Sermon: Advent III A season for doubters When John heard in prison what the Messiah was doing, he sent word by his disciples 3and said to him, “Are you the one who is to come, or are we to wait for another?” 4Jesus answered them, “Go and tell John what you hear and see: 5theContinue reading “Sermon: Advent III – A season for doubters”
Category Archives: Advent
Advent Pic & Post III
ADVENT III Two Bach cantatas are associated with the third Sunday in Advent. Both are “lost” cantatas. The first is BWV 186a, “Ärgre dich, o Seele, nicht” (Fret not, O soul), a later version of which is played on the 7th Sunday After Trinity. The second is BWV 141, “Das ist je gewißlich wahr” (This is now the gospel truth),Continue reading “Advent Pic & Post III”
Sermon: Advent II – Sinai’s Last Thunder
Sermon: Advent I Sinai’s Last Thunder In those days John the Baptist appeared in the wilderness of Judea, proclaiming, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven has come near.” This is the one of whom the prophet Isaiah spoke when he said, “The voice of one crying out in the wilderness: ‘Prepare the way of the Lord, makeContinue reading “Sermon: Advent II – Sinai’s Last Thunder”
Advent Pic and Cantata of the Week II
ADVENT II Bach Cantata 70, “Watch! Pray!” BWV 70 is an expansion of a cantata Bach wrote seven years earlier in Weimar. The music for this earlier work has been almost entirely lost. It was one of a group of three cantatas (BWV 70a.186a,147a) that Bach produced in December 1716 based on texts by the Weimar court poet Salomo Franck.Continue reading “Advent Pic and Cantata of the Week II”
Fridays with Michael Spencer: December 2, 2016
Today, Michael Spencer’s classic post, “Lo, How a Rose:” Experiencing The Power of Beauty. • • • It was Christmas of 1968. I was a seventh grader at Estes Junior High School. School was a huge part of my world. My father was beginning down the road to depression. I was an only child, andContinue reading “Fridays with Michael Spencer: December 2, 2016”
Another Look: Go forth to meet him
Tomorrow is the beginning of December. We are a few brief weeks away from welcoming the Christ-child at his birth. As we face this season and event, here are some words from Brother Thomas Merton that make me think. For Christmas will come this year, just as it did long ago in Bethlehem. And, as onContinue reading “Another Look: Go forth to meet him”
Sermon: Advent I — The Days Before
Sermon: Advent I The Days Before You thought God was an architect, now you know He’s something like a pipe bomb ready to blow And everything you built that’s all for show goes up in flames In twenty-four frames • Jason Isbell “But about that day and hour no one knows, neither the angels of heaven,Continue reading “Sermon: Advent I — The Days Before”
Advent Pic and Cantata of the Week
ADVENT I Bach Cantata BWV 36, “Soar in your joy” ♕ Auch mit gedämpften, schwachen Stimmen Wird Gottes Majestät verehrt. Denn schallet nur der Geist darbei, So ist ihm solches ein Geschrei, Das er im Himmel selber hört. Even with subdued, weak voices Gods majesty is honoured. for if only the spirit resounds, there is suchContinue reading “Advent Pic and Cantata of the Week”
Jan Richardson: This Luminous Darkness – Searching for Solace in Advent and Christmas
Note from CM: One of my favorite sites on our blogroll (listed as “J Richardson”) is Jan Richardson’s The Painted Prayerbook. Her art is evocative and profound, her love for the seasons of the Christian Year instructive, and her writing talent remarkable. She maintains several different sites, including a blog for Advent called, “The Advent Door: EnteringContinue reading “Jan Richardson: This Luminous Darkness – Searching for Solace in Advent and Christmas”
Advent IV: The King is coming, and we shall overcome!
Advent IV The King is coming, and we shall overcome! (First posted in 2011) One day in my chaplain work, I had marvelous conversation with an African-American woman who had grown up in Mississippi, moved to Indianapolis, whose family had relocated to other rust-belt cities like Chicago and Detroit in the 1960’s and 70’s. SheContinue reading “Advent IV: The King is coming, and we shall overcome!”
The Internet Monk Archives 