Gospel Choir 21st Anniversary Concert

The Gospel Choir of which I am a long-time member (more than 30 years actually) will hold its 21st Anniversary Concert tomorrow afternoon.  We have rehearsed long for this day.  We have learned three new gospel songs, only one of which we might be able to use again by adapting it.  Most of the music we learn for these concerts cannot be used at Mass.

We have invited several other Gospel choirs to celebrate with us:  The Gospel Voices of Glen Allen - The Maggie L. Walker Alumni Gospel Choir - The Men of Goodwill - Holy Rosary Catholic Church Choir - Redeemed Ministry - Special Guest Musicians - and a Flag Ministry.

Here is the music we have learned:

Our God is an Awesome God

My God is Awesome

Let the Church say "Amen"


I am aware that few of my readers may be interested in this music, but who knows...   At any rate, WE love the music... and are looking forward to a festive afternoon, singing in praise of our awesome God!

The Sound of Music

I was thinking about the sound of music.  How we hear it and how we listen to it can reveal a bit about our relationship with God.

We hear a favorite piece of music and become totally engrossed in it.  Each part, its tune, its words, bring us joy and delight.  Often we have to play or sing it over again.  We can't get enough of it because it has touched our heart and soul.

At other times, we try to listen to the music but because our mind wanders to concerns and issues in our lives, we forget about the music.  The sounds die away and we are no longer conscious of them.

Perhaps most times, we live our lives with background music.  We go about our lives with all our joys and struggles, aware of the lovely tune in the background.  We are comforted by its continuous presence.  The melody keeps calling us and drawing us toward it.

Lord, I think you are this melody.  The music that we love... that engrosses us... that we become immersed in.

And yet, many times we lose track of you... through sin or because we are simply overcome by the struggles of our lives.  We become distracted and thoughts of your love fade away.  That is when we need to be reconciled to you so that we can hear the melody once more.

Hopefully, most of our lives are spent with an awareness of your presence with us.  That as we go about our tasks and deal with the issues and problems in our lives, we trust in and listen to your melody that never ceases.  A melody that brings us joy and comfort.

Lord, allow us to become part of that melody so that we can sing your praises forever.



 ~ Image: Angel playing lute (1506) by Albrecht Dürer

      

It's a Puzzlement!

It's a puzzlement!  What to do... what to do...  About five or six years ago, I put together our parish's website... I am strictly an amateur at website building.  However, since we are a small parish, the site was unique and served its purpose.  I bought the name and I renew it each year as part of my contribution to my parish.

Recently, a new parishioner who is a professional web designer arrived and offered to build a new website for the parish.  All that was perfect timing for me, because of a changing family situation, I no longer have the time to devote to updating the site.  He is doing a fine job and has brought lots of interesting additions to the new site.

But here is my problem:  In addition to building the website those years ago, I was also asked to set up a blog by our priest at the time so that parishioners could write reflections on the homilies and readings we heard every Sunday.  The person writing the reflection that week would send it to me and I would find the perfect picture or image to go with what was written and then I would place the article on the blog.  I really loved doing this and people enjoyed it.  

Now, the web designer wants to incorporate the blog into the new website.  This is not a bad idea on the surface because it will bring more readers into the mix and more information into the blog.  BUT, all those five or six years worth of previous articles/photographs will probably be lost.  This is what hurts my heart!  Plus, the web designer is adding his own headers (pics) to the blog articles and wants to leave my pics out.  This also hurts my heart since I have spent a lot of time finding just the right image for the articles people write.  His issue with my pics are the low resolutions I use.

Soooo, what to do?  Actually, the reflections have changed since the original priest left.  He always had a special take on the readings and so the articles were really exemplary.  Our most recent priest had a different style altogether which made it difficult to write about what he had to say.  Our new priest's style is also not the same...  As the years have gone by, it has ended up that I am writing most of the articles since people have gotten older and less willing to write.  So, my questions are:

Should I abandon the old blog or continue to write for it and have the designer transfer the articles to the new website/blog?

Since I love to write these reflections, should I just place them on this blog and concentrate on this one and let the new parish blog exist on its own?

I can't seem to think clearly about this issue, so I would love to have some input from my readers...



Image from wallpapers shop

Plantings

One of the joys of Springtime for me is to go to one of the box stores like Home Depot and buy bedding plants for my hanging baskets and pots.

Notice I said nothing about buying seed packets or fertilizer...  Long ago I gave up on flower beds and starting plants from seed.  I am much too lazy and impatient to spend time with sowing, weeding, planting and so on.

The instant results of seeing the plants blooming in the baskets and pots are what I look forward to and take joy in.

This reminds me of Paul's first letter to the Corinthians where he speaks about faith in Chapter 3, verse 6:  "I planted the seed, Apollos watered it but God made it grow."  I am like Apollos who takes over after the seed is planted.

Probably most things in life are accomplished by a group effort.  And over time...  Our part may be small but each part is important to the whole.  And then it must be left to God to be completed.

Paul planted the seed of faith in Corinth, but in time Paul had to leave because he was needed elsewhere.  The nurturing of that faith was left to Apollos, but in the end, it took God's grace to make the people's faith grow.

We are reminded that we are a community of believers who take joy in seeing our faith flower.  We thank God for the gift He has given us.  The seed may have been planted long ago, but it required the example and nurturing of others to help it come to fruition.



 Image Source Saunders Brothers

    

For my Reading Pleasure

I love to read!  Always have and hope to continue for many years to come.  My sons are readers also and for many years some of us have kept track of the books we've read through the year.  I'm not a speed reader or a skimmer... I just plod along page by page...

At this point in my life I read only for the momentary enjoyment of it.  I don't read to retain what I have read.  My brain is suffering from information overload already, so if I tried to remember everything I read, my brain would collapse!  Consequently, since I don't have to take a test on what I have read, I can read many more books!  I usually have several books going at one time; one to read at my flea market shop, and generally a couple at home.  One of my spaces at the flea market is a book shop.  I have about 3000 books, so I have an endless supply of reading material!

I read fiction for the most part.  I enjoy murder and mayhem; spy novels, adventure, some historical fiction.  Favorite authors include James Patterson, Patricia Cornwell, James Grisham, Robert Ludlum, David Baldacci and others.  I have also read many of the classic novels that are on that type of reading list, including the classic sci-fi novels.

So far this year, I have read about 28 books.  Because business has been slow at my flea market shop, it has given me more time to read.  Here is a listing of the books I have read so far this year:

1. The Borgia Bride ~ jeanne kalogridis
2. An Occasion of Sin ~ andrew m. greeley
3. The Little Black Cat Book ~ david taylor
4. A Good Woman ~ danielle steel
5. The Dome ~ stephen king
6. Mother of Pearl ~ melinda haynes
7. Step on a Crack ~ james patterson
8. Another City, Not My Own ~ dominick dunne
9. Scarpetta ~ patricia cornwell
10. True Blue ~ david baldacci
11. Paradise ~ toni morrison
12. Forever ~ pete hamill
13. The Hot Zone ~ richard preston
14. The Prometheus Deception ~ robert ludlum
15. Fire and Ice ~ j. a. jance
16. The Priest's Graveyard ~ ted dekker
17. The Scarpetta Factor ~ patricia cornwell
18. The Gunslinger/The Tower ~ stephen king
19. Broken Wings ~ john douglas and mark olshaker
20. Five People You Meet in Heaven ~ mitch albom
21. White Smoke ~ andrew m. greeley
22. The Venetian Betrayal ~ steve berry
23. Captains Courageous ~ rudyard kipling
24. Digital Fortress ~ dan brown
25. Tick Tock ~ james patterson and michael ledwidge
26. Islands ~ anne rivers siddons
27. The Heart is a Lonely Hunter ~ carson mccullers
28. Book of the Dead ~ patricia cornwell

The best book I have read all year is "The Heart is a Lonely Hunter"... an oldie but goodie!  Don't miss out on that one, if you have a chance to read it.  And be sure to read, "Cry, the Beloved Country" by alan paton which I read last year.

Some years I get beyond fiction and read biographies and history and some religious books.  They take more effort since one can't read those mindlessly as one can with fiction.  Anyhow, I enjoy what I read... and that's what counts!


 ~ "Reading" by Alverto Pisa (1854-1936)          

     

The Driving Wind ~ A Pentecost Reflection

Pentecost

Acts 2:1-11
Ps 104:1, 24, 29-30, 31, 34
Gal 5:16-26
Jn 15:26-27; 16:12-15

The driving wind brought change to the lives of the Apostles and those others gathered in the upper room.  It was the first sign that no longer would they live in fear of the future.  As tongues like fire rested on each of them, the Holy Spirit filled them with the zeal and desire to spread the word of Jesus' Resurrection and the good news about the Kingdom of God to all the world.

How wonderful it must have been for the disciples to realize that their words could be understood by all the peoples gathered in Jerusalem that day.  There was no need for a translator...  The Lord was making it possible for everyone to hear and understand the their words.  These Words were for everyone... for the multitudes to hear and believe.  Many must have received those Words with joy that day.  It was a beginning.

The importance of the arrival of the Holy Spirit cannot be underestimated.  In John's Gospel, Jesus realized that the apostles could not bear to hear all that he wanted to tell them.  Probably they were still overwhelmed that Jesus could appear to them as a real and truly alive person and not as a ghost.  And then, of a sudden,  Jesus ascends to his Father and leaves behind frightened disciples who could not yet understand what they must do.

But Jesus had not abandoned them.  He had promised to send "the Spirit of truth" who would guide the disciples and declare to them all that comes from the Father and the Son.  In his letter, Paul tells the Christians of Galatia that they are to "live by the Spirit"...  To be guided by the Spirit and to put away the things of the flesh because the Spirit and the flesh are not compatible.  To live in the Spirit allows one to cultivate the fruits of the Spirit; that is, love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control.  These are the signs of a Christian life... and this is how we also are to live.

Christianity has spread to the ends of the earth, just as Jesus promised and it began with the example of those foreigners in Jerusalem who heard what the Apostles spoke and marveled that they could understand them in their own language.

The joy and hope expressed in Psalm 104 has surely been fulfilled:  "Lord, send out your Spirit and renew the face of the earth."


 ~ Pentecost (Detail) by El Greco, 1610, at the Prado Museum, Madrid, Spain

Oh no! Not MORE cemetery art!!??

Have you noticed? Hard to miss that I've used several cemetery art images recently. Somehow, this art has caught my imagination. It all started a year or so ago when one of my plurky friends started photographing these lovely statues at a cemetery she went to. One of the photos that stayed in my memory had an added attraction: she placed a live rose in the photograph. It made the image even more sad and melancholy. But nonetheless, even more beautiful.

I really don't consider this art morbid. I think it expresses the sadness at the loss of the loved one that the family is experiencing. It also expresses to future generations that this dead person was once alive just like we are... with similar joys and sorrows... and that someone was mourned just as we will be when we leave this earth...

This week is Holy Week. We will be remembering that our God allowed His Son to die so that we might live. There was mourning at the tomb... But sunrise brought the joy of Resurrection!


~ Image from a Paris cemetery