Acts 29

1. AND IT CAME TO PASS, when Paul was in Corinth, he and certain disciples came upon a mob that was stoning an organist.
2. And Paul said unto them, “What then hath he done unto thee that his head should be bruised?”
3. And the people cried with one voice, “He hath played too loud!
4. Yea, in the singing of the psalms, he maketh our heads to ring as if they were beaten with hammers.
5. Behold, he sitteth up high in the loft, and mighty are the pipes and mighty is the noise thereof, and though there be few of us below, he none the less playeth with all the stops, the Assyrian trumpet stop and the stop of the ram’s horn and the stop that soundeth like the sawing of stone, and we cannot hear the words that cometh out of our own mouths.
6. He always tosseth in variations that confuse us mightily and he playeth loud and discordant and always in a militant tempo, so that we have not time to breathe as we sing.
7. Lo, he is a plague upon the faith and should be chastised.”
Paul, hearing this, had himself picked up a small stone, and was about to cast it, but he set it down, and bade the organist come forward.
8. He was a narrow man, sallow of complexion, with dry skin, flaking and thin of hair.
9. And Paul said unto him, “Why hath thou so abused thy brethren?”
10. And the organist replied, “I could not hear them singing from where I sat, and therefore played the louder so as to encourage them.”
11. And Paul turned round to the mob and said loudly, “Let him who has never played an organ cast the first stone.”
12. And they cast stones for a while until their arms were tired and Paul bade the organist repent and he did.
13. And Paul said unto him, “Thou shalt take up the flute and play it for thirty days, to cleanse thy spirit,” and afterward they returned to Corinth and sang psalms unaccompanied and then had coffee and were refreshed in the faith.

The previous extra-biblical literature was passed on to me a few years back. I am unsure of who to credit for it, though I have seen it attributed to Garrison Keillor. Despite the humor, there are some lessons for organists hidden in there.

Lutheran Hymnody Makes the Evening News

How often do you hear Lutheran hymnody on television? Not often. How often does it make the evening news? Almost never . . . that is until “Singing the Faith: Living the Lutheran Liturgical Heritage” was produced by the Good Shepherd Institute. I stumbled across the news story “Seminary Prof. Produces Music Documentary” at the Indiana NewsCenter website via a Google search. There is a text news story and an online streaming video from the evening news with that Seminary Prof. - Kantor Resch. Not bad for only a 1 or 2 minute video.

I received my copy of the DVD this past weekend and am working my way through the videos and the study guide. Eventually I might write a review on Singing the Faith. If you’d like more information, surf on over to the Good Shepherd Institute website and view the introductory video - it’s only about 12 minutes +/-.

+ Jaraslov Vajda - 1919-2008 +

The Concordia Publishing House website reports that Dr. Jaraslov Vajda died on May 10, 2008. I first encountered his hymns with the now familiar “Go, My Children, With My Blessing”.

Some of us recently sang or read his Ascension hymn “Up Through Endless Ranks of Angels” (LSB 491) . The doxological verse to this hymn is a fitting closing to a long and productive service to God and the church.

Alleluia, alleluia! Oh, to breathe the Spirit’s grace!
Alleluia, alleluia! Oh, to see the Father’s face!
Alleluia, alleluia! Oh, to feel the Sons’ embrace!

Sneak Peak - New Organ Music @ CPH

For you organists (and choir directors) out there, it looks like Concordia Publishing House is starting to unveil their 2008 new organ music (and choral) collections. On first glance there are a couple of editions that look enticing — primarily because I’m already familiar with these composers:

• A new volume by John Behnke in his series Five Preludes of Praise.
• Six Hymn Improvisations Set 7 by Kevin Hildebrand. I frequently use his improvisations in worship services. His collections on Christmas and Lent/Easter hymns are also good.
• Introductions, Harmonizations, Accompaniments, Interpretations, Vol. 5 by Jeffrey Blersch.

I suspect CPH is working on their promotional CDs and will soon be providing audio excerpts. But in the meantime they do have PDF excerpts for most of the music books.

And no, I do not receive any kickbacks from the CPH Music Department for writing this.

God’s Own Child, I Gladly Say It

Today (May 6) I celebrated the 29th anniversary of my baptism when my parents brought me to the font. With the water and God’s word my dad baptized me in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit and marked me with the cross upon my forehead and upon my heart as one redeemed by Christ. As Luther wrote, this Baptism is

“a life-giving water, rich in grace, and a washing of the new birth in the Holy Spirit, as St. Paul says in Titus, chapter three: “He saved us through the washing of rebirth and renewal by the Holy Spirit, whom He poured out on us generously through Jesus Christ our Savior, so that, having been justified by His grace, we might become heirs having the hope of eternal life. This is a trustworthy saying.”

And because of the rich gifts God gives in Baptism (forgiveness of sins, rescue from death and the devil, and eternal salvation) I can say:

God’s own child, I gladly say it:
I am baptized into Christ!
He, because I could not pay it,
Gave my full redemption price.
Do I need earth’s treasure many?
I have one worth more than any
That brought me salvation free
Lasting to eternity! (LSB 594)

Amen.

“There’s Just Too Many Hymn Stanzas”

How many times have you heard this: There’s just too many hymn stanzas? Or for that matter, how many times have you thought this on a Sunday morning?

I remember as a teenager reading TLH #315. (While I haven’t been at a congregation that uses The Lutheran Hymnal for a few years now, I still have the hymn numbers deeply ingrained in my mind.) Without picking up TLH, which hymn is it? If you answered I Come, O Savior, To Thy Table, you are correct. You get bonus points if you also remembered that it has 15 stanzas. As best as I can remember, I have never sung the entire hymn in one service. For better or worse, LSB broke the hymn into two hymns - LSB 618 and 619 - each with 5 stanzas and eliminated the remaining 5 stanzas. Perhaps the later stanzas will be sung more often now.

This all leads up to a memorable quote from my current lunch time reading — Robin Leaver’s study of “Luther’s Liturgical Music”. In the essay on Vater unser im Himmelrich (Out Father, Who from Heaven Above - LSB 766), Leaver recounts that Martin Franzmann was concerned that Luther’s paraphrase of the Lord’s Prayer was infrequently sung because it was perceived to be too long — with 9 stanzas. Franzmann wrote a three-stanza hymn (LBW 442 — LBW did not include Luther’s hymn), as did Henry Letterman (LW 430). Leaver concludes with:

These shortened forms of hymnic versions of the Lord’s Prayer are symptomatic of our modern age, which is impatient with hymns longer than three or four stanzas and with services of worship that last longer than fifty-nine minutes. But worship and prayer require time if we are to become attuned to what we are doing and why. (133-134)

Sometimes it gets to the point of sound bite hymnody — first and last verses — or the “Best of the Divine Service” to fit the “allotted” time. Why? I would gladly stay longer to be nourished through the entire Divine Service and hymnody.

Soaked in Christ’s Blood

Over at Concordia TheoBLOGical Seminary, Rev. Cholak writes a vivid post on pastors soaking their flock with Christ’s blood as they preach Christ and the forgiveness of sins. It is well worth the read. He reminds us that God uses his servants to speak to us and that pastors should be preaching Christ - and consequently not some pop-philosophy or purpose driven drivel. He writes,

Pastors bring the forgiveness of sins from the cross and wrap you with it, like a warm blanket on a cold, winter’s night. They take his blood and wash you with it. Like a mother after you’ve played in the mud, a pastor scrubs you clean (even behind the ears) with Christ’s blood.

Yes . . . we need that scrubbing. We also probably need some high pressure washing. He concludes:

Expect to be soaking in Christ’s blood when the pastor says, “Amen.” Expect to be alive because Christ has wrapped you with his love and breathed new life into your ears. Not only should you expect it, you should demand it. It is your heritage. It is God’s good gift. AND…it’s yours.

If you’ve read this far, you need to read his whole blog post. Please click here.

As a side note: The imagery in Rev. Cholak’s post reminds me of my current bedtime reading - a collection of sermons by Chad Bird called “Christ Crucified“.