The Model Seminarian (Reprise!)

It seems ONLY fitting! I am reposting this ditty from my first semester at Regent. 
23 days until graduation!



The
Model
Seminarian

With apologies to Gilbert and Sullivan
and "The Pirates of Penzance"
(but please feel free to sing along!)

I............
am the very model of a modern seminarian
I've information critical of languages grammarian
I know the verb and tenses of languages antiquarian
And quote from Aramaic and now even some Sumarian..



I'm very well acquainted, too, with matters analytical
I parse and line my Greek, both the simple and emphatical
I read my ancient Hebrew text with understanding little
Though profs tell me I must attend to every jot and tittle!


Though profs tell her she must attend to every jot and tittle!
Though profs tell her she must attend to every jot and little tittle!

I know biblical history, from Aristotle to McLaren
I've know all methods, points and sermons capable of reaching 'em
I hobnob with all leaders in the field of missiology
And hold my own regardless of one's view on eschatology


I'm very good at ancient earth and natural theology
I am the one who can defend most facts of anthropology
In short, in matters dogmatic or egalitarian
I am the very model of a modern seminarian!


In short, in matters dogmatic, or egalitarian
She is the very model of a modern seminarian!








With all my holy knowledge I'm quite plucky and adventure-y
My Call has not been questioned since the starting of the century
But still, in matters dogmatic, or egalitarian
I am the very model of a modern seminarian!


But still, in matters dogmatic, or egalitarian
She is the very model of a modern seminarian!

YES! I am the very model of a modern seminarian!

I've been humming it all day...
Deb

Let it Rain, Dear

Today's weather was a blustery, cold rainy day. I managed to stay home and work on school. (There ARE perks for school on-line!) I remember a couple of Novembers when it was cold and nasty, and I would end my day with a two hour marching band rehearsal... Yes. In the cold and the rain. First I had to slog across campus and get into marching gear. Then I had to march the new show's drill, regardless of the weather, outside on the practice field. And yes, when we were standing at attention, you could not shift or move, or try to stop the rain from running down the brim of your hat and down your shirt. I would go home, chilled to the bone, grateful for a warm dinner and a hot shower.

Many days as I would cross the Oval to head for my noon class, I would time it so that I could hear the day's selection from the chime ringers. One person at a time, (usually organ majors from the music school,) would throw the levers and play traditional chime tunes, and for fun they would always play a song that was a joke. Sometimes it was a theme from an upcoming show in the music school. It was something to look forward to, regardless of the weather. The chimes would end with the school's alma mater, Carmen Ohio. (The uninformed among you think that this tune is a hymn. That would be incorrect.)

Orton Hall, The Ohio State University web photo

One particularly nasty rainy day, the chimes ringer played tunes that related to the weather. The one that absolutely cracked me up was "Raindrops Keep Fallin' on my Head," and the crowd started to really grow when he played "MacArthur Park." There were probably fifty or so of us, standing in the rain, waiting for him to come out at the end of the quarter hour, and we applauded and cheered. (And yes we were late for class. But no matter.)

So in the grand tradition of "music you don't want to hear on a rainy day" I thought I'd start a list. Feel free to add to my list in the comments...

Raindrops Keep Fallin' on my Head
Let a Smile be your Umbrella
I Wish it Would Rain
Rainy Days and Mondays Always Get me Down
Ark-y, Ark-y
April Showers
I Can See Clearly Now the Rain is Gone
MacArthur Park
Blue Eyes Cryin' in the Rain
Over the Rainbow
Here comes that Rainy Day feeling again
It's Raining Men
The Rain in Spain
10,000 Maniacs Rainy Day
and...
Stormy Weather

Deb

Oh - P.S. Row, Row, Row your Boat!

one of those songs...

This is one of those songs I play when I'm really needing to quiet my heart and pray...

Sunday music this week...

Oh God... hear my heart...

Give me Jesus...

Morning, Lord...

Birds on a wire

NYC, somewhere between Broadway and the NJ tunnels
(sorry for the glare - I took it through the bus window)

On our way out of New York last Saturday, we were stuck at one particular intersection for a long, long, time. I was particularly intrigued at the pigeons who were settling in on the guy wires between the traffic lights. When we pulled up to the light there were five or six birds. But they kept coming. More and more flew in and joined the ones on the wires. There was no jostling for position or flapping others away - they just made room for more and more birds.

In a moment of music trivia, I started humming...

Like a bird on the wire,
Like a drunk in an old midnight choir
I have tried in my way to be free.
Like a worm on a hook,
Like a knight been down in some old fashioned book
It was the shape of our love that twisted me
If I have been unkind, if I have been unkind
Oh I hope you can find the way to let it all go right on by...

I say don't cry, don't cry, don't cry, don't cry anymore
It's over, it's finished, it's completed, it has..., it has been paid for.

And that is so true. See? A Lenten theme afterall!

OK, so Leonard Cohen isn't your style and you don't know the song... you can listen here...
(If you want a more growly version, I think Johnny Cash sang it, too.)




Sweet dreams...

This song is STUCK in my HEAD...and it's all good!

This is a great song... we sang it last weekend on Chrysalis (a youth renewal weekend sponsored by the Upper Room) and it's stuck in my head! The original version by the writer, John Mark MacMillan is out there, but I think Kim Walker does a better job.

He is jealous for me,
Loves like a hurricane, I am a tree,
Bending beneath the weight of his wind and mercy.
When all of a sudden,
I am unaware of these afflictions eclipsed by glory,
And I realize just how beautiful You are,
And how great Your affections are for me.

And oh, how He loves us so,
Oh how He loves us,
How He loves us so...
And oh, how He loves us so,
Oh how He loves us,
How He loves us so...

We are His portion and He is our prize,
Drawn to redemption by the grace in His eyes,
If grace is an ocean, we’re all sinking.
So Heaven meets earth like a sloppy wet kiss,
And my heart turns violently inside of my chest,
I don’t have time to maintain these regrets,
When I think about, the way…

He loves us,
Oh how He loves us,
Oh how He loves us,
Oh how He loves.
Yeah, He loves us,
Oh how He loves us,
Oh how He loves us,
Oh how He loves...

Background Music

I'm working on a paper today, which is not my first choice with the weather warming up and the sun shining. But time is going to get away from me if I don't start hacking away at the research. In the background, I have Pandora cranking out an unlikely mix of music. (I have 14 saved "stations" from classical to jazz to Christian to harp, currently set to "Quickmix" - the most random "random" playlist ever!)

I just heard a series of Chopin Preludes played by Artur Rubenstein. My mind flashed back to junior high when we went to hear him play at a concert in our hometown. My piano teacher was one of the hostesses for a reception for him afterwards. I don't remember much about the concert, other than it was brilliant. What I remember is shaking his hand at the reception. My piano hands, relatively strong for my age, were completely engulfed in the massive muscle and thickness of his. With a polite bow, he released my hand to greet the next guest.

I can hear recordings of his music all the time. But I will never be able to recapture the impression of that one handshake.

Deb

Worship

the one thing i don't question is you
you really love me
like you say you do...


Paul Colman

Sunday Heart Song

This song encourages me...


Lifesong - Casting Crowns

Undo...

UNDO!! UNDO!!!

Do-overs.
Mulligans.
Reboot.
Retry.
Correct.
Amend.
Fix.
Improve.
Clean up.
Try again.
De-bug.

We ask for them in golf matches.
We beg the umpire for a review.
We fix documents.
We persuade our computers to work. (maybe!)

We need UNDOs in life.
And more than once when I've realized I've let someone down or watched as someone is hurt... I've wished that we could just erase memories and conversations with an "undo" button, or something.

As part of the reflection process in my coursework, I'm asked to consider what I've succeeded at doing, where I need help, and where I need to make more minor, mid-course corrections.

So many UNDOs, so little time...

I know that there's really two steps to this process for me.

The first is that I be willing to try again.
For me, that's huge. If I'm hurt, or have been wounded by someone, I have trouble trusting it will turn out OK. Ever. But to gather courage in hand and try again, (and again and again and again... times seventy!) is all God asks.

The second is to forgive.
Forgive without expecting the other person will change, setting aside pride and anger and hurt to forgive the other person. That's harder. Because I personally want blame assigned or accepted. Or I want to, as they say, "chew 'em a new one."

Instead, God asks that I forgive and wisely choose my next course of action. It's not that I would automatically choose that same course of action, or the same relationships, or even the same job... but to leave things hanging out there, bleeding and oozing pain??? Or to stuff my disappointments, hide them, and not admit it hurts??? No, that's not what God asks.

Please note.... FORGIVENESS does not equal STUPID.
I can take steps of healing or steps of wounding. And as far as God helps me, I'd like it to be the former.

If I hang on to my anger, I become sarcastic. Or bitter. I retreat and I don't invest emotionally, because, who wants to hurt again? As an extrovert and a "feeling" person, sometimes I feel overexposed and vulnerable. I need to step back, assess, and own my part of the problem (which is always bigger than it first seemed! Funny how that works....) and not retreat. I need the opportunity to have a big "UNDO" in my life, in my heart, in my relationships.

Time and time again, God has been patient, faithful and accepting towards me. Not because I deserve it, but because I have a love relationship with God that is not based on performance, but on a God-sized sacrifice.

I just stumbled on to the band Rush of Fools and this song in particular has been running through my mind... it's called --- "UNDO"

Hear their message of honest confession and healing... It's yours, mine, ours for the taking.

Peace-
Deb

UNDO by Rush of Fools

Sunday worship...

We sang this at worship during the Chrysalis team meeting recently... Then we sang it this morning at church... double bonus! I really love this song!

Say it isn't so!

I enjoyed the John Williams' arrangement of the tune Simple Gifts. Despite the snarky reviews in the Washington Post, it was lovely, uplifting and joyous as befit the occasion. So imagine my surprise when I read this morning that the "performance" at the inauguration was TAPED!

Yes it was.

They played (physically played) their instruments. But they were not amplified for the broadcast because the cold temperatures would have made their instruments go out of tune. I wondered how they managed to play "live" and in tune. And I still shudder at having priceless instruments out in the cold, dry air. I was told that they had space heaters to keep their instruments in tune. Uh huh.

Now we know.

But even taped, it was glorious. And, FYI, it's not on iTunes yet. I'm waiting.

Deb

Sunday Morning Worship

Found out at about midnight that services were cancelled because of a water main break. I intended to get up and return to a Chrysalis team retreat... but woke up at about 11 a.m. instead. Hmmm guess I needed the sleep!

In lieu of church and worshipping with my friends at the retreat, I found a video I'd like to share. It's by Misty Edwards and is called, "I will waste my life." I can't think of anything better to do...

Peace-
Deb

I just really like this song...

Shared resource: The Lord's Prayer

Updated lyrics and chords with a simple five-note scale as written and led by Brian McLaren. Chords, wording, etc can be found here.

I'm not a very good guitarist (in fact, I'm a terrible one... mostly because of lack of practice!) but I think I could play this version on the piano.

Split theological hairs, if you like, over the wording and the changes... but I think it's usable and do-able. Oh yeah. And biblical.

Peace-
Deb

An Instrument...

Thought that this would bring a pleasant counterpoint to the political snarky stuff I just posted. The cry of my heart is to be an instrument of God's peace...

The music is from Karl Jenkin's "The Armed Man (A Mass For Peace)" and the actual selection is titled "Benedictus."

For my friends from church... NO - It's not rock. I wouldn't expect it to be picked for a Sunday video.

It's not truly "classical" music, in fact, Jenkins gets a lot of flack for being schmaltzy. So be it. Despite all of the criticism, it sings to the heart. I know several people who need to be surrounded by "instruments of peace."

Someday it could be you. Or me. So I guess this is more a pastoral plea for those of us who HAVE Peace living in us -- to express it. That's all...

I don't remember who tipped me off to this... but I thank you.
It restores my soul...

Dona nobis pacem...

Deb

Music today...

Jeremy Camp's Lay Down My Pride...

Sung by the worship band today....
It touched my heart and has had me pondering all day.

Here's a video...



Stumbling along...
Deb

God of the Moon and Stars

God of the Moon and Stars

by Krees Kraaynoord

Every Time I Breathe...

Words that are my heart... someone else put them to music!

I am sure all of heaven's heard me cry
As I tell You all the reasons why
This life is just too hard
But day by day
Without fail I'm finding everything I need
And everything that You are
To me

Every Time I Breathe
by Big Daddy Weave


PHOTO CREDIT: "Tears of Rain" by Biliana Rakocevic