But I thought, where you love somebody a whole lot, and you know that person loves you, that’s the most beautiful place in the world.
The Most Beautiful Place in the World, by Ann Cameron
twenty years ago…
on Twenty years ago, I embarked on a journey with my best friend, Ann. Way back then, I knew I loved her, but like all twenty somethings, I had no idea what I knew or didn’t…no idea what depths and heights were even possible in anything. And while all these years later, I certainly don’t profess to be an expert at anything, this journey has taught me much about life, love, and relationship…about hardship, pain, immense joy, soul crushing heartache, selfishness, selflessness…about laughter and forgiveness, about companionship, and grace. Thank you, Ann, for being my partner on this wonderful journey. I love you.