#252

Election Day...

#248

'Then Jesus said, "There was a man who had two sons. The younger of them said to his father, 'Father, give me the share of the property that will belong to me.' So he divided his property between them. A few days later the younger son gathered all he had and traveled to a distant country, and there he squandered his property in dissolute living. When he had spent everything, a severe famine took place throughout that country, and he began to be in need. So he went and hired himself out to one of the citizens of that country, who sent him to his fields to feed the pigs. He would gladly have filled himself with the pods that the pigs were eating; and no one gave him anything. But when he came to himself he said, ' How many of my father's hired hands have bread enough and to spare, but here I am dying of hunger! I will get up and go to my father, and I will say to him, "Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you; I am no longer worthy to be called your son; treat me like one of your hired hands."' So he set off and went to his father. But while he was still far off, his father saw him and was filled with compassion; he ran and put his arms around him and kissed him. Then the son said to him, 'Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you; I am no longer worthy to be called your son.' But the father said to his slaves, 'Quickly, bring out a robe - the best one - and put it on him; put a ring on his finger and sandals on his feet. And get the fatted calf and kill it, and let us eat and celebrate; for his son of mine was dead and is alive again; he was lot and is found!' And they began to celebrate.' (Luke 15.11-24)

From the sermon from yesterday: The definition of compassion is to be moved from the depth of your being by love.

#223

'We cannot possibly give music to others without first receiving it ourselves. Practicing is the process of receiving what was written. Receiving can be difficult. Many of us have grown up in environments that did not sufficiently encourage us to enjoy or appreciate ourselves. Yet we need such encouragement and warmth to stay receptive to our feelings and to music. I sometimes point out to students that their frustration with a piece is an indication that they care deeply about it. One student told me it was one of the most helpful things ever said to him. He was able to stop berating himself and began to appreciate himself instead, which opened him up enormously to the music. We don't usually use experiences of dissatisfaction as signals to be gentle with ourselves. Instead, we blame ourselves or become aggressive with the music. Tension escalates, and the more we practice a piece, the worse it gets.' (Madeline Bruser, The Art of Practicing p.15)

#187

Morning traffic on the Hudson...

'The farther I run away from the place where God dwells, the less I am able to hear the voice that calls me the Beloved, and the less I hear that voice, the more entangled I become in the manipulations and power games of the world.

It goes somewhat like this: I am not so sure anymore that I have a safe home, and I observe other people who seem to be better off than I. I wonder how I can get to where they are. I try hard to please, to achieve success, to be recognized. When I fail, I feel jealous or resentful of these others. When I succeed, I worry that others will be jealous or resentful of me. I become suspicious or defensive and increasingly afraid that I won't get what I so much desire or will lose what I already have. Caught in this tangle of needs and wants, I no longer know my own motivations. I feel victimized by my surroundings and distrustful of what others are doing or saying. Always on my guard, I lose my inner freedom and start dividing the world into those who are for me and those who are against me. I wonder if anyone really cares. I start looking for validations of my distrust. And wherever I go, I see them, and I say: 'No one can be trusted.' And then I wonder whether anyone ever really loved me. The world around me becomes dark. My heart grows heavy. My body is filled with sorrows. My life loses meaning. I have become a lost soul.... Real loneliness comes when we have lost all sense of having things in common.' (Return of the Prodigal Son -- Henri Nouwen)

#186

And can it be that I should gain an int'rest in the Savior's blood?

Died he for me, who casued his pain?

For me, who him to death pursued?

Amazing love

How can it be that thou, my God, shouldst die for me?

Amazing love! How can it be that thou, my God, shouldst die for me?

He left his Father's throne above

(so free, so infinite his grace!)

humbled himself (so great his love!)

and bled for Adam's helpless race.

'Tis mercy all, immense and free;

for, O my God, it found out me.

Amazing love

How can it be that thou, my God, shouldst die for me?

Amazing love! How can it be that thou, my God, shouldst die for me?

No condemnation now I dread;

Jesus, and all in him, is mine!

Alive in him, my living Head

and clothed in righteousness divine

bold I approach th'eternal throne

and claim the crown, thru Christ my own.

Amazing love! How can it be that thou, my God, shouldst die for me?

-- Charles Wesley

#161

'one who has become a priest, not through a legal requirement concerning physical descent, but through the power of an indestructible life.' (Heb. 7.16)

#159

'If you're not having fun, why do it?' - Randy Pausch

#151

A break in the relentless heat...

'But when the goodness and loving kindness of God our savior appeared, he saved us, not because of any works of righteousness that we had done, but according to his mercy through the water of rebirth and renewal by the Holy Spirit.' (Titus 3.4-5)

'And let people learn to devote themselves to good works in order to meet urgent needs, so that they may not be unproductive.' (Titus 3.14)

#150

'To the pure all things are pure, but to the corrupt and unbelieving nothing is pure. ' (Titus 1.15)

#149

A pearlescent morning with only a puff of cloud alight with the rising sun...

'No one has ever seen God; if we love one another, God lives in us, and his love is perfected in us.' (1John 4.12)

#148

Frosted glass morning...

'In the presence of God and of Christ Jesus...' (2Tim. 4.1)

#144

'Now may the Lord of peace himself give you peace at all times in all ways.' (2Thess. 3.16)

#143

Sunlight faintly coming through the monochrome haze...

#137

Color appearing faintly in a (yet another) damp, monochromatic morning...

#117

The Atelier lit up as usual by the passing sun, not for anything it is doing, but because of where it is and what it is made of (glass)...

From sermon on Sunday on Hebrews 13.1-14 (on the theme of 'hospitality'): 'Our spirit was made for beauty that never ends (Rev. David Bisgrove)

#115

The clouds look deceptively innocent; the haze gives it away...

'It takes a certain amount of effort to be miserable and another kind of effort to be happy, and I was willing to do the work of happiness.' (Ann Patchett 'Truth and Beauty')

#114

A hazy, lazy Sunday morning...

#109

Haze and wispy clouds already at sunrise... summer starting...

'Now to him who by the power at work within us is able to accomplish abundantly far more than all we can ask or imagine, to him be glory...' (Eph. 3.20)

#103

A hot, heavy, humid haze enveloping Manhattan; resounding a firm 'no' to every idea or plan that requires effort...

'Comfort, ease, and joy can be cultivated through practice. To do this, we must give up excessive ambition and the desperate struggle for results, and let ourselves feel the pain of our longing, of having to wait to make music the way we want to. We can learn to relax with this longing and to enjoy its soft, warm presence in the heart. This warmth will then shine through the music we make and touch the hearts of others.' (Madeline Bruser - Art of Practicing p14)

#97

Everything bathed in pinkish orange light...

'I pray that, acc. to the riches of his glogry, he may be strengthened in your inner being with power through his Spirit, and that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith, as you are being rooted and grounded in love. I pray that you may have the power to comprehend, with all the saints, what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, so that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.' (Eph. 3.16-19)