The Lady in Blue

diving,
     sighing,
          pirouetting in a maze of breeze

     swirling,
          twirling,
               dancing on leaves
     
          taking flight on a sunbeam,
               finding solitude in the mists

                         a song in a ceaseless moment

Hymn of the Week

I'm a parish musician (I graduated with my degree in May), so I enjoy hymnody and how it relates to the liturgy, lectionary, and theology.  I won't do this every week, but occasionally I would to explore a hymn.  This week, I'd like to take a brief look at "God's Own Child, I Gladly Say It" (number 594 in Lutheran Service Book).  You can find the full hymn text here.

Why this hymn today?  Well, today we had a baptism.  Every time we celebrate a baptism, we are reminded of our own baptism as we confess with the parents and sponsors.  So too, when we sing this hymn are we reminded that God has cleansed us and freed us from sin, death, and the devil through the waters of Holy Baptism.  In stanza one, we are reminded of the price God paid for us through Christ's death on the cross.  Because of this, we do not need to feel weighed down by our sin (stanza two).  We do not need to heed Satan's accusations (stanza three) and we do not need to fear death (stanza four).  After all, we've been baptized into Christ's death and resurrection!

A quick note on the tune:  in Lutheran Service Book, the tune that is used is Bachofen, a very spirited tune in a major key.  While many people don't think about the tune a hymn is sung to, the character of a tune does a lot for elevating the text.  Bachofen is the perfect tune for this text because it expresses the joy we have in our baptism.  As an organist, I like how this tune lends itself well to the overflowing joy of the first and last stanzas and the dark, reedy, defiance of the middle stanzas.

A New Day for Blogging

I've never been very good at this blogging thing, or journaling, or writing stuff down on any kind of a regular basis.  I'm not good at talking either.  Maybe it's part of being introverted:  I prefer listening over expressing my thoughts and opinions, although I have plenty of those.  At any rate, I started this blog shortly after I graduated high school with the intention of sharing my thoughts about a variety of topics—religion, school, life in general—as a way for me to openly express some of what goes on in my head and in with the hope that maybe I could provide a different perspective to others that would help them to learn something new.  I had such high aspirations and I've done a terrible job coming anywhere close.

Now, I'm going to make another attempt.  It's been almost five years, so clearly things have changed:  I've graduated from college, I'm living at home, and I don't have a job at the moment (the temporary job I did hold earlier this summer is a topic for another post).  So today, this blog is changing too.  For now, the name is remaining the same, but this blog is going to become more alive and active with poems, stories, life experiences, frustrations. . . you get the picture.  Today is Thursday.  The next post will be on Sunday, and then another one on Thursday and so on and so forth.  I have set a goal that from now and into the foreseeable future, you, my readers (for the very of you that there are!) will get to see TWO blog posts from me every single week.

Ready, set, go!