Painting

Briggs made this last week at school. It reminded me of stained glass. I turned it into a puzzle here. It had 10 solves and a positive comment within 10 minutes!

B'ball Briggs

Briggs has really taken to basketball recently. The ACC and NCAA men's competitions last month helped pique his interest. The Folly came with a pole and a shabby backboard. The old backboard is long gone but the pole is very sturdy. Uncle David and Aunt Brenda provided the new backboard and rim; Briggs got a new ball from the Easter Bunny, and we got a new installation kit on-line this week. It all came together this evening. We left the rim at about 6 1/2 feet. Not nearly regulation, but higher than what Briggs is accustomed to. He can make a shot with concentration, but has to work at it. Seems like a pretty good set-up for the time being.

Organs

As one might expect, with three kids under foot, international travel is pretty much out of the question for me for any number of reasons. So I have to travel vicariously through family and friends. Jane C. from choir was in Spain over Holy Week. Mindful of her home-bound choir director, she took a picture of this instrument. She thinks it's Barcelona, but can't quite remember. (Anyone know for sure?) Jane didn't hear anyone play this organ and was appropriately bummed about that. Thanks Jane for the photo, and also the post card with the pretty stamp!

Quintessential hymns

"So," I asked the choir tonight, "for what denomination is "Lift high the cross" (CRUCIFER) the quintessential hymn?" (It's one of our hymns for this coming Sunday.) Once they figured out what I was asking, they put it together and responded, "Lutherans."

Exactly.

I went on...the quintessential Presbyterian hymn is "Praise ye the Lord, the Almighty" (LOBE DEN HERREN).

For United Methodists, AZMON, "O for a thousand tongues to sing." By that point we were off.

I proposed that the Baptist equivalent would be "Praise Him! Praise Him!" (...Jesus our blessed Redeemer...). Our resident Baptist wasn't convinced, but also didn't think, as a third person suggested, that "Just as I am" really summed up Baptist hymnody quite right either.

The way I further explained it was, "what hymn gets a group of whomever we're speaking of singing with everything they've got?" What song would compel a member of said denomination to stand up and join in singing?

For Moravians we decided "Ten thousand times ten thousand." The lyrics rival "For all the saints" (SINE NOMINE) in their beauty to my thinking.

One of the other mainline denominations we've failed to mention to this point is the Episcopal Church in the US. What, the choir singers and I pondered together, would be the Episcopal "signature tune?" I'm still wondering. "O God our help in ages past?" (As I am putting the final edit on this, I now wonder if maybe it's "For all the saints?")

This got going in my head because a friend and colleague recently gave me a new hymnal, the new Celebrating Grace Hymnal, published by Celebrating Grace Ministries, which seems to be of the Baptist persuasion. It had a delightfully comprehensive and inclusive, if somewhat Baptist-weighted, corpus of hymnody and congregational song: KING'S WESTON to Chris Tomlin and DIVINUM MYSTERIUM to Fred Pratt Green.

Of course then one has to ask, "would other groups (Episcopalians, Unitarians, Congregationalists, etc.) be caught singing their hearts out on any song at all?!?" For some this abiding joy and fervor over congregational singing may be an alien thing.

So weigh in. Got a suggestions for AME Zionists? Or National Baptists? Members of the Christian Reformed Church? Care to argue any of the choices I named at the outset?

Maryville Pics

Pictures from our concert event last Friday.

Epic Fail

Pit bull versus porcupine. I've sent it to Failblog. Click "vote" and look for it. I found it here. Jeez!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Monday 3/1/2010

Been busy...aint' had time to update much...

Briggs' team won again...

had a nice personal note from New Zealand (thanks LG)...

great music Sunday...

file server issues this morning: had to drop out of hyper-drive (yeah, whatever)...

fashioned bits and pieces into a coherent concert poster (Maryville College Choir: 3/12/10 at 7PM...y'all come!!)...

trying to find a flutist and three subs for bells next Sunday...

got a royalty check from Cokesbury ($7.12, woo-hoo)...

find pictures to illustrate the people and culture of 5 regions of Africa...

make supper (meat loaf, mash, peas and biscuits...yum)...

home visit from the day care teacher (put everything away and DON'T DROP ANYTHING!!!!!!!!!!)...

Scouts...