[Europe.justus] Fwd: The Almost Daily eMo from GeraniumFarm.org

[Pierre Whalon]

While we still have Barbara+ with us, I thought many would find this  
helpful... including the Moretz link.

+Pierre

Début du message réexpédié :

> De : Barbara Crafton <bccrafton at geraniumfarm.org>
> Date : 2 avril 2009 11:16:18 HAEC
> À : <bppwhalon at aol.com>
> Objet : The Almost Daily eMo from GeraniumFarm.org
>
> PAVANNE FOR CHURCH
>
> Of course, it's two in the morning in New York -- but I will find  
> something there, for sure. Brahms on WQXR -- dare I write in this  
> space that (except for the Academic Festival Overture, without which  
> life would be even harder than it is) Brahms is not my absolute  
> favorite composer? And they're playing tense contemporary music over  
> on WNYC -- they do that often in the middle of the night. Don't they  
> know people are trying to sleep? But wait -- ToscanaClassico is  
> right here in my back yard and they're playing harpsichord. Ah.  
> Grazie.
>
> Holy Week is a hard week in church, but the week before it arrives  
> is no rest cure, either. Clergy and laity alike reach for what they  
> need to help them through, and many of them reach for music. As  
> uphill as the preparation is, it does involve music, and that is a  
> saving grace. You page through the hymnal, thumb through your memory  
> to find something that will connect with the story as it unfolds.  
> You find many things. Some of what you find will be possible, and  
> some of that will unlock a new room in the hearts of some of the  
> people who hear. How many of them? Well, some. That's all you ever  
> know in this business.
>
> And you? You sit in front of the computer screen for hours. When you  
> venture out for the paper, you realize that you haven't left church  
> property for days. You have been glued here. A better administrator  
> than you are would have found a way to make this week a gentle and  
> stately dance of sensible preparation for the church year's greatest  
> feast, but you are not a better administrator than you are. You are  
> left searching frantically for music to hold onto, music that will  
> help you through the jitterbug you're doing.
>
> You play music that sounds the way you wish you felt. Harpsichord  
> music, pensive string quartets, studded here and there with the  
> slightest of dissonances. Church music from medieval Spain. Organ  
> music from the 17th century. Tallis motets. You play music from  
> other ages, times in which people didn't expect things to happen  
> instantly, times in which ideas had a chance to develop in layers,  
> year upon year. Music with ample room in it for wonder and mystery.  
> You play music that is the way you wish you were. And -- miracle! -- 
> hearing the music makes you a little more that way. A little more.  
> Calmer than you were -- a little calmer, anyway. Music has prayed  
> you into another place. Good -- somebody had to do it, and it was  
> just beyond you this time.
>
> The nice thing about church is that it's not all up to you. Not all  
> the resources can come from within you. Maybe none of them can, not  
> today. Church isn't just you at your very, very best. Sometimes it's  
> you at your next-to-worst, and you must rely on others within it to  
> carry you where you cannot go on your own. You may not have it all  
> together, but at least you are not alone in this: they are there to  
> lean on -- the composers and the organ builders, the painters and  
> the sculptors. Many of them are dead, and hence have more time than  
> you do. Things probably look a lot calmer from where they sit.
>
> Ask them for help. Life swirled around them, too -- maybe not as  
> fast as it swirls around you, but the past was no cakewalk. They  
> survived it long enough, and with enough energy, to leave us  
> beautiful things, things to hear and see, things that can take us to  
> a better place at times when we really need to go to one.
> +
>
> Here's a note from Matthew Moretz, better known to many as Fr.  
> Matthew of "Fr. Matthew Presents," that intriguing, funny and often  
> moving set of videos that have delighted and instructed millions of  
> YouTube viewers:
>
> Dear Geranium Farmers,
> I’d like to announce the new release of the DVD “Father Matthew  
> Presents
> the Sacraments.” This DVD collection is available on the CreateSpace
> e-store. You can find it here:
>
> https://www.createspace.com/260580
>
> This DVD is a high quality collection of all the YouTube “webisodes”
> that were produced throughout 2008 to teach about the Sacraments,
> outward and visible signs of inward and spiritual graces. The  
> collection
> also includes the meditation “Eucharistia” featuring the Southern
> Virginian members of the adult formation conference at Shrinemont
> Conference Center. As a Creative Commons work, the DVD is authorized  
> for use in public educational settings.
>
> As an added bonus, subscribers to the Geranium Farm get a Discount  
> Code that will give you $2.00 off your purchase. Here’s the code  
> that you
> enter in at the e-store: 6JPSJTHB The DVD can also be found on
> Amazon.com, but without the discount.
>
> Thank you for watching “Father Matthew Presents!”
>
> +
> And happy birthday to the Hodgepodge -- this favorite Farm  
> neighborhood is four years old already! If the Geranium Farm were a  
> church, the HodgePodge would be the parish kitchen, with one  
> important difference: it's full of helpful hints and interesting  
> observations -- but no gossip! Drop in at www.geraniumfarm.org/hodgepodge
>
>
> The Almost-Daily eMo from the Geranium Farm Copyright © 2001-2009  
> Barbara Crafton - all rights reserved
>
>
>
>
>
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The Rt. Rev. Pierre W. Whalon, D.D.
Convocation of Episcopal Churches in Europe
23 avenue George V
75008 Paris France
+33 1 53 23 84 06  (tel)
+33 1 49 52 96 85 (fax)
office at tec-europe.org



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