October 28th, 30th Sunday in Ordinary Time

How I blush! My good friend Rory Cooney quoted and invoked this blog in his own blog (a good one! Check it out-- http://web.mac.com/stannerory/iWeb/bloggage/New_Blog/New_Blog.html), inviting people to come over here and see what I'm doing...and I have missed the past two Sundays! Sigh...I look down and see the good intentions paving the road I'm on, and it makes me wonder where the road is headed...

I do have some small excuse...we've just been through the flurry of birthdays at my house, especially my little Bear's turning 5. One weekend we had the "actual" birthday (cupcakes for school, homemade cake for family, frenzied cleaning so that in-laws think my house is always that clean), the next we had the 15 screaming kids My Gym party (keeping track of RSVP's, ordering cake, buying party favors, overseeing thank you notes)...I don't know why I thought the mom gig would get easier as the kids got bigger.

But thanks to Rory's kind kick in the rear, I'll try to get back on track. So:

In contrast with the readings in the weeks before and after this one (I think next week we get the martyrdom of the woman and her seven sons...that's a joy to plan music for, NOT), I love this week. It's one of those lovely sets of readings where it all speaks to the same reality of faith and life as children of Christ: Sirach's promise that God will hear the prayer of the lowly, Paul's open trust in the uncertainty to come and gratitude for what has been, and especially the gloriously abject humility of the poor sad tax collector whom Jesus promises will be heard and exalted by God...it remindes me of Marguerite of Porete's vision of the soul so cast down and annihilated in her own reality that she becomes nothing more than the empty vessel and reflection of all that God is, with sorrow so deep that it is no longer sorrow, and joy so exalted that it transcends joy, and is it all simply God.

From this perspective, the music almost chooses itself:
October 28, 30th Sunday in Ordinary Time
Prelude (9:00--Youth Choir): A Place at the Table
The Ensemble sang this a few weeks ago; I think it will have a different impact as a prelude than at Prep or Communion as we usually use it: a call to everyone, young and old, just and unjust, and of the delight God takes in our efforts to look beyond ourselves and become "creators of justice and joy."
Opening: O Christ, the Great Foundation (at 9:00: Gathered as One)
I chose this one as much for verse 3 as for any of it, although the whole hymn is apt. It speaks of the oppression in the world and calls upon the church to "awaken" and strive to right the imbalances.
When the children's choir sings, we generally try to stay away from the very "wordy" strophic hymns, although they could probably have handled this one. "Gathered as one" is a really lovely contemporary Paul Tate song--I hate to use the word "generic," because nothing we do should be generic, but it's one of those songs that's almost always works.
Psalm: 34--The Cry of the Poor
This is where I'd definitely say go read Rory's blog for this week! I found his comments on Conry's comments about this song very interesting, but I don't know that I quite agree. For me, the very power in this song lies in the juxtaposition of what's essentially a very joyful and victorious text with a melody that's wistful or even outright sad. This psalm setting almost personifies this hopeful/sorrowful ambiguity in the readings for the Sunday, and the need to sing praise while owning our sadness that the vision is stil woefully incomplete, and musically it feels almost like the linchpin on which the whole liturgy's music depends.
Presentation: (at 9:00--Youth Choir: Bring Forth the Kingdom)
A joyful Beatitudes-based justics song--lots of fun, and the kids will be singing in canon, if enough of them show up to make it work!
other liturgies: Only This I Want
Okay, maybe not so joyful, but it's so gorgeous, and right out of the second reading. One of the "Glory and Praise" generation songs that well deserves to stick around for a few more decades at least! It's also one of the many songs I wish all these bloody liturgical tenor composers would take down a whole step or so. It's just too stinkin' high. Makes people stop singing. That's never a good thing. Put it in the same category as We have been Told, All who Hunger, We are Called, etc.
Communion: (at 5:00 Saturday--Ensemble: In You, O Lord, Ed Bolduc)
Another of Ed's more gorgeous offerings, incredibly simple, very effective. One of those comforting songs that sort of combs out one's tangles whether one wants it to happen or not.
Draw Near (Janco)
A parish favorite, in many ways also one of our more "all-purpose" Communion songs, but the whole invitation to "draw near, draw near" is very appropriate to this week and season--it speaks to the disgraced tax collector in all of us, the part that wants to hide in back and stay away, to hide the parts of us we think God shouldn't see...and yet we still are called to draw near, draw close, warts and all. (I find this very comforting; I'm feeling very spiritually warty this week.)
Closing: How can I Keep From Singing
I kind of feel like if anyone's read this far, they won't need me to say much about this song and why we're singing it!

It's been a rough couple of weeks, though I'm not really sure why. I haven't been sleeping enough, which is nothing new, but I can't bounce back from it the way I used to when I was younger. I had a birthday last weekend myself, and I'll go ahead and post it right here in black and white: I'm 39 years old. For some reason I find the "liminal" ages more threatening than the actual milestone years themselves--29 was hard, 30 was great. 20 was hard, 21 was great. Probably 40 will be absolutely fine, but 39 I'm finding somewhat traumatic.:-)

And I'll say it here for the record: when I turn 40 I want a cake big enough that it can have 40 candles, which I intend to blow out in one puff. That all may know I'm not even remotely decrepit. Yet.

peace,
Jennifer