Skip to main content

Friday Five: Our Favorite Music

The Friday Five come from here.

Martin Luther said:

"I have no use for cranks who despise music, because it is a gift of God. Music drives away the Devil and makes people gay; they forget thereby all wrath, unchastity, arrogance, and the like. Next after theology, I give to music the highest place and the greatest honor."


On this Friday before Reformation Sunday, let's talk about music. Share with us five pieces of music that draw you closer to the Divine, that elevate your mood or take you to your happy place. They might be sung or instrumental, ancient or modern, sacred or popular...whatever touches you.


1. My favorite hymn is "My Life Flows On". See my sermon about it here and another post here. I love this hymn and it brings me great comfort to hear it or to sing it.

2. Bach's "Sheep May Safely Graze" is one of the pieces of music that relaxes my mind and body. I think I listened to it, looped, for a couple hours once when I was very upset. With the calming flute melodies, the piece also brings to mind the peace of Christ and the grace that comes from believing you are part of the flock of the Good Shepherd. You can listen to the song on Youtube here.

3. The soundtrack to "Little Women" (1994, starring Susan Sarandon and Winona Ryder) has been the soundtrack to many meaningful moments in my life. I listened to it alone on the last night I spent in my dorm room before my college graduation (when everyone else was out partying). I listened to it as I prepared for my wedding. I've written many sermons with the airy instrumentals of that soundtrack playing in the background. I like the movie, but the soundtrack has been even more special to me- apart from the story.

4. My favorite song of all time is "Jesu, Joy of Man's Desiring." I have more versions of that song in my collection than any other. (At last count, around 22.) I can recognize the strains of it anywhere. But it's not just the music. Consider these lyrics:

Jesu, joy of man’s desiring,
Holy wisdom, love most bright;
Drawn by Thee, our souls aspiring
Soar to uncreated light.
Word of God, our flesh that fashioned,
With the fire of life impassioned,
Striving still to truth unknown,
Soaring, dying round Thy throne.

Through the way where hope is guiding,
Hark, what peaceful music rings;
Where the flock, in Thee confiding,
Drink of joy from deathless springs.
Theirs is beauty’s fairest pleasure;
Theirs is wisdom’s holiest treasure.
Thou dost ever lead Thine own
In the love of joys unknown.

I want to comment, but there is nothing I can say to improve upon those lyrics.

5. When a soldier/airmen/Marine/sailor returns from a deployment, it's called "reunion". At our reunion in 2007, Rob was supposed to arrive on a Sunday morning at 11 am. Then it was 3:30 pm. Then 10 pm. Then around midnight. During what became the longest 30+ hours of my life, I walked on the treadmill, I made cookies, I went to the store, and I listened to Queen's "Somebody to Love" about 80 times. Again, I listened on a loop and danced around my kitchen, shaved my legs, drank a beer, singing: "Can anybody find meeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee somebody toooooooo looooooooooooooooooove?" Because of this association with this song, I don't listen to it that often. And if I hear when I'm not expecting it, I can have a very emotional reaction.

This happened the other day when I watching something on a friend's recommendation. The closing number of the show was "Somebody to Love". I sucked in my breath at the opening "Caaaaaaaan...." It's hard to hear the song right now because reunion is still over two months away this time. But it's coming. In less than 80 days (I hope), I should once again be able to my dance (preferably for fewer hours), shower, bake, shave and change the baby and then get in the car to know exactly where I will find somebody to love.

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Religious Holidays in Anchorage

You may have read in the Anchorage Daily News about a new policy regarding certain religious holidays and the scheduling of school activities. If not, a link to the article is here . The new rules do not mean that school will be out on these new holiday inclusions, but that the Anchorage School District will avoid scheduling activities, like sporting events, on these days. The new list includes Passover, Rosh Hashanah , Yom Kippur , Eid al - Fitr and Eid al - Adha . They are added to a list which includes New Year's, Orthodox Christmas and Easter, Good Friday, Easter, Thanksgiving Day and Christmas. The new holidays may be unfamiliar to some: Passover is a Jewish celebration, in the springtime, that commemorates the events in Egypt that led up to the Exodus. The name of the holiday comes specifically from the fact that the angel of death "passed over" the houses of the Israelites during the plague which killed the eldest sons of the Egyptians. Passover is a holiday ...

Latibule

I like words and I recently discovered Save the Words , a website which allows you to adopt words that have faded from the English lexicon and are endanger of being dropped from the Oxford English Dictionary. When you adopt a word, you agree to use it in conversation and writing in an attempt to re-introduce said word back into regular usage. It is exactly as geeky as it sounds. And I love it. A latibule is a hiding place. Use it in a sentence, please. After my son goes to bed, I pull out the good chocolate from my latibule and have a "mommy moment". The perfect latibule was just behind the northwest corner of the barn, where one had a clear view during "Kick the Can". She tucked the movie stub into an old chocolate box, her latibule for sentimental souvenirs. I like the sound of latibule, though I think I would spend more time defining it and defending myself than actually using it. Come to think of it, I'm not really sure how often I use the ...

Would I Do?

Palm Sunday Mark 11:1-11 One of my core memories is of a parishioner who said, "I don't think I would have been as brave as the three in the fiery furnace. I think I would have just bowed to the king. I would have bowed and known in my heart that I still loved God. I admire them, but I can tell the truth that I wouldn't have done it." (Daniel 3) To me, this man's honesty was just as brave. In front of his fellow Christians, in front of his pastor, he owned up to his own facts: he did not believe he would have had the courage to resist the pressures of the king. He would have rather continued to live, being faithful in secret, than risk dying painfully and prematurely for open obedience to God.  I can respect that kind of truth-telling. None of us want to be weighed in the balance and found wanting. For some of us, that's our greatest fear. The truth is, however, that I suspect most of us are not as brave as we think we are. The right side of history seems cle...