So that’s my challenge to myself this lent – to come before God in prayer more often than I do now, and to present myself in that divine presence in a way that recognizes that God knows me better than I know myself anyway. No games, no baggage, no excuses, no masks. Just me, naked on the stage before him like a 300-year-old cello that cannot speak for itself but can only respond by vibrating to the working of the master’s hand.
Archive for the ‘music’ Category
If you don’t like the culture, make your own…
Posted in creativity, House concerts, music, Songwriters, tagged bonnie raitt, encouragement, eric taylor, grammy awards, House concerts, norah jones, pierce pettis, writing on January 30, 2010 | 2 Comments »
Here’s the point of all this, really. If you don’t like the culture, make your own…or help others make their own. Instead of paying $50 or $100 bucks to see a megastar at your local arena, support or create your own small venues that put the spotlight on the gifted but lesser-known artists who may never find their way (or want to find their way) to top 40 radio, MTV or the Grammy Awards.
My Soundtrack: Bright Eyes
Posted in creativity, music, My Soundtrack, spirituality, tagged Bright Eyes, creativity, encouragement, Garfunkel, Mike Batt, Toni Morrison on January 4, 2010 | 2 Comments »
[an occasional series of essays about life, spirit, and the music that makes up the soundtrack of my life] Bright eyes, burning like fire. Bright eyes, how can you close and fail? How can the light that burned so brightly Suddenly burn so pale? Bright eyes. –Mike Batt, recorded by Art Garfunkel Not long ago [...]
A Light in Darkness (A Christmas villanelle)
Posted in Christmas, music, Poetry, spirituality, tagged Christmas, Nathanael's Creed, Poetry, villanelle on December 23, 2009 | 2 Comments »
Here’s a villanelle I wrote a few years ago to celebrate the joy and the promise of Christmas. It appears as a spoken-word poem with original music by Phil Cooper on Nathanael’s Creed’s new Christmas CD, “Home Again with You.”
Emptying ourselves to make room for God
Posted in music, Prayer, spirituality, tagged cure d'Ars, Prayer, vianney on December 13, 2009 | 4 Comments »
Many talk about being “filled” by God in prayer and that can be an apt description of what can happen in prayer. But here’s the problem: If we’re too full of ourselves and our busy lives, there’s just no room for God. So we have to empty ourselves. We have to get out of our own way and make some room for God.
