Songs in the Desert (songsinthedesert.org) is a collaborative conversation about Christian hymns which comes out every weekday in Lent.
Each episode is around five minutes and comes from a different contributor.
This was the final week of the project for this year, and I am so deeply grateful to everyone who submitted episodes and who listened to the podcast.
This week, we heard episodes on
- The Feast of St. Joseph - David Ouzts, Minister of Music and Liturgy at Church of the Holy Communion, Memphis, Tenn., on "By the Creator, Joseph was appointed," a hymn specifically included for the Feast of St. Joseph in the Hymnal 1982.
- Tuesday - Alec Peters, a member of West Raliegh Presbyterian Church in Raleigh, N.C., on "What wondrous love is this".
- Wednesday - Suzanne Daniel, Organist and Choir Director at Grace, Yorktown, Va., on "A stable lamp is lighted".
- Thursday - The Rev. Ian Lasch, Associate Rector at St. Peter's, St. Louis, Mo. and co-host of the podcast "All Things Rite & Musical", on "Sing, my tongue, the glorious battle".
- Friday - Westley Hodges, Director of Music at the Annunciation of Our Lady, Gurnee, Ill. and co-editor of Church Music Forward, on "Now let us rise and hymn the grace".
If you would, please take two minutes to complete our Songs in the Desert listener survey. We'd love to know what you've thought of this project.
Many have asked what's next for Songs in the Desert. Based on the positive response and strong interest in our Lent 2018 podcast, we are definitely planning to return next Lent. But we're open to other ideas (and assistance!) too! Get in touch via the survey, or just email David Sinden at dsinden@gmail.com
Labels: Hymnal 1982, Lent, Songs in the Desert
Dear friends,
I want to start talking about Lent. Yes, already!
Seems early, doesn't it? But here's what I'm thinking:
It was only in the days leading up to Ash Wednesday 2017 that I decided to attempt to compile a collaborative Lenten devotional on hymns.
We called it Songs in the Desert, and the project was such a big success last year that I want to re-imagine this project for 2018.
This year, with more lead time, I want to ask for more submissions to create another collaborative podcast that would serve as a Lenten reflection around hymns.
I could see that there was tremendous interest in what we were doing, and I thought that with a little more notice we could sustain the project for the full season of Lent.
Who: You! If you're reading this, you should probably just go ahead and sign up. If you submitted a reflection last year, I hope you'll submit again.
When: Lent begins on Ash Wednesday, February 14, 2018. Hey, that's Valentine's Day! (More on this in a minute.) Beginning on Ash Wednesday I'd like to have reflections to send out for every weekday before Palm Sunday.
What: A short reflection on a hymn. It can be any hymn you want. Because Ash Wednesday is Valentine's Day, I thought it would fun if the theme was "Love" (but is that too cheesy?). Did you know the word "love" appears 867 times in hymns of the Hymnal 1982?. You can address this theme any way you want. If your chosen hymn is about God it's probably about love (because God is love, right?).
How:
- STEP 1: If you're interested, I hope you'll sign up for a reflection here: Songs in the Desert 2018. (If you have any trouble with the sign-up thingamajig just send me an email at dsinden@gmail.com)
- STEP 2: Send me a reflection (at dsinden@gmail.com. Submissions may be written text or audio. If written, I, or another member of the project, will read it aloud. Audio files may be recorded on whatever you have available (even the voice memo on your smartphone can work). Submissions should be no more than 600 words, or five minutes long.
Where: I'll post updates on the project on this blog and at Sinden.org/hymns. The podcast is still live on iTunes, so new episodes will start showing up there too.
Why: Because it will be fun! Because hearing each other's stories about hymns changes the way we sing, hear, and pray them. Because Lent is a great time to examine our faith, and a close reading of hymns can help us do just that.
Thanks for your interest in this year's Songs in the Desert project, and I hope you'll sign up to submit a reflection in 2018!
Songs in the Desert is a Sinden Production of Anglican Media (SPAM)
Labels: hymns, Lent, Songs in the Desert
I am delighted to invite you to a new offering at St. Peter’s, St. Louis this year. As part of our Evensong series on the second Sunday of every month, the St. Peter’s Singers will lead A Meditation on the Passion of Christ on Palm Sunday, April 9 at 5:30 p.m.
What is this service? It is a compelling synthesis of ancient and modern. And, like Evensong, I hope that it can be a space for real contemplation and prayer, especially at the start of the holiest week of the liturgical year.
A couple weeks ago St. Louisans had the good fortune to be able to hear a performance of The Gospel According to the Other Mary by American composer John Adams, which is a rare modern setting of the Passion. In the program notes Paul Schiavo notes “because its inherent pain was at odds with Western culture’s increasingly determined pursuit of happiness, the Passion story lost popular standing among Christian chronicles to the more comforting Nativity tale during the 19th century and beyond.”
One of the benefits of this cultural affinity toward the Christmas story has been renewed attention to the musical form of the carol, largely music with a focus on the Nativity, but not exclusively. The popularity of carols was so great that it prompted the editors of the 1928 Oxford Book of Carols to call upon churches to hold “carol services” not only at Christmas time, but also Advent, Epiphany, Eastertide, and – why not? – Lent too! Indeed, within the Oxford Book of Carols a number of pieces of music marked for Lent and Holy Week can be found.
This impulse to use the carol to draw Christians deeper into their faith arose at an academic community where there was no liturgical observance of Holy Week. This place is St. John’s College, Cambridge (which also served as the source of the liturgy for our Advent Carol Service). The students of Cambridge University are not present during Holy Week, so a service was designed for the St. John’s College community to reflect on the mysteries of this key part of the Christian story beforehand. The service was designed in 1985 by the Dean of Chapel, the Rev. Andrew Macintosh, and the Organist, George Guest.
The original name of this service was “A Meditation on the Passion of Christ, with Carols,” though it should be noted that at St. John’s, and many other places where this service is offered, the designation “with Carols” has been dropped, and now many different types of music are used.
Read more on the on the St. Peter's, St. Louis website: Carols and the Passion: Drawing on Many Traditions for a Modern Meditation
Labels: Guest, Holy Week, Lent, Lessons and Carols, liturgy, Palm Sunday, St John's (Cambridge)
The long march of the Easter cycle is an ever-tightening spiral.
In the period leading up to Easter, the Church's holiest day, time circles in on itself. Intensity increases over time.
First there is the long, patient sweep of Lent.
Towards its end comes the looping back of Holy Week.
The spiral tightens at the Triduum.
The cadences come quicker–faster and faster as we near the dawn of Easter.
Even in the Easter Vigil, as near as we can get in our liturgy to the Resurrection moment without quite arriving yet, we continue to spin toward the central mystery of the Christian faith.
As we come careening toward Resurrection through a series of readings that give the whole history of our faith, the final turn in the liturgy takes our very lives.
“Through the Paschal mystery, dear friends, we are buried with Christ by Baptism into his death, and raised with him to newness of life.”
It is here, through baptism, that the Resurrection is finally revealed. That it finally makes sense.
In this final turn, the spiral finally reaches back on itself and explodes outward in every dimension it can find.
The liturgy may be man-made, but its pattern helps us encounter God-made mystery and meaning.
The whole shape of this season points to its center.
Happy spiralling, friends.
Labels: Easter, Holy Saturday, Holy Week, Lent, science and nature, The Great Vigil of Easter, Triduum
There are many joys that arise from choral music. One of the greatest joys for me is the discovery of new words and unpacking their meaning through different musical interpretations.
It is through choral music that I first became aware of the poet Thomas Traherne (c. 1636–1674).
This year, the choir will sing A Meditation by English composer Francis Pott (b. 1957) who sets select lines from Traherne's Centuries of Meditations.
There is great food for thought here, especially as the Church embarks on a holy Lent.
An empty book is like an Infant’s Soul, in which anything may be written. Do you not feel yourself drawn by the expectation and desire of some Great Thing? Things strange yet common, incredible, yet known; most high, yet plain; Infinitely profitable, but not esteemed. Is it not a great thing that you should be Heir of the World? To conceive aright and enjoy the world is to conceive the Holy Ghost, And to see His Love: Love that is deeper than at first it can be thought. Love never ceaseth But in endless things. To cease is to draw upon ourselves infinite darkness: Which now I unlearn, and become… a little child again, That I may enter into the Kingdom of God.
Thomas Traherne (c. 1636–1674)
Here is a recording of A Meditation
On Wednesday, November 11, comes this year's Feast of St. Martin of Tours and the Advent of Advent. There is an old tradition of "the Lent of St. Martin" (see a description here) being a sort of intentional pre-Advent season. A waiting before the waiting.
I'm interested in this.
If you look, you can find little vestiges of this pre-Advent show up in places.
Like this collect from last Sunday, Proper 27.
O God, whose blessed Son was manifested that he might destroy the works of the devil and make us children of God and heirs of eternal life: Grant us, we beseech thee, that, having this hope, we may purify ourselves even as he is pure; that, when he shall appear again with power and great glory, we may be made like unto him in his eternal and glorious kingdom; where with thee, O Father, and thee, O Holy Ghost, he liveth and reigneth ever, one God, world without end. Amen.
There's some Advent language in there.
Our English brothers and sisters observe a "Sunday Next before Advent" in their prayer books. It's the same day that we Americans Anglicans call "The Last Sunday after Pentecost"
Last Sunday after Pentecost Tangent: Please note that the title "Christ the King" or any such thing appears nowhere in any Anglican prayer book, but that's another topic for another time.
The American Book of Common Prayer from 1928 comes closest to reclaiming the pre-Advent tradition. But it's found in a revision to that book's Lectionary in 1945 [PDF].
In this lectionary, the three Sundays prior to Advent Sunday are
- Third Sunday before Advent
- Second Sunday before Advent
- Sunday next before Advent
Note also that Proper 27 (above) corresponds with the Third Sunday before Advent.
Also notable in this 1945 lectionary: the Sundays of Advent proper are Sundays "in" Advent, not Sundays "of" Advent as we find in the current 1979 Book of Common Prayer. The difference is subtle, but the older nomenclature suggests a more penitential nature of the season of Advent. The 1979 retains this "Sundays in" terminology only for the season of Lent.
So, here on the blog, let's explore, over the next three weeks, what the Evening Prayer lessons would be like in this pre-Advent season, shall we?
Labels: Advent, BCP, lectionary, Lent, Lent of St. Martin, liturgy, prayer
There is nothing more beautiful than the musical heritage of the church on "Laetare" Sunday, the Fourth Sunday in Lent. It is also known as "Refreshment" Sunday, coming as it does half-way through Lent. It is also, according to the Episcopal Musicians' Handbook known as "Mid-Lent", but I've never seen this name used outside of that handy spiral-bound reference.
But I want to focus on that initial name, "Laetare". Like it's counterpart in Advent, "Gaudete" Sunday, "Laetare" (Lay-TAH-ray) takes its name from the proper Introit chant of the day, "Laetare Jerusalem".
The Sundays "Gaudete" and "Laetare" both come just past the halfway point in their respective "purple" seasons. Both words mean rejoice. And the liturgical color for both days (if you can manage it) is pink, the liturgical color of joy.
Color tangent: Most churches, if they see any pink at all, only see it in Advent when the third candle on the wreath is pink. There is yet no mechanism to deploy a pink cue to the masses in Lent, but perhaps a type of Lenten wreath could be devised? Thorns would have to be involved. And we could use six or seven candles to lead us in to Holy Week? And perhaps it could take the shape of the Tenebrae hearse. No, this is a bad idea.
But enough with the semantics. On to the music.
At the parish where I serve, we have instituted the tradition of singing the Introit text itself to the traditional plainsong, though we sing it in English as adapted by Bruce Ford in The American Gradual [link to large PDF].
The words of the Introit come from Isaiah 66:10-11. Jerusalem is to be loved, praised. She is a woman. She provides nourishing milk. (In the parallelism in 66:11, omitted in the Introit, we get "that you may drink deeply with delight from her glorious bosom".) We are to rejoice, be glad, and "sing out in exultation".
It doesn't sound much like Lent so far, which is why this is such a wonderful tradition to keep.
The only thing that smacks of Lent here is the quick "all you who mourn for her" . But it's an interesting imperative that precedes: rejoice with her.
Even in our penitential season, we can be joyful.
Even though we have stripped out our "Alleluias" from the liturgy we can still have joy. Remember: we have only done this so they will perhaps sparkle a bit more at the Easter Vigil. Our Orthodox brothers and sisters actually say Alleluia more in Lent, a joyful approach. "Laetare" can give us Westerners a sense of this joy.
The Psalm verse here from 122 is also worth noting. It's not often in Lent that we hear "I was glad when they said to me * let us go to the house of the Lord".
Psalm 23 makes it's first appearance of the year on this day. It will quickly resurface on "Good Shepherd" Sunday (another great Sunday nickname!) in Eastertide. This beloved psalm of the church is worth singing twice, and we gladly receive this tradition of the church. To my ear, the word shepherd rings more prominently in Lent. It is, in this context, a psalm of guidance, of pilgrimage. We are refreshed at the stream even as we journey onward.
Church musicians can't get enough of this psalm, it seems. I suspect that I'm not the only one who also tends to put down a version of this at the Offertory. This year, the neo-pastoral setting by Lennox Berkeley (1903-1989) fit the bill.
The final bit of refreshment on this day comes in the form of the hymn "Jerusalem the golden", a beautiful hymn by Bernard of Cluny. It well-known to the tune EWING, and this is how it is printed in the Hymnal 1982.
Closing the service with this hymn bookends everything nicely. Here, as at the introit, we get images of nourishment "Jerusalem the golden, with milk and honey blest...".
The hymn tune helps make the midpoint of the third phrase of every stanza stand out nicely.
joys
daylight
have conquered in the fight
to that dear land of rest
That particular pairing of text and tune always makes me tear up a bit in the final stanza.
One of the reasons I'm so particularly fond of this hymn is that my introduction to it at Christ Church, Indianapolis, was accompanied by great festivity.
The men of the parish adopted the tradition of "Mothering Sunday" and prepared a rather lavish breakfast for everyone to enjoy between services. It was refreshment indeed, and all sang EWING with that much more vigor, having enjoyed such splendid milk and honey beforehand.
Whatever our traditions on this day, they come from the Church, our Mother. We are encouraged and refreshed in the midst of Lent.
Two final thoughts about two innovations:
A further innovation this year at the parish where I serve, the opening hymn was "Deck thyself, my soul, with gladness". We should not squander any opportunity for joy on this day.
A further innovation for next year: I think the choir should sell Simnel Cake and sherry at coffee hour.
Labels: Advent, Bernard of Cluny, Christ Church Cathedral (Indianapolis), food and drink, Gaudete, hymns, Laetare, Lent
You can now access the Music at St. Paul's podcast through the iTunes Music Store
http://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/music-at-st.-pauls-church/id504731826
If you ever need to find it fast, just search the iTunes Music Store for "Music at St. Paul's", and it should pop up under the podcasts.
Confused by all the podcast talk? Just listen directly to the file here: Episode 1: Ash Wednesday
Lord, bless me this Lent. Lord, let me fast most truly and profitably, by feeding in prayer on this Spriit: reveal me to myself in the light of thy holiness. Suffer me never to think that I have knowledge enough to need no teaching, wisdom enough to need no correction, talents enough to need no grace, goodness enough to need no progress, humility enough to need no repentance, devotion enough to need no quickening, strength sufficient without thy Spirit; lest, standing still, I fall back for evermore. Show me the desires that should be disciplined, and sloths to be slain. show me the omissions to be made up and the habits to be mended. And behind these, weaken, humble and annihilate in me self-will, self-righteousness, self-satisfaction, self-sufficiency, self-assertion, vainglory. May my whole effort be to return to thee; O make it serious and sincere persevering and fruitful in result, by the help of thy Holy Spirit and to thy glory, my Lord and my God.
–Eric Milner-White
It's time again for an annual podcast on the music at the Lenten Preaching Services at St. Paul's Church. The first episode is ready:
The feed for this podcast is http://feeds.feedburner.com/MusicAtStPaulsChurchRichmondVirginia
And we should be up and running on iTunes shortly.
Labels: church music, Lent, organ music, Stainer
Here's a Special Edition of the Lenten Music Notes podcast that includes a complete performance of Henry Purcell's Voluntary in D minor.
My memory was that I had recorded the Voluntary for Double Organ (which was performed at the Lenten Preaching Service at St. Paul's, Richmond yesterday), but these pieces are so very similar that I had in fact recorded its single organ counterpart.
This recording comes from the three-manual Taylor and Boody organ at Christ Church Cathedral, Indianapolis.
For those who are interested: this was performed on the Rückpositiv using the Quintedena 8' and the Rohrflöte 4'
Labels: Christ Church Cathedral (Indianapolis), Lent, Purcell, St Paul's (Richmond)
The latest "Lenten Music Notes" podcast is up, finally. These audio guides are designed to provide context and commentary on the organ pieces performed as voluntaries for the Preaching Services.
In this week's podcast, David Sinden discusses music by Bach, Buxtehude, Purcell & Alain.
Have you heard about how Purcell tried to make some extra money from his "position" at Westminster Abbey? I mention it in the podcast . . .
Labels: Alain, Bach, Buxtehude, Lent, Purcell, St Paul's (Richmond)
The latest "Lenten Music Notes" podcast is up. These audio guides are designed to provide context and commentary on the organ pieces performed as voluntaries for the Preaching Services.
In this week's podcast, David Sinden discusses music by Vaughan Williams, Copland, Sibelius, Duruflé and others.
Labels: Lent, St Paul's (Richmond)
Just released: the third episode of a podcast that complements the Lenten Preaching Series at St. Paul's, Richmond. These audio guides are designed to provide context and commentary on the organ pieces performed as voluntaries for the Preaching Services.
In this week's podcast, David Sinden discusses music by Bach, Jehan Alain, Felix Borowski and Nicolas d'Grigny.
Labels: Lent, St Paul's (Richmond)
Now available: the second episode of the new podcast that complements the Lenten Preaching Series at St. Paul's, Richmond. These audio guides are designed to provide context and commentary on the organ pieces performed as voluntaries for the Preaching Services.
In this week's podcast, David Sinden discusses music by Bach, Herbert Howells, Jehan Alain, Olivier Messiaen & Kenneth Leighton.
Labels: Lent, St Paul's (Richmond)
We announce today a new podcast that complements the Lenten Preaching Series at St. Paul's, Richmond. These audio guides are designed to provide context and commentary on the organ pieces performed as voluntaries for the Preaching Services.
In this week's podcast, David Sinden discusses music by Jehan Alain, Samuel Barber, and Zachary Wadsworth.
Labels: Alain, Barber, Lent, St Paul's (Richmond), Wadsworth
Labyrinth in Chartres Cathedral
photo by the author, August 2009
Lent draws nigh. Lent, Lent, glorious Lent! We have been in Epiphany for a very long time.
If these first few sentences make no sense to you, I'll explain.
In the Christian Church, our primary feast day is Easter which celebrates bunny-rabbits the Resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ. The preparatory period of 40 days prior to this great Holy Day is known as Lent.
If you do the math, you find that 40 days (and 40 nights) is a bit more than 5 weeks. Five weeks and a Wednesday, to be exact. And that Wednesday, the start of Lent, is known as Ash Wednesday.
And before Ash Wednesday? Well, the Church doesn't really have a very good name for this, but its Sundays are labeled as being "after Epiphany" (Jan 6).
And here we are, quickly approaching Ash Wednesday, March 9, 2011.
But do you notice how late it comes this year?
In fact, the last time Ash Wednesday was this late it was on March 10 in the year 1943.
In the news: Even our local paper has picked up this story
It has been a long Epiphany season. And I for one am ready, and excited for Lent. One reason is that I finally get to change the color of this website from green to purple (this blog changes colors with the liturgical year).
This year, I have the good fortune to serve in a church with a particularly active Lenten season. So, another thing I have to look forward to are ecumenical preaching services with good organ music (PDF) and lots of hymn singing. And Cheese Soufflé and desserts à la mode . . .
but that's another story . . .
Labels: Lent, St Paul's (Richmond)
©MMXVII Sinden.org: a site for fun and prophet