Sound the trumpet of salvation!

Rejoice, heavenly powers! Sing, choirs of angels!
Exult, all creation around God's throne!
Jesus Christ, our King, is risen!
Sound the trumpet of salvation! - Exsultet

This evening Catholics around the world sang the Exsultet, a hymn of light that celebrates our Christ's resurrection for the dead. This is my favorite part of the whole church year. My Triduum liturgies have gone really well. My choir has been really amazing, and I'm learning to really appreciate every last one of them - even the annoying ones. There are always bad days working in the church world, especially the RC, but on evenings like tonight it is most rewarding!

Christ is Risen!

It sure is advent. . .

Here is a picture of the church In St. Cloud where I practice organ. It's not very clear, I was just amused by the primacy of the advent wreath.

Thanksgiving in Iowa Too

Eikon and I traveled to my homeland on Thanksgiving Day. It was an uneventful drive, about 5 1/2 hours, and as soon as we arrived my mother began cooking the meal. It was all together quiet and uneventful. We had a lovely time.

On Friday we spent a goodly chunk of the day helping my parents to put up Christmas decorations. Every year, my parents bring out a 100ft (that's a guess) long fake evergreen garland and drape it from the pillars (yes there are pillars, but they aren't fancy, so don't get any ideas). I wish I had pictures, it's really quite attractive.

Anyway, after that, we went downtown. Eikon did a little picture taking as he is want to do. Here are a few:

We visited the Goats - Johnny and Pepper, that I trained in high school. They're now in retirement at local farmstead. They've gotten older and fatter, and well hey, so have I. No biggie. If you don't know about the goats, check out the GOAT U website.

We were especially impressed by our friends' effort to remodel their house. They re-sided the building with REAL SIDING, and put on a beautiful porch. I hope to lounge on it next time around.

We also made a pilgrimage to St. Mary's Church - the church that I grew up in as a church musician. It's been recently renovated and the church, which was pretty darn ordinary when I was there, is now blue and stenciled and gold, and dare I say it - - gaudy! Ah yes - gaudy, just how we like things.

So anyway. Here are some pictures. Judge for yourself. :-)















While in G.C. we also paid homage to one of the oldest buildings, the Cottage Motel. This building is owned by the city and needs a new roof. What next? Well, what else! Pave the way for progress, de-asbestos it and rip the thing down. The sad part is that I didn't get a sense that anyone back home really gave a damn. It's an old building, rip it down. I suppose that goes along with midwestern sensibility. There really should be something in place to protect buildings like the Motel, but I guess there aren't - that is there isn't anything that I, an outsider who doesn't own the building or live in Iowa can do. Oh well. It's just history right? Anyway, here's a picture. May the building have a happy afterlife.

Fast from God

What do you do
when God keeps giving
but his people stop?

I am starved by institution
neglected by one million
men who grow fat with God.

I am forced to reject
God who gives all gifts.

“No thank you, God.
I am not as worthy
as the rest of them.

I fast from God –
undeserving of
my own creation,
unworthy of her
salvation.

But God keeps giving,

I fast from god,
his creature
sculpted to
melt well in hell.

JMRF, St. Cloud, 2006

Well, the bishops came out with their latest gay-bashing document. In case you missed it, you can read it here. They basically reaffirmed what they've said in the past - that it's ok to be gay as long as you don't act on your sexual inclinations, embrace gay culture, or (this one is sort of new) tell anyone. They did say it was ok to baptize children of gay parents, but they also failed to take a negative stance on restoration therapy. They just said it should be attempted very carefully. Gross. It's full of nasty contradictions, here's the most obvious example:

First the document says:

"Church policies should explicitly reject unjust discrimination and harassment of any
persons, including those with a homosexual inclination. Procedures should be in place
to handle complaints."

and then it says that the church reserves the right to not hire and fire (discriminate against) people embracing these values not in tune with the church.

I love job security. Anyone know of any good msuic jobs in non-catholic churches?