“Our music is the tabernacle, the means of delivery of the Word to the faithful.”

This is a fascinating idea, that the [...]]]> At the Colloquium last week, one of the priests mentioned the relationship between sacred music and worship in his homily.  He said something which was quite interesting, that I’ll attempt to paraphrase as best I can:

“Our music is the tabernacle, the means of delivery of the Word to the faithful.”

This is a fascinating idea, that the word of God is conveyed through readings, through ritual, and especially through sacred music because it reaches so deeply.  And when people hear the word, they receive the Word.

It’s hard to get my mind around, but it strikes me as truth.  Our music isn’t about feeling good about ourselves and how “well” we are worshiping.  It’s about giving another means for each of us to receive the blessed Word, the ultimate gift, from our maker.

I’d be interested to hear what thoughts this sparks for you!

Summer is my time to reflect and renew my commitments for the coming year.  I talked about this some last June, when I was struggling with whether our schola would achieve critical mass.  Looking back on the progress, we now have grown to a dozen loyal and talented members, now including women as [...]]]>

Colorado's state flower

Summer is my time to reflect and renew my commitments for the coming year.  I talked about this some last June, when I was struggling with whether our schola would achieve critical mass.  Looking back on the progress, we now have grown to a dozen loyal and talented members, now including women as well as men.

We really are quite blessed.  Despite challenges and frustrations, it’s wonderful to be bringing this traditional music back to our parish.

As I head to the 2010 Sacred Music Colloquium, it’s a great opportunity to build my own energy and bring new ideas back to the schola.  As in past years, I’ll meet with each member individually when I return.  The purpose of this is to help give voice to people’s celebrations and concerns in a confidential setting, which helps me to lead us in a direction that most people can get excited about.  It also helps each individual to test and rebuild their own personal commitment.

I’m thinking that I might repeat the workshop I gave last August, since that was so successful in bringing in new members.  It sure changed the energy of the group, and has been a real gift to me as well.

But first – first! – off to Pittsburg for a week of joyful learning and singing!

Sung entirely in Russian, it was an amazing experience!  And more unexpected – a capella!

I’ve experienced a lot of classical [...]]]> This evening, my wife and I had a chance to attend a concert of the Larimer Chorale, our local and extremely talented choral group based in Fort Collins.  The program was Rachmaninoff’s Vespers (All-Night Vigil), Opus 37.

Sung entirely in Russian, it was an amazing experience!  And more unexpected – a capella!

I’ve experienced a lot of classical music over my lifetime, thanks to a very talented mother and aunt, and a number of years in the school orchestra.  I appreciate this kind of talent and dedication to a faithful rendition.

But in this case, what really made the difference was the pre-concert explanation by the director, Michael Krueger.  For over half an hour, he patiently explained the context of all-night vigils in the Russian Orthodox Church, the timeframe of the composition, and how the choir was able to sing Russian so beautifully.

This reinforced for me the importance of letting people know the larger story behind the music we sing.  It’s not just about singing “Glory to God in the highest” because we’ve done it our entire lives.  This is the song of the angels, defining their relationship to our creator.

What could be more beautiful?  What could be more important?

It was a truly fantastic evening, in so many ways.

Upon reflection, I realized that my first [...]]]> My wife and I had a chance to go to a local Amy Grant concert Friday night.  This was a benefit for Lutheran Family Services, and included a limo ride down to Denver, and a meet-and-greet with Amy after the show.

It was a truly fantastic evening, in so many ways.

Upon reflection, I realized that my first contact with Amy, probably about 28 years ago, awakened a spirituality within me that ultimately led me to join the Catholic Church and be heavily involved with Sacred Music today.

We had a chance to chat with her for a few seconds after the concert, and when I mentioned this, she signed my program with something I’ll treasure forever:

What to do?

Well, I’m back to a lot of deeper prayer, including the Rosary.  I still have faith that God is [...]]]> This is a time of turmoil in my spiritual life.  I won’t go into more detail, but it’s something that is causing me to lose a bit of sleep.  And what little hair I have left.

What to do?

Well, I’m back to a lot of deeper prayer, including the Rosary.  I still have faith that God is supporting me through all this.  I don’t know why, but – I pray – there’s something good which will result.

I thank each of you for the support that you’ve given me in the past, and will in the future.  Pray for me, for my family, for our church.  We need it.

“We can be powerful without being perfect.”

It really struck me as an important concept, one that I need to constantly remember on my journey of life.

Like everyone, I think, I get hung up on the idea of achieving perfection.  Nothing wrong with that – it’s what [...]]]> My colleague Tony made this observation in a discussion last week:

“We can be powerful without being perfect.”

It really struck me as an important concept, one that I need to constantly remember on my journey of life.

Like everyone, I think, I get hung up on the idea of achieving perfection.  Nothing wrong with that – it’s what we’re here for.  But somehow the concept of being imperfect has been linked with powerless.

And when I think of it, the logic is obviously flawed.  The people who have had the most impact on my life have been far from perfect – and in fact, their imperfections are often a reason why they’ve affected me so much.

And the people who are most powerful in the world, in society, in any group you can think of – they’re nowhere near perfect either.  They have certain attributes that I may want to model, but perfect?  No.

So, when you get depressed on how your flaws seem to be holding you back:

You don’t have to be perfect to be powerful.

Thanks for that, Tony!

There’s so many problems, so many things to be fixed.  We live in fear of what is and what’s to come.  And meanwhile, we spend our lives constantly focusing on the future.

Here’s the deal:  Your presence is in the [...]]]>

“Life is not about avoiding broken eggs.  Life is about presence (broken eggs and all)” – Terry Hershey

There’s so many problems, so many things to be fixed.  We live in fear of what is and what’s to come.  And meanwhile, we spend our lives constantly focusing on the future.

Here’s the deal:  Your presence is in the present.  And if you can’t enjoy and appreciate what God has given you in the present, you will reside in constant misery.

The challenge is to appreciate the present, imperfections and all.  Sure, the broken eggs may be a mess, but God’s love is most important when we’re in disarray.  That’s also the time when we can recognize our fragility and reliance on others.

Here’s the long picture:  You’re born.  You do stuff.  You die.  Everybody goes through this cycle and it never changes.

Depressing, huh?  When you look at the rest of your life – you “do stuff” and then you die – it seems almost pointless.  Clearly the meaning of life isn’t there.

Where is it, then?  In relationships.  In the impact we have on others.  In how we are able to help each other on our intertwined journeys.

And our journeys are messy.  I happen to believe that this is exactly God’s design, because it’s only through the messy parts that we experience why love is necessary.  Although it seems paradoxical, glory is revealed through hardship.  Why would you have any need to be lifted up if you hadn’t fallen?

Through our relationships, each of us is put here as a gift for each other – not to avoid difficulty, but to experience difficulty and help each other through it.  That’s the glorious work of God.

Daunting is a relatively weak word for what it feels like.

Let’s recognize that [...]]]> I’ve observed a number of conversations recently where people are coming up against what appears to be a brick wall of tasks.  There’s so much work to be done, an infinite number of problems to be fixed, a huge number of people to convince….

Daunting is a relatively weak word for what it feels like.

Let’s recognize that this is just a part of the human condition.  Nobody is meant to have it easy, even for those who appear to have it all together.  Where do we come up with the energy to fight the important battle?

One key trick I have is to celebrate positive progress, no matter how small.  That will support my ability to maintain the optimism that anything is possible, only given enough time and focus.  I have more resources than I recognize, there are others who have a similar passion to mine, and I’m making little teeny bits of progress every week, every month, every year.

Am I fooling myself?  Yeah, in a way.  Sometimes I don’t make any progress, even have to take steps back.  But that’s life, and that’s other people’s actions.  Despite that, it’s important for me to continue to maintain my mindset of possibility and optimism.  So instead of moving into despair, my challenge is to learn as much as possible from the challenges and then to move on.

If you’ve been following my career blog, you know that I lost my job in Spring 2009.  It was a deep emotional blow, of course.  But my faith and attitude was core to my ability to work through the disruption.  I’m not totally through the challenges, as my company isn’t yet showing a profit, but I’m working hard to celebrate the small steps and keep optimistic.

It’s a daily challenge, but worth the effort.