Music

2013: some favourites, some thanks

Amidst all that I have read, re-read, listened to and watched during this past year, I am especially grateful for having read, re-read, listened to, and watched the following:

Books

Biblical Studies

Biography

Cooking

Fiction

History

Philosophy

Poetry

Theology

Music

Films

I am equally grateful to those readers of this blog, and to those fellow wayfarers in blogdom, who have recommended some of these gems.

I am grateful too that this year has seen the birth of three books that I have either written or edited – Hallowed Be Thy Name: The Sanctification of All in the Soteriology of P. T. Forsyth, Descending on Humanity and Intervening in History: Notes from the Pulpit Ministry of P. T. Forsyth, and, most recently, ‘Tikkun Olam’ To Mend the World: A Confluence of Theology and the Arts. I hope that each of these prove beneficial – and rollicking good fun – for those who take up and read them.

As 2013 approaches expiration, I wish to sincerely thank readers of Per Crucem ad Lucem for stopping by, for reading my periphrastic prose, for offering comment (both online and via email), and for subscribing to and linking to posts. I hope that you have been blessed by what and by who you have encountered here, and I look forward to continuing a further leg or two of the pilgrimage with you. Ngā mihi o te Tau Hou ki a koutou katoa.

Simeon’s Song

Rembrandt - Simeon With Christ ChildMalcolm Gordon, a dear friend of mine and the engine behind the very exciting One Voice Project, wrote and recorded a new song last night based on Luke 2.25–31. It’s called ‘Simeon’s Song’, and about which he writes:

‘I wrote it for the youth group who are having a worship night tonight and wanted to reflect on this story as a turning point between anticipation and celebration. I’ll probably play it at the midnight Christmas Eve service at St Peters too, hence the night/darkness themes’.

I thought it was worth sharing here too; so, with Malcs’ permission, here ‘tis:

Rembrandt - Simeon's Song Of Praise 1661I’m just an old man
With an ancient conviction
That God is troubled by our pain

I have no wisdom
Just a fool’s expectation
That God will come to our aid

Through prayer and through pain
My hope has not strayed
Keep watch with me
My soul aches for dawn
My heart stretched and worn
Keep watch with me
O my Lord
O my friend

I’m just a lone voice
Frail in the darkness
But the night can only last so long

I’m just a watchmen
Eyes to the distance
Waiting for heaven’s light to show

Through prayer and through pain
My hope has not strayed
Keep watch with me
My soul aches for dawn
My heart stretched and worn
Keep watch with me
O my Lord
O my friend

He’s just a small child
From nowhere special
But something tells me, this is it

My heart’s desire
My world’s salvation
A candle in this darkness has been lit

Through prayer and through pain
My hope has not changed
Keep watch with me
My soul aches for dawn
My heart stretched and worn
Keep watch with me
O my Lord
O my friend

God can I go to sleep now
I’ve stayed awake to the sunrise
With my failing eyes
I see through Love’s disguise
In my arms I hold the world.

Note: Malcolm has made the link to the song downloadable so if folk want to use it (or one of the other songs available here) for a church service, or for personal reflection, it’s there to be had. Share the love!

November stations …

Reading:

Listening

Leunig

Real Men

‘Our Great High Priest’, a song by Glen Soderholm

Glen SoderholmGlen Soderholm is an accomplished musician and songwriter, an ordained minister (with the Presbyterian Church in Canada), and a teacher in the area of the theology and curating of worship. He tells me that he is also ‘currently part of a group of friends giving birth to a missional community in his living room and neighbourhood, and that he has a deep and abiding interest in the relationship of trinitarian/incarnational/onto-relational theology to worship, arts, and culture’. 

Following my recent post on James Torrance’s hymn, ‘I know not how to pray, O Lord’, Glen contacted me and shared with me his own song on that theme, ‘Our Great High Priest’. This song, he tells me, was ‘inspired by a life-changing encounter with James Torrance’s book Worship, Community, and the Triune God of Grace. I read it and felt like I’d come home’. Glen gave me permission to share his wonderful song.

Our great high priest now at the throne
You ever live to pray for your own
And to the Father, you make us known
Our great high priest now at the throne

We long to pray, but we don’t know how
We yearn to stay, but lack the power
Our wills are weak, our tongues are tied
Oh lift us now, right to your side

For us you came to this low plane
For us you lived with joy and pain
For us you died to set us free
And rose on high to bear our plea

Glen’s music is available here or through iTunes.

October stations …

SAMSUNGReading:

Listening

Link love

Leunig love

Leunig-iPad-The Lost Art

Leunig - Words for mystery

[Source: The Age]

September stations …

Tilda SwintonReading:

Listening:

Watching:

  • Babel
  • The Pillars of the Earth
  • We Need to Talk About Kevin. This is one of the most extraordinary films I’ve seen in many years, with an absolutely astonishing performance by Tilda Swinton. (On a less enthusiastic note, Australia’s ‘MA 15+’ rating is severely misjudged.)

August stations …

Reading:

  • Hannah Arendt: For Love of the World by Elisabeth Young-Bruehl. An impressive and well-researched biography on one of the most untwitter-like characters of the twentieth century.
  • Wild Red Horses by Alan Marshall. This one’s worth reading just for the great story ‘Singing to God’.
  • The Word of God and Theology by Karl Barth. An energetic and fresh translation, with excellent critical notes, of some of Uncle Karl’s most important essays. An absolute ‘must-read’ for preachers!
  • Complicity in the Holocaust: Churches and Universities in Nazi Germany by Robert P. Ericksen. A very helpful study and, if Ericksen’s right, an important corrective to many widely-held misconceptions.
  • Tradition and Dissent by Davis McCaughey. A fascinating collection of addresses from one of the great Antipodean minds of the twentieth century. Thank you Belfast!

Listening:

Watching:

John Milne’s ‘The Jesus Prayer’

A few weeks ago, I drew attention (here on PCaL) to the work of American composer John Milne and to his piece  ‘Per Crucem ad Lucem‘. Since then, John has kindly sent me a number of additional recordings of his work, so I thought I would share another one. Here’s his rendition of ‘The Jesus Prayer’:

Lord Jesus Christ, Son of the Living God, have mercy on me, a sinner
In death, I will stand before the Son of Man – Behold I tell you a mystery.

John Milne’s ‘Per Crucem ad Lucem’

FugueOne of the amazing readers of this blog, the aspiring Chicago choral composer John Milne, was kind enough to email me a copy of a wonderful piece of music that he had recently written and recorded. It is titled ‘Per Crucem ad Lucem‘, about which he writes:

I had originally conceived a very modern arrangement, a slow evolution of minor and sometimes dissonant chords rising up and eventually resolving into a triumphant major chord, but once the phrase took on a melodic form I knew it had to be something more of a Bach-like fugue.

You can listen to the piece here. As you might imagine, I was absolutely delighted that John sent it to me, and then gave me permission to post it here. The music is both deeply moving and a faithful witness to the truth articulated in its title. What do you think?

A few days later, John sent me another piece, this time one set to the poem ‘Soft and safe to thee, be this earthly bed’. I may post it sometime.

June stations …

The Collected Poems of George Mackay BrownReading:

Listening:

Watching:

 

May stations …

Reading:

Listening:

Watching:

some thursday drop-offs

Drop-off-AreaIt’s been a while since I shared some link love. Let me remedy that:

April stations …

George Mackay Brown and the Philosophy of CommunityReading:

Listening:

Watching:

March stations …

Reading:

Listening:

Watching:

February stations …

Reading:

Listening:

Watching:

December-January stations …

GreenvoeReading:

Listening:

Watching:

November stations …

https://i0.wp.com/www.schwabe.ch/uploads/pics/shop/wc_4995.jpgA combination of conferences, travel, editing and teaching – and a Kilimanjaro of admin – has meant that it’s been a little bit of a light month on the reading front, and that the pile of unread books amassing on and under and around my desk, bed and toilet bowl are scaling to unforeseen heights. That said, my daughter’s school teacher – the lovely Margie Hanning – introduced me to some of the wonderful titles listed here.

Reading:

Listening:

  • 20 by Kate Rusby.

Watching:

October stations …

Reading:

Listening:

September stations …

Reading:

Listening:

Watching:

some thursday afternoon link love

Finally, I want to give a big shout out to a friend, minister and musician named Malcolm Gordon. Malcs has been busy writing material for his latest album. (You can check out some of his earlier work here and here. You can even get some of it for free here.) The songs have grown out of his preaching ministry at St Paul’s Presbyterian in Katikati, in the Bay of Plenty. For a while now, Malcs has known that most of our theology (good and bad) is sung. He writes: ‘That’s how we retain and take ownership of anything, we hum it, we whistle it – we take the word made flesh and make it a song’.

Malcolm has recently stepped out of parish ministry to make more space for this wildly unpredictable gift of music, and he’s about to head into the studio to record an album that has the tentative working title, ‘Into the deep.’ You can listen to the title track itself here:

About this song, Malcolm writes: ‘This song seems to capture the incredible feeling of being out of our depth as we seek to follow the call of God into something that doesn’t even seem to exist yet. Still God’s word is a creative word, making so as it calls us to – well here’s hoping!’

Malcolm is currently and shamelessly trying to raise funds to complete the album through the mixing and mastering stage. So if you like what you hear, and want the church to hear more of it, and sing more of it, then please consider helping him out through this campaign on Social backing.