Jubal’s Jottings

Through a gracious invitation I attended the Candlelight Ceremony at Disneyland…yes, the home of Mickey and Minnie!  It was a grand event in the style and standard of excellence that you would expect from a Disney production…right down to the classy ushers.  The stage was well laid out and ready for the program…the lights were tested…mics in place…again, just as you would expect from Disneyland.  Jon Voight came to the lectern to serve as narrator.  His first words were something to the affect that secular society had turned Christmas into something it wasn’t.  Christmas is about Christ and His birth.  He proceeded throughout the program to read directly from the Gospel of Luke…the Christmas story.  It was intermixed with Christmas carols that were familiar to all.  The words “God, Jesus,” and “Christ” were mentioned liberally during the evening…perhaps more than some churches will do in their attempt to make the message of the season palatable to all!  In all of our “cultural sensitivity,” have we turned Christmas into something other than Christmas…and Disneyland has to do the world a favor by keeping that message pure and simple?  Maybe so…

So Jubal, you would have approved of the program.  Those herald trumpet players up on top of the Disneyland train station were blowing in the cold wind, but nailed every note!  You would have been impressed!

They ended the program with the reading of the James Allen Francis poem, One Solitary Life.  If you haven’t seen this, or it has been a long time, here is One Solitary Life.

One Solitary Life

He was born in an obscure village,
The child of a peasant woman.
He grew up in still another village,
Where he worked in a carpenter shop
Until he was thirty.

All the armies that ever marched,
All the navies that ever sailed,
All the parliament that ever sat,
All the kings that ever reigned,
Put together have not affected
The life of man on Earth
As much as that

ONE SOLITARY LIFE!

I went to church yesterday with anticipation of celebrating the Advent season…since it was the 2^nd Sunday of Advent.  Entering the church, I was immediately struck with the beautiful decorations…lights, Christmas trees, HUGE star hung at the back of the platform…yea, it’s Christmas!  The band came out and started to play…sounded good…then as we went from song to song to song…nothing about Advent, Christmas…nothing!  The songs would have worked just as well in July as they did on the 2^nd Sunday of Advent!  I was disappointed.

I understand that there is no rule that any church must sing Advent songs on Dec. 6.  I do know that, BUT this is one of the great seasons of the church year.  We not only celebrate the 1^st Advent…a Savior was born!  That’s a big deal!  We should give attention to that!  We also are in the preparation mode for the 2^nd Advent - Christ’s return…or do we not really believe that?  Hmmm…?  I heard more real Christmas music outside of the church than inside this weekend.  Is that the right statement to make about our beliefs?  I hope not!

Jubal, I know you were around before even the first Advent, but don’t you think there should have been some indication for the reason for the season except for the nice lights and trees and star…?

After the Jubilate! mass I did probably an ill-advised thing by jumping into a 30 hour journey to South Africa!  I mean, I was at the airport literally less than 24 hours after the Chapel service where we did some portions of the mass, which was the morning after the full concert!  The big picture schedule dictated the timing, but it was weary on top of weary, for sure. 

So, why South Africa?  The Lausanne Congress on World Evangelization is holding a gathering of 4000-5000 people from all over the world at the Cape Town International Convention Center in October 2010.  Our Brehm Center group has been asked to participate in some areas of leadership for the conference, specifically in designing and producing the Opening and Closing Ceremonies.  This trip was an opportunity to meet many musicians who hopefully we can gather to assist in the project, and see the convention center facility.  What an overwhelming and exciting opportunity! 

If you’d like to know more about this gathering you can do that by looking at www.lausanne.org.

Jubal, the challenges don’t stop…this is a great way to impact the cause of Christ around the world.  Wish I could assign you some of the tasks I have ahead of me!  Where are you when I need you?

Jubilate! An Ancient-Future Concert Mass is now past tense.  It was a nice evening, and I’m so proud of the group of student singers who worked so hard to engage with the texts and music in just 5 weeks!  The looks on their faces showed that many made a connection with the richly profound texts.  Just so proud of them!

On a personal level I have 2 brief thoughts: 1) I wish there was a way to connect the lyrics of the standard mass to evangelical, free-church worship.  We sing many of those texts in certain contexts, but we usually don’t connect them into a meaningful form.  They are used randomly here and there, but not connectedly.  I wonder if that could be done…and maybe more importantly, would it be accepted?  Hmmm…?  I think my Baptist roots came up a little short on this account!  2) Observing this concert and the process leading up to it, I have become even more convinced that there is a lack of emotional engagement in much of our music-making, and perhaps even more specifically, in our worship-making.  I know that some people’s DNA won’t allow them to connect so well emotionally, but they are not the only people in the world.  I know that in many circles there is a fear of emotional expression, but there are people in the world who will only get the message, whether art or worship, if they can feel, smell, see…  If we fail to engage on the level of heart and soul we miss connecting with a large number of people.  I’m even convinced that emotional expression has an impact on those who are more cerebrally based as well.  There must be a dissertation in there for someone…not me!

 Jubal, it was a great evening for me to be involved with others in making music together.  I hope it was good, unique art, but also that it reached out of my soul into the souls of others!  Sorry you couldn’t be there!

Jubal has been pretty silent for a while, but not for lack of activity…or questions or thoughts, of course!

I’ve been writing a new work to be performed this coming fall…”Jubilate! An Ancient-Future Concert Mass.”  In looking at some of the standard mass lyrics, I find myself asking some questions.  Why is the “Sanctus” a combination of scriptures from Isaiah 6 and the Palm Sunday narrative?  There is no obvious reason they go together, but that’s the way it is.  Another question…why are all of the texts commonly in Latin, except for the “Kyrie,”which is in Greek?  I wonder who decided that?  Such life-changing questions, I know!

Anyway, if you’d like to attend the concert you can find more details at the following link.  It’s going to be pretty interesting!

Look on the right side under Upcoming Events at http://www.brehmcenter.com/

Jubal, you are getting kind of tired of writing little black dots on the black lines and white spaces, aren’t you?

Church musician, Carlton Young, once made an important observation. “We tend to treat the choir as if it were the congregation; we should, instead, treat the congregation as if it were the choir.” What a great statement! Liturgical scholar, James White, added that we have moved from “liturgical music” to “musical liturgy,” and that our approach to music should move from that of “sacred music” to “pastoral music.” I like these thoughts! More hot buttons for me! White further states that when music “…is not an integral part of the service, it cannot help being entertainment…” He further adds that the use of music in worship needs to be holistically relevant, “rather than gems of choral or instrumental music dropped into it.”

Whether the worship style language is traditional or modern, my observation is that there are a lot of isolated artistic events in worship…performance driven, not connected to other service elements, observer oriented… If we take Young’s statement to heart, then we would refocus our attention away from the platform and onto the real choir – the congregation.

Jubal, can you see it now? No platform…just the people of God together in song!

I recently reread an article by John Ortberg for a class. The article is titled, “Can You Engage Both Heart and Mind?”…in corporate worship. Some of you know that this topic is a hot button for me. (And I know I have several hot buttons!) Though the article is several years old, the principles of balance in worship still remain an issue…and probably will be a continuous issue. Worship services tend to be slanted toward one side more than the other…either leaning toward a heart orientation – feeling based – or toward a mind orientation – a cognitive base.

Ortberg probed the worship planning process, which is often the wall that cannot be climbed when planning balanced worship. In the end, he named two questions that he desired that worship leaders would ask when planning and leading worship…and I thought they were helpful guides that would be worth stating.

When leaving our sanctuaries…

Question #1 – what do we want people to understand from worship?
Question #2 – What do we want people to feel from the worship experience?

Jubal, I know it’s a difficult mix to obtain, but I do wish that more worship leaders would thoughtfully answer those questions before, during, and after our services of worship.

I’m inclined to give the benefit of the doubt here and there…knowing that there must be something behind certain situations that I don’t understand that make things the way they are. However, I just can’t get past my experiences of the last week! I attended a music conference (not to be named!) that had music presented by many of the well-known publishers in the Christian market - both modern and traditional in style.  During the sessions in which music was presented I found myself being pretty wrought up over two issues…1. people running the sessions who were overbearing salesmen/saleswomen…and occasionally musically incapable, and 2. the largely bad music being foisted onto the leaders of church music.

Jubal, who are these people? How did these people get these jobs?

In THE CRUCIFIXION by John Stainer, there are a few marvelous hymns of reflection at strategic intervals throughout the course of the story line. Though the work has been panned as being less than artistic by musical critics, it remains a standard Holy Week work, and the lyrics of the hymns provide thoughtful reflection still today.  The following is the fifth of the hymns, with a profound title…FOR THE LOVE OF JESUS.  Please reflect as Holy Week begins.

Words: William John Sparrow-Simpson, 1887

FOR THE LOVE OF JESUS

All for Jesus - all for Jesus,
This our song shall ever be;
For we have no hope, now Saviour,
If we have not hope in thee.

All for Jesus - thou wilt give us
Strength to serve thee hour by hour;
None can move us from thy presence,
While we trust thy love and power.

All for Jesus - at thine altar
Thou wilt give us sweet content;
There, dear Lord, we shall receive thee
In the solemn Sacrament.

All for Jesus - thou hast loved us;
All for Jesus - thou hast died;
All for Jesus - thou art with us;
All for Jesus crucified,

All for Jesus - all for Jesus –
This the Church’s song must be;
Till, at last, her sons are gathered
One in love and one in thee.

Amen

In THE CRUCIFIXION by John Stainer, there are a few marvelous hymns of reflection at strategic intervals throughout the course of the story line. Though the work has been panned as being less than artistic by musical critics, it remains a standard Holy Week work, and the lyrics of the hymns provide thoughtful reflection still today. The following is the fourth of the hymns, with a profound title…THE ADORATION OF THE CRUCIFIED. Please reflect as Holy Week begins.

Words: William John Sparrow-Simpson, 1887

THE ADORATION OF THE CRUCIFIED

I adore thee, I adore thee!
Glorious ere the world began;
Yet more wonderful thou shinest,
Though divine, yet still divinest
In thy dying love for man.

I adore thee, I adore thee!
Thankful at thy feet to be;
I have heard thy accent thrilling,
Lo! I come, for thou art willing
Me to pardon, even me.

I adore thee, I adore thee!
Born of woman yet divine:
Stained with sins I kneel before thee,
Sweetest Jesu, I implore thee
Make me ever only thine.