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Be sober, be watchful. Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour. Resist him, firm in your faith. (1 Peter 5:8-9a)

Two years ago today, the Feast of St. Matthias, I was leading a rehearsal of a bunch of ragamuffins in a church choir room in Lakewood, Ohio.

Maybe now would be a good time to point out that they have a fancy web site.

Happy Birthday Choristers!

Mailboxes in Merrill Hall, Indiana University

Indiana University School of Music, 3^rd floor

Found commentary in Mozart's Mass in C, Gloria

The great jazz organist Jimmy Smith died on fat Tuesday.

Like many other great jazz musicians, Mr. Smith insisted that the key to finding his own sound was through studying musicians who did not play his instrument.

"While others think of the organ as a full orchestra," he wrote in a short piece for The Hammond Times in 1964, "I think of it as a horn. I've always been an admirer of Charlie Parker, and I try to sound like him. I wanted that single-line sound like a trumpet, a tenor or an alto saxophone."

Ratliff, Ben. "Jimmy Smith, Jazz Organist and Pioneer, Is Dead at 76." NY Times 10 February 2005.

Just like me, this website has decided to give something up for Lent.

It wanted to give up Cascading Style Sheets (CSS) for Lent but I told it that this was a bad idea. I mean, how else would we make the site look purple? Purple is the appropriate liturgical color for Lent. We compromised and decided to change a few fonts instead.

I like to read websites, but generally I think people write too much. With one planned exception on February 24^th, the content of this website will be photographs for the Lenten season. The goal is 40 photographs (at least).

So, since I won't be writing anything on the site, there are a few things I am going to say now.

• The Ash Wednesday chinchilla is the oft-overlooked counterpart to the Easter Bunny.
• Buskirk-Chumley is a ridiculous name.
• "Saint" Valentine is not a Saint.
• I'll miss you Dan Rather.
• Holy Week starts with J.S. Bach's birthday (March 21)? How appropriate is that!?
• [I might insert something else here later.]
• That's all.

Peter continues his narrative of a recent camping trip with the Lord:

"And dude, Jesus' face was, like, glowing. And then these other dudes showed up, and they all started talking together.

"Then I was all like, 'Dude. We're gonna need some more tents.'

"Then I started wiggin' out, but Jesus was all like, 'Dude, you're trippin'.' And he was totally right.

"A mountain is a scary place to get high, dudes."

See also this image from Mark's gospel.

Noah is talking a lot about hymnals lately. First, a hymn of the beast, and then liturgical shoe promotion on Super Bowl Sunday no less.

But I want to stick with the "hymns of the beast" concept for a moment: those hymns numbered as 666.

Is there a method to the madness? Which denominations have them, and in which of there hymnals?

Let's start collecting information here, and hopefully I can make this into a worthwhile study. So look in your hymnals and send me some 666 info (or leave it as a comment).

Hymnal	Title	Author	Tune Name
Chalice Hymnal (Disciples of Christ, 1995)	The Voice of God is Calling	?	?
Hymnal 1982 (Episcopal Church, 1985)	Out of the Depths	Henry Williams Baker, 1868?	St. Bride?
United Methodist Hymnal, The (UMC, 1989)	Shalom To You	Elise S. Eslinger, 1980	Somos del Senor
With One Voice (ELCA consecutively numbered supplement)	Great God Your Love Has Called Us Here	Brian Wren	?

Special thanks to Chris Schroeder.

So, if Moses and Elijah were holding Converse high, do you think the Paraclete would have overheard?

I mean how high were they, really? Sort of makes you wonder about the cloud.

Labels: hymn

Yesterday was the Feast of the Presentation. I waited all day, but was not presented with anything.

Yesterday was also the feast of St. Groundhog.

This is the day when Jesus emerges from his tomb and, if he sees his shadow, there will be six more weeks of Lent.

I for one could use a little bit of extra Lent this year to get everything ready for the Triduum and Easter.

Jesus said, "Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, or about your body, what you will wear.

Matthew 6:25, from the Gospel for the Feast of St. Brigid, February 1 (emphasis added)

If we are not supposed to worry about what we eat, then you definitely don't want to worry about this:

A Liturgical Guide to Altoids Consumption (revised)

Brigid is the patron saint of dairy workers; Altoids contain beef gelatin.