In our daily devotions this week, my wife and I have been reading the Book of Daniel. After reading Chapter 3, it occurred to me that for some reason we have a tendency to turn the gifts God gives us into idols. This is what King Nebuchadnezzar did in Daniel 3. In the previous chapter, God gave him… Read More »
Today’s Verse of the Day from the YouVersion Bible really struck me. We tend to think that it is our “job” to rejoice in God and what He has done for us. But, here is a remarkable passage from the prophet Zephaniah that puts a different perspective on things. The Lord your God is in your midst,a mighty… Read More »
Are you looking for a work to challenge your viola section? You might want to consider this Prelude for Divided Viola. It is an arrangement for strings of my chorale prelude on the hymn “Jesus, Priceless Treasure,” a tune made famous by the J. S. Bach motet. The violas are busy from beginning to end and use the… Read More »
I was fiddling around with playback feature in Finale and the Garritan ARIA Player and discovered that my motet on “O Come, O Come Emmanuel” sounds really good with just strings alone, so here it is as a Fantasia on VENI EMMANUEL for Strings. This arrangement would work with either a string orchestra or a string quartet. If… Read More »
Here is a setting for organ of the great German pietistic hymn “Jesus, Priceless Treasure” that I composed back in my college days. The text of the hymn is by Johann Franck and first appeared as a six stanza hymn in Johann Crüger’s Praxis Pietatis Melica (1653) to a tune presumably by Crüger. The hymn was made famous by… Read More »
Just completed a new piece for Easter: Fanfare on “Christ is Arisen” for mixed choir, brass quartet, timpani, and organ. Hope you find it useful. It begins with a theme that my Associate Pastor said reminded him of Aslan, you know the great and powerful lion from the C. S. Lewis book The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe… Read More »
The season of Lent is a “season” of the Church Year – a time for somber reflection on our sin and our sinful nature. It is a time for penitence and confession and a time to receive God’s forgiveness – to hear with new ears and open hearts and minds how much our God loves us. As the… Read More »
As we come across another milestone in the Liturgical Year, I’m reminded of the great gift that the Liturgical Year is to those who practice it. The greatest gift is that the Liturgical Year helps to keep our attention focused on the person, the work, and the teachings of Jesus Christ. And that’s what the Christian faith is… Read More »
Upon reading 1 Chronicles 23-25, many people do not realize that the establishment and organization of the worship and music of the tabernacle and temple was not done so at the whim of King David, but rather because it had been ordained and instituted by God. In his book The Lord’s Song: The Basis, Function and Significance of Choral… Read More »
I woke up this morning with Allen Pote’s “A Song of Promise” running through my brain (we rehearsed it for good 30 minutes at our choir rehearsal last night). It is an interesting and effective setting of a passage from the book of Isaiah. And then I realized that one of the unique things about a choir rehearsing… Read More »