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Deus Ex Musica is an ecumenical project that promotes the used of a scared music as a resource for learning, spiritual growth, and discipleship.
Filtering by Tag: Christian discipleship
In 1967 Bob Dylan was living in Woodstock, a town in the Catskill Mountains, having recently bought a property in Byrdcliffe. It was there that he recuperated after his motorcycle crash. As the crash led to the cancellation of his 1967 tour, he was joined there by his backing band, then known as the Hawks…
Read MoreIt is impossible to listen to Ralph Vaughan William’s gorgeous and transcendent piece, The Lark Ascending, without imagining a lark climbing, diving, turning, soaring as the violin’s flurry of notes floats above the orchestra below, the lush harmony a forest canopy of green dotted with geographical landforms. Peaceful and picturesque as it is, however, we should not dismiss the piece, or the poem by George Meredith which inspired it, as merely Romantic sentimentality, arousing feelings of nostalgia in listeners.
Read More‘Epiphany’ is a hymnlike lockdown song by the American singer-songwriter Taylor Swift which is from her album Folklore released in July 2020. ‘Epiphany’ begins with Swift imagining the wartime experiences of her paternal grandfather who fought at the Battle of Guadalcanal in the Second World War…
Read MoreThis December, the Church began praying what are known as the “O Antiphons” each evening during Vespers, or Evening Prayer. Outside of Vespers, the O Antiphons are more familiar in their adapted form as the verses for the quintessential Advent hymn, “O Come, O Come, Emmanuel.”
Read MoreAs believers and nonbelievers alike join in rousing and relentless caroling, they profess at least a basic understanding of the Christmas message. However, the popular litany of carols tends to be one-sided, resounding with Christmas cheer before reckoning with holy fear. Although rejoicing is an appropriate response to Christ’s birth, it is worth remembering the truth of the Psalms: that stillness and reverence beget knowledge (Psalm 111:10, 46:10). For this reason, “Let All Mortal Flesh Keep Silence” offers a much-needed text and tune which compel hearers to “be still and know” the One of whom they sing. Other carols may sing of silence, but they rarely evoke silence in response.
Read MoreAdvent is a strange time for the Christian, who often finds herself caught between two calendars: on the secular calendar, the moment the last bite of Thanksgiving goes down, the Christmas season begins, and will stretch until the magic of Christmas morning, after which it is fairly immediately extinguished. But on the Church calendar, we are in a season of waiting, of expectant longing, right up to the fall on darkness on Christmas Eve, at which point we begin a season og rejoicing too intense to be confined to one morning, and so which stretches through the following twelve days. The soundtrack of this now and not yet double season, controlled as it is by secular concerns, is mostly skewed towards premature celebration. But some of its songs strike the right chord of expectation for the Christian. “O Come, O Come Emmanuel” is one of those.
Read MoreBy Julian Reid
We need to give more comprehensive support for the arts and not take them for granted. And since I am a Christian artist, I am calling on the Church to help lead the way in supporting the arts in the political sphere. Ultimately I am calling for a new Department of the Cabinet: the Department of the Arts. For Christians, a theological case – rooted in Scripture and on our corporate practices of Christian worship – can be made for such a department, one that can be a source of vibrant life to the arts beyond the limits of Christian institutions.
Read MoreToday, I’m going to use my setting of O Magnum Mysterium as a springboard to make some observations about the issues I consider important in my work as a composer of sacred music and to offer some commentary on my own approach and techniques in setting a sacred text, using illustrations from this piece.
Read MoreGetting out of bed is a simple act for most, but for a paralytic, it is the substance of dreams. To walk, run, and dance is reserved for sleep when a paralyzed person can escape his limitations. There is a story about such a person in first-century Palestine. All he knew was that he’d laid on a stretcher for many years depending on others for movement when along came a stranger named Yeshua who said, “get up, take your mat and go home.” The man did it, and “when the crowd saw this, they were filled with awe…” (Matthew 9:6-8, NIV) I imagine a scene of joyous discovery and humor as this man relearns how to walk, run, and dance. His miraculous return home was the start of a new life free from the previous limitations. I wrote a piece exploring what this journey might have been like, and it takes on the shape of a fugue.
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