Sunday, December 23, 2007

Christmas Cards from Murfreesboro

For any friends who might be reading my blog around Christmas, I'm including a few pictures of our warm and charming surroundings here in Murfreesboro.






This little Christmas tour starts with a scene just outside town.





This is the home of one of our local merchants who sells spinning wheels, looms, and so forth. The children at this house study piano with Kathy.





Here is one of the majestic old homes in the historic district all decked out for Christmas.






The Murfreesboro Historical Association presents a Christmas tour every year, and this year's tour explored some of Murfreesboro's international connections. Thus, the flag of Scotland.





This last photo is the steeple of the Methodist church across the street surrounded by lots of mistletoe. My friend and colleague, James M. Guthrie, is the organist and choir master, and I play there on occasion.

Merry Christmas everyone!

Wednesday, December 19, 2007

Great Christmas Music in NC

Last week, our church (First Baptist of Ahoskie) held a church-wide party and concert that included mostly lighter selections performed by all the different musical groups in the church. Kathy coordinated most of this music. One creative item was a sing-along accompanied by handbells.

The other two items that really caught my attention were songs I've known for many years but had either never thought much about or have a new take on this year.

"Silver Bells" was the first of these songs. The text in combination with the musical style perfectly situate the song between urban and rural life.

The second song was "Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas." I had been thinking this song was about the most depressing Christmas song, second only to "Shake Me I Rattle." It has always seemed sappy, sentimental, and maudlin to me.

This year, I'm hearing it differently.

The song is really about community and belonging.

Now that both of my parents have passed on, the song has taken on a new depth for me. As I was hearing it in the context of our church - in the context of Christian community - I realized that these people are my community and family now, and may very well be for many years to come. I'm new here, but the time is right for me to grow into this community, to connect, to know and to be known.

Tuesday, December 11, 2007

Freshmen Devotionals

Last week was our last week of classes and our final devotional was as follows.

Musicians get very busy at Christmastime. There are extra concerts, church services, parties, etc., all of which require music.

Often we hear the complaint that the busy-ness and commercialism take us away from real devotion to Christ at Christmastime.

While the busy-ness of the Christmas season may distract us fom whatever routine of quiet time we may have, I think a healthier and more joyful approach to the situation might be to recognize that all the busy-ness, whether sacred or secular, is a reverberation of Christ coming into the world so many years ago.

Thus, as we go about the myriad of things we have to do in this season, we can engage in each of them worshipfully and joyfully as we remain mindful of Christ's coming that created this cultural rhythm that has endured for centuries.

Wednesday, December 05, 2007

Freshmen Devotionals

This is the devotional thought I shared with my freshmen music theory class the Monday after Thanksgiving.


There are several things that make our class hard, not least among them:

Meeting at 8 A.M.

Not all of us find theory a natural fit for our way of processing information

And did I mention meeting at 8 A.M.?

These things and others could contribute to us not feeling so grateful at times.



One of my mother's favoerite Bible verses to quote was Psalm 118:24 -

"This is the day the Lord hath made; let us rejoice and be glad in it."


I have often understood this to mean that God has made the day. God has given me time to live. I should be grateful for that time. By itself, the verse seems to say nothing about what I'm experiencing during that time, but that we should rejoice because God has made the time.

I don't think that's really what the verse means in the context of the psalm. Still, I think it is a good thought, and I am more joyful when I think that way. I'm more mindful of God when I have that mindset.

In its context, the verse refers to a day in which God has saved the writer, and we can also be grateful that God is in time with us, redeeming and saving.