Friday, October 30, 2009

All Saints' at AUMC


Hello! I hope all is well in your corner of the world. I've been away from the blog for a while because I've been preparing for a series of incredible All Saints' Services this weekend at Argyle UMC and Flower Mound UMC. At the 11:15 service this week (and at 3:00 at Flower Mound UMC) the combined choirs of AUMC and FMUMC will be leading an All Saints' Service based around Gabriel Faure's Requiem. I can't wait for this worship experience to happen! In addition to the 40-45 voices in the choir we will also have a chamber orchestra and two new liturgical pieces (a bell tree and a processional cross) that have been commissioned for this service. It's going to be incredible! Pictures to come.
In the interim, have fun tomorrow and enjoy your extra hour of sleep Saturday night!
BTW, the picture is of Gabriel Faure.

Thursday, October 15, 2009

A few pictures from the U2 concert


The Claw went green during "Sunday, Bloody Sunday" in tribute to the people of Iran fighting for democracy.


77,000 people singing their hears out!


Our original seats with the HORRIBLE acoustics. I can't imagine going to another concert at Cowboys Stadium unless I'm somehow able to sell a kidney to sit on the floor.


Sarah, with The Claw in the background.

A Quick Review of the U2 Concert!



Sarah and I had the great fortune on Monday night to attend the U2 concert at the new Cowboys Stadium in Arlington, Texas. While I've been a huge fan of U2 for quite a while this was my first time to experience them in concert.

U2 didn't disappoint, in fact, they were incredible!

Cowboys Stadium, did disappoint.

The acoustics where we sat were horrendous. The opening act, Muse, was completely unintelligible. I was looking forward to hearing them but the acoustics were so bad that they sounded awful. I'm sure their performance was tremendous but there's no way I could have known!

During Muse's last song I found a place for us to stand in the end zone party pass area, where the acoustics were 1000 times better! Thankfully, we were able to stand there for the rest of the show.

U2 was, simply amazing! The Claw and adjoining screen were mind blowing and the performance was top-notch. U2's set list was as follows:

Breathe
Get on Your Boots
Magnificent
Mysterious Ways
Beautiful Day
I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For
Stuck In A Moment
No Line on the Horizon
Elevation
Until The End of the World
Unforgettable Fire
City of Blinding Lights
Vertigo
I'll Go Crazy - Remix
Sunday Bloody Sunday
MLK
Walk On
One
Where The Streets Have No Name

Ultraviolet
With or Without You
Moment of Surrender

Simply incredible! One day I hope to be able to see them live again! (Hopefully in an arena!)

An Open Letter to the President from Brian McLaren

I have great respect for both Brian McLaren and our President, Barack Obama. I must say that I am disturbed by the talk of major escalation of our forces in Afghanistan. I think this open letter from McLaren to President Obama is important. I hope you will take a moment to check it out! http://tiny.cc/7ESIV

Tuesday, October 13, 2009

A Good Reminder!



I found this image on the Rev. Mike Baughman's Blog www.methomergentlab.worpress.com and it made me laugh! I will post on last night's U2 concert soon!

Monday, October 12, 2009

A Poem by Thom M. Sherman that Gets to the Heart of the Matter

I am so excited! Today I am headed to the U2 concert at the new Cowboys Stadium. I have never had the opportunity to see them live before but I'm told it's like going to church! This morning I received a copy of this poem from a devotional email series that I receive from The Fellowship of United Methodists in Music and Worship Arts. I think the timing is appropriate.

where you sit

we leave our box seats
at the symphony or ball park,
and pray you won’t catch our eye
as we pass you
sitting with the homeless;

we wait for a few minutes
at the doctor’s office
to get a $10 shot
so we won’t catch the flu,
while half a world away
you sit for a week
hoping medicine
which will cost you a year’s wages
finds its way to your village;

we sit in our home theaters,
watching the latest “reality”
on our plasma screens,
while you sit in the darkness,
rocking your child asleep,
as she cries from the ache
of an empty stomach.

Lord Jesus;
When
(like James and John)
we want to be at your side in glory:
remind us where you sit.

Amen

©2006 Thom M. Sherman
www.prayersfortoday.blogspot.com

A Poem by Thom M. Sherman that Gets to the Heart of the Matter

where you sit

we leave our box seats
at the symphony or ball park,
and pray you won’t catch our eye
as we pass you
sitting with the homeless;

we wait for a few minutes
at the doctor’s office
to get a $10 shot
so we won’t catch the flu,
while half a world away
you sit for a week
hoping medicine
which will cost you a year’s wages
finds its way to your village;

we sit in our home theaters,
watching the latest “reality”
on our plasma screens,
while you sit in the darkness,
rocking your child asleep,
as she cries from the ache
of an empty stomach.

Lord Jesus;
When
(like James and John)
we want to be at your side in glory:
remind us where you sit.

Amen

©2006 Thom M. Sherman
www.prayersfortoday.blogspot.com

Saturday, October 3, 2009

A Beautiful Prayer for Church Musicians by Thomas Troeger

A great friend of mind and a tremendous musician, Carrie Chavarria, recently posted this beautiful prayer by Thomas Troeger on her facebook page. Thank you, Carrie, for sending out this incredible prayer!

A Prayer by Rev. Dr. Thomas Troeger

Source of all that is good and true and beautiful,
to whom whales and birds and crickets sing,
keep constant in your musicians
the conviction that your Spirit works through them
to reach a vast and carried hosts of souls
who gather in church
for hope, assureance, grace, beauty,
for some sign of your care,
for solace from grief and loss,
for strength to stand for justice,
for a glimpse of wonder and mystery,
for response to a need so hidden that it is known to you alone.

Assure your musicians that the rehearsals they lead,
the anthems they conduct,
the hymns they play,
the psalms they accompany,
the service music they offer,
the solos they sing,
the instrumental works they perform,
the programs they organize,
the words of encouragement they give
are again and again
the vessel of your Spirit
for healing the bruised, the lost, the broken
and for setting free the holy aspirations of the human heart.

And since the souls that are saved
be the secret ministries of music
often find it too self-revealing,
too frightening,
to offer their thanks in person,
may their unarticulated gratitude
be gathered by the wind of your Spirit
and be borne to the hearts of your musicans
as a gift to renew their faith
so that they may continue to be instruments
of proclamation and pastoral care
as they lead your people
in singing your everlasting praose
through Jesus Christ our Lord.
Amen.

A Quote from Martin Luther King, Jr.

A while back I read Stephen Mansfield's "The Faith of Barack Obama." I was struck by two sections of the book that I will post about, first here, and then in a secondary post. The first element that caught my attention was a quote from Martin Luther King. The quote is as follows:

"The church must be reminded that it is not the master or the servant of the state, but rather the conscience of the state. It must be the guide and the critic of the state, and never its tool. If the church does not recapture its prophetic zeal, it will become an irrelevant social club without moral or spiritual authority. If the church does not participate actively in the struggle for peace and for economic and racial justice, it will forfeit the loyalty of millions and cause men everywhere to say that it has atrophied its will. But if the church will free itself from the shackles of a deadening status quo, and, recovering its great historic mission, will speak and act fearlessly and insistently in terms of justice and peace, it will enkindle the imagination of mankind and fire the souls of men, imbuing them with a glowing and ardent love for truth, justice, and peace."

Wow! I wonder how many of us are so blinded by our culture to realize that, in the vast majority of local churches, the church has forfeited its role as the conscience of the state?