#i know more theology than half of the sunday school teachers i know...

[eddis-not-eeddis]

In my early twenties I know more theology than most men in the churches I've attended who are twice my age. This isn't a boast, I am no scholar. I say this in abject horror and despair.

#i know more theology than half of the sunday school teachers i know... #i don't have a degree and i haven't studied it in a university #i am not someone who reads theology endlessly #i'm actually pretty lazy about it--to my shame #and yet i know more about church history and more about the core beliefs of our faith than most of the men in positions of authority #it makes me kind of sick

[catholicartistsnyc]

Meet: Cole Matson

COLE MATSON is an actor, producer, and president of the Catholic Artist Connection. (www.colematson.com)

CATHOLIC ARTIST CONNECTION (CAC): What brought you to NYC, and where did you come from?

COLE MATSON (CM): I was born in Houston, TX, and spent the second half of my childhood in southeastern Virginia. I first came to NYC to study acting as an undergraduate at NYU (Playwrights Horizons Theater School at Tisch School of the Arts). I then moved to Baltimore after college and worked part-time for the Baltimore Theatre Alliance while acting in theater and film. After a few years, I went to the UK to study theology, ending up doing a PhD in Divinity with a focus on theology and theatre through the University of St Andrews' Institute for Theology, Imagination & the Arts. After finishing my PhD, I came back to NYC in 2015 with a call to serve artists. During a road trip in 2011, I had met a large number of young Catholic artists in NYC who were interested in working together to build community. After a very direct call from one of them, my friend (and Catholic Artist Connection co-founder) Emily C.A. Snyder, I came to NYC to help do just that!

CAC: How do understand your vocation as a Catholic artist? Do you call yourself a Catholic artist? 

CM: I do call myself a Catholic artist, as well as a Catholic Christian who is an artist. I see the role of the Catholic artist as sharing an experience of Christ with others, through the incarnate form of an artistic medium. Christ can be more or less explicitly discernible depending upon the nature of the particular art piece, but our entire lives and beings as Christians are founded upon Christ, so Christ will be active in everything we do through the power of His Holy Spirit. C.S. Lewis and J.R.R. Tolkien's visions of the role of a Christian artist are my models. My personal mission has become less about creating my own art (though there is a certain itch I need to scratch, and some stories I'm struggling to birth) and more about helping create an environment of support that allows other artists to birth their own stories more easily.

CAC: Where have you found support in the Church for your vocation as an artist?

CM: Primarily through the larger-than-one-would-think community of fellow Catholics and Christians who are unafraid to proclaim their faith as well as their artistic vocation, and are excited to support each other in their vocations. There are also places like the Actors' Chapel in NYC and Family Theater Productions in LA, which are missioned specifically to provide a place of worship for performing artists. The idea of having a parish church dedicated specifically to that nomadic community, and especially having a "post-theatre" Mass at a time convenient to performing artists, is an extraordinary one, and I'm very grateful that it exists in NYC. I've had religious and lay Catholics tell me that I should sacrifice everything to pray at the "right" hours (e.g., morning prayer at dawn, Mass on Sunday morning), and even get up at 4 a.m. to pray for several hours before sunrise if I really want to grow in my spiritual life. When I responded that going to bed at 8 p.m. in order to get up at 4 a.m. eliminated the possibility of working in the theatre, I was told that, well, maybe that was a sacrifice I needed to make if I was really serious about serving God. This idea that the late-night and peripatetic schedule of the performing artist is mutually exclusive from the "serious" service of God is still alive in some places; giving artists support in their vocation by giving them a particular church and offering Mass at a time they can easily attend is a valuable counter-witness to this lack of understanding.

CAC: Where have you found support among your fellow artists for your Catholic faith?

CM: Oh, man - again, the Catholic artist community of NYC. I also appreciate conversations with artists of other faiths who also experience difficulties in the arts due to their faith. (My Jewish brothers and sisters have been particularly supportive in this regard.) I've had plenty of artists (and, unfortunately, teachers) who were actively hostile to my faith, and the work that comes out of it. (For example, when my undergraduate playwriting teacher learned that my love of The Lord of the Rings was behind the fantastical work that I was exploring in class, she told me, "Fantasy is juvenile trash not worth an adult spending their time on." Another, when he learned that I was a Christian, told me that the Church was the source of all evil in the world.) However, I've also experienced other, non-Christian artists (and teachers) who are interested in supporting an artist's living out of their values, whether or not those values are rooted in a religious faith. I find that when we are open and confident about our faith and its importance to our lives as artists, especially focusing on the core of the Gospel, which is the love of God for each human person, we are more likely than not to be met with respect and support, even where there is disagreement.

CAC: How can the Church be more welcoming to artists?

CM: 

1. Pay them what they're worth.

2. Be open to and support initiatives of the laity to support art and artists.

3. Trust them. If they're actively self-identifying as Christians while working in the arts, their faith is probably important to them - it's too risky otherwise. Trust in their faith and love of Christ and the Church, and that the Holy Spirit is working in them. Even when the work they are creating is a little scary or strange, trust that God is working out some prophesying in them for the good of the community and the glory of His Name. It's like speaking in tongues - look for someone who can interpret the movement of grace, rather than quashing the movement of the Spirit.

CAC: How can the artistic world be more welcoming to artists of faith?

CM: Don't assume that because someone is a Christian they're therefore a bigot. Also, understand that evangelization is about sharing a good gift we've received, so that others can share our joy - it's not about forcing people to join our club. Most of all, encourage artists of all faiths to create work based on their faith, without assuming that that work is therefore "lesser." I know a dancer who was not allowed to choreograph a dance about Mary for her MFA thesis because her supervisor believed that religious content destroyed "real art". To get around this, she told her supervisor she would create a dance about a woman she knew, but she didn't want to share too much about her story, because doing so would ruin the power of the dance. She then created her dance about Mary, which was lauded by the supervisor as extremely moving and powerful. :-)

CAC: Which parish(es) did you attend? Do you recommend any particular parishes for their sacramental life, beauty, and/or community? 

CM: My parish has been St. Malachy's - The Actors' Chapel, which I highly recommend. (I'd like to highlight the 11pm Sat post-theatre Mass, the 11am Sun Mass with full choir, and the 6pm Sun young adult Mass.) I also recommend going to CatholicNYC.com and signing up for the Archdiocese's Office of Young Adult Outreach email newsletter, which lists an extraordinary number of events and groups for the spiritual support of young adults. You can find other parishes which have been recommended to the Catholic Artist Connection as welcoming places for artists at catholicartistsnyc.com/communities.

CAC: Where in NYC do you regularly find artistic fulfillment?

CM: I enjoyed being a part of The Sheen Center, first as artist-in-residence and then as an employee, for 3 years. I would especially recommend attending the annual Sheen Center Theater Festival in the summer, which shares new work by Catholic playwrights. A list of Catholic theatre companies, visual arts collectives, music groups, and arts center in the greater NYC area can be found at catholicartistsnyc.com/communities. Three I would particularly highlight are Turn to Flesh Productions, which produces new work in classical styles by and about women; Storm Theatre, which produces modern and classical fully-staged productions that often have a direct link to Catholic faith (e.g., their festival of JPII's plays); and Magis Theatre, which is a more experimental physical ensemble led by a Jesuit priest, and which performed the most "eucharistic" theatre I've ever seen in New York (a production of Calderón's two versions of "Life is a Dream," which ended with the entire cast singing "Gloria!" and the performer playing Adam revolving in worship, arms raised to Christ the Sun, on the stage of La Mama ETC, the flagship of NYC downtown experimental theatre).

CAC: How have you found or built community as a Catholic artist living in NYC?

CM: Through the Catholic Artist Connection, the Actors' Chapel, the Sheen Center, and my residential intentional community of Catholic artist men, Our Lady of Harlem Artist House. Mostly through friendships which have been built through these trellises, as well as through one-on-one introductions. It's all about the friendships.

CAC: What is your daily spiritual practice? And if you have a spiritual director, how did you find that person? If you go on retreats, where do you like to go?

CM: My primary practice is to pray the Divine Office and attend daily Mass as often as possible. I also do some centering prayer in the morning and the examen before bed. I see a spiritual director once a month, and go on an 8-day silent retreat once a year. I also try to take the first day of the month as a day of recollection, to be more silent than usual and go over the results of the past month and my plan for the coming month. I found my most recent spiritual director, Fr. Ray (RIP), through a Jesuit friend’s recommendation. You can find a spiritual director by going to the Catholic Artist Connection’s list at http://www.catholicartistconnection.com/spiritual-directors.html. The page also links to Charis NYC’s Spiritual Director List and the Office of Ignatian Spirituality’s Catalog of Spiritual Directors. For retreats, I generally go to Loyola Jesuit Center in Morristown, NJ. (I’ve seen beaver, deer, and kingfishers at their pond!)

CAC: What is your daily artistic practice? And what are your recommendations to other artists for practicing their craft daily?

CM: A daily artistic practice has gotten more difficult as my work has focused more and more on arts administration. I try to take the first available hour each day (after prayer) to work on whatever creative project I’m focusing on at the time, whether it’s the Catholic Artist Connection or an article I’m writing. I recommend deciding what your highest-priority creative goal is at the moment, and doing at least something each day to move yourself toward it (giving yourself a break on the Sabbath if you want it).

CAC: Describe a recent day in which you were most completely living out your vocation as an artist. What happened, and what brought you the most joy?

CM: I’ve been in a time of rest and recuperation lately, and have been reminding myself to listen to my own creative instincts and priorities. To that end, I recently went on an 8-day retreat, during which The Lord of the Rings was my spiritual reading. On one day of the retreat, I spent the morning praying and walking outdoors in the snowy mountains. In the afternoon, I read Tolkien. In the evening, I watched Selma, as a way of reminding myself why I wanted to tell stories in the first place (to inspire myself and others to heroic action and to give hope). I repeated the pattern one day after I came home from the retreat – praying, walking, reading, and watching Of Gods and Men. This time has been one of “filling up the well” so that the fields of creativity can be watered for later growth.

CAC: What resources have you found helpful in securing housing/roommates? Which neighborhoods would you recommend to artists moving to the city?

CM: My first housing situation in NYC during my most recent sojourn was as an artist-in-residence at The Sheen Center. Go to sheencenter.org/residency if you want to learn how to apply for 2-4 months of free housing at the Center while working on a specific creative project. At the end of the residency, I knew I was looking to live in community with other Catholic artists, and I had met a few other men who were looking for a similar situation. Therefore, we put our heads together to look for an apartment. I was temporarily staying with family in Kansas for a few weeks and teaching at a summer drama camp, so I used StreetEasy to find apartments which matched our size, location, and rent needs. (There were 6 of us.) Other members of the group volunteered to scout out the highest-ranking apartments. When we found one that the scouting team agreed worked for us, we jumped on it. We quickly gathered everyone’s financial documents, and secured a lease. That community is now Our Lady of Harlem Artist House. If anyone is looking for advice on setting up a similar community, just contact me!

CAC: But seriously, how did you make a living in NYC?

CM: For my first year in NYC, I worked as a staff and faculty member at CAP21 Conservatory/Molloy College. For the past two years, I’ve worked as a Programming Associate at The Sheen Center. I’ve appreciated being able to work full-time in the arts, as well as do some paid acting, speaking, and article-writing on the side. First, I recommend identifying 10 or so organizations that you would like to work with, and approaching them directly to see whether they’re hiring. In terms of job listings, I found the most success with the NYFA Classifieds, TCG’S ARTSEARCH (requires an annual membership), and Playbill. For acting submissions, I recommend annual memberships to Actors Access/Showfax and Backstage, as well as checking Playbill. But most of all, build relationships with the people with whom you want to work.

CAC: How much would you suggest artists moving to NYC budget for their first year?

CM: $36,000 if possible.

CAC: What other practical resources would you recommend to a Catholic artist living in NYC?

CM: The Drama Bookshop. Studio space: The Sheen Center, Molloy Studios. Headshot photographer: Shirin Tinati. Health insurance: Go to https://nystateofhealth.ny.gov/ to see if you qualify for free or low-cost ($20/mon.) health insurance. Check out CatholicNYC.com for jobs and housing. The Listings Project and Facebook’s Gypsy Housing and NYC Area Catholic Looking for Roommates groups are also good housing resources. And most important, get on the Catholic Artist Connection weekly email newsletter.

CAC: What are your top 3 pieces of advice for Catholic artists moving to NYC?

CM: 1. Join the Catholic Artist Connection email newsletter and check out the communities on CatholicArtistsNYC.com.

2. Identify 3-5 artistic groups/organizations with whom you are interesting in working, check out their work, and ask how you can get involved.

3. Create the work you want to create, without waiting for someone else to give you the opportunity to create. And the most important bonus piece of advice underlying all: Focus first on building the foundation of a strong daily spiritual practice, and commit to it above all else. Find a home parish, a spiritual director, and a small group of faithful friends to keep you grounded. Pray always – Christ is your surest companion.

#artist #catholic artist #catholic artist connection #catholic artists nyc #new york #nyc #new yorker #st. malachy's #health insurance

[romancatholicreflections]

9th December >> Sunday Homilies and Reflections on Today’s Mass Readings for Roman Catholics on the Second Sunday of advent, Cycle C

Second Sunday of Advent - Year C

Second Sunday of Advent – Year C

Gospel Reading: Luke 3:1-6 vs 1. In the fifteenth year of Tiberius Caesar’s reign, when Pontius Pilate was governor of Judaea, Herod tetrarch of Galilee, his brother Philip tetrarch of the lands of Ituraea and Trachonitis, Lysanias tetrarch of Abilene, vs 2. during the pontificate of Annas and Caiaphas, the word of God came to John son of Zechariah, in the wilderness. vs.3 He went through the whole Jordan district proclaiming a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins, vs.4 as it is written in the book of the sayings of the prophet Isaiah: A voice cries in the wilderness:

Prepare a way for the Lord, make his paths straight. vs.5 Every valley will be filled in, every mountain and hill be laid low, winding ways will be straightened and rough roads made smooth. vs.6 And all mankind shall see the salvation of God

******************************************************** We have four commentators available from whom you may wish to choose .

Michel DeVerteuil :A Trinidadian Holy Ghost Priest, director of the Centre of Biblical renewal . Thomas O’Loughlin: Prof, MRIA, FRHistS, FSA , President of the Catholic Theological Association of Great Britain, Director Studia Traditionis Theologiae, Professor of Historical Theology University of Nottingham NG7 2RD Sean Goan:Studied scripture in Rome, Jerusalem and Chicago and teaches at Blackrock College and is now  a Religious Education/Religious Studies teacher at Blackrock College located in Blackrock, Dublin. Donal Neary SJ: Editor of The Sacred Heart Messenger and National Director of The Apostlship of Prayer.

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Michel DeVerteuil Lectio Divina with the Sunday Gospels www.columba.ie

Textual Comments

On the second and third Sundays of Advent, the church gives us John the Baptist as a model of someone who knows how to wait. In this first passage we have Luke’s summary of the mission of John the Baptist. It is none other than the mission of Jesus himself and of all preachers of the gospel. In verses 1 and 2 St Luke invites us to meditate on God’s word which comes to John in the wilderness, bypassing the powerful ones of the world. Verse 3 is a concise summary of John’s (and Jesus’) preaching. There are two aspects to verses 4 and 5: the fact that John lived out the vocation of Isaiah, and then the content of his preaching expressed in poetic language. We are invited to identify with both aspects.

Scriptural Prayer Reflections

“I thank you, Father, for hiding these things from the learned and the clever and revealing them to mere children.”      Luke 10:21

Lord, we forget your way of doing things. We think it is important to seek the favour of the great ones of the world, as if their patronage is necessary for the spread of your gospel, while we neglect the wisdom of the poor. But your word has always bypassed * Tiberius Caesar reigning for 15 years, * Pilate, the great governor, * those powerful tetrarchs Herod, Philip and Lysanius, and come to a humble person, living in the wilderness.

Lord, we remember a time when we were in the wilderness: * our family relationships were at their lowest level; * at work everything seemed to be going wrong; * violence and crime ruled in the country; * our prayer life was as dry as dust. Yet within that very wilderness there was a voice within us, crying out that things would turn out right. We felt so sure of this that, even in the midst of all that desolation, we prepared a way for your coming and made the paths straight so that we would be there to welcome you. We saw some deep valleys and wondered how we would ever get across them, but we knew that every one of them would be filled in. There were high mountains before us; they would all be laid low. The road was winding, so that every time we turned a corner another one appeared; it would be straightened. As for the rough roads that had our feet sore and bleeding, they would become smooth as glass. We knew for sure that we would experience your salvation. Thank you, Lord.

“We live in a world where no one cares.”  … School principal, Trinidad

Lord, we pray that in our heartless world the church may, like John the Baptist, fulfil what is written in the book of the sayings of the prophet Isaiah, and be a voice crying out to those who feel themselves in a wilderness that you have not abandoned them, that every valley will be filled in, every mountain and hill laid low, winding ways will be straightened and rough roads made smooth.

“If all people are God’s children, why are we rejoicing when our sons and daughters are safe while death and destruction is wreaked upon innocent people?”  …Religious Superiors of the USA after the Gulf War

Lord, we still need John the Baptist to teach us your will that all must see your salvation.

“A critical ingredient of the Caribbean today is collective self-knowledge as the vital pre-condition to collective self-possessiveness.”… Lloyd Best

Lord, give us the grace to know that what we are doing is written in the books of the sayings of the prophets.

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Thomas O’Loughlin Liturgical Resources for the Year of Matthew www.columba.ie

Introduction to the Celebration

Why do we gather here each Sunday to celebrate the sacred meal of the Lord? Because as we say later: when we eat this bread and drink this cup we proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes. Now in Advent we recall the past when Jesus first gathered disciples, but we also remember the future when he will come again in glory. Then we will be delivered from all that binds us, but before then we must take John the Baptist as our model: ‘we must prepare a way for the Lord’ within the world we live in.

Homily notes

1. We can view repentance in two ways. Looking backwards it can be a question of making up for what has been done in the past. Looking forwards it can be getting the matter sorted out and making sure that, as far as possible, the problem does not come back. As with all such ‘two ways of looking at some­thing’, people will then say that this is just a matter of whether you are an optimist or a pessimist, or whether you think that the bottle is half-full or half-empty. But the issue of repentance is more complicated that just manifestations of two ways of looking at life. We can see this by asking which view is embodied in most institutions in the societies to which we belong? We want criminals to go to prison: it is a time to ‘pay back’ for the past. We want criminals ‘to get what they deserve’ on account of their deeds in the past. We want compensation for the past, we want reparation for the past, and we very often want vengeance. Penitence – as the word is used in such words as penitentiary or penal – is linked to a belief that if someone has done something wrong, then later they must suffer for that crime, and somehow that later suffering ‘makes up for the past’. How it could make up for the past is another question: we seem to certainly want ‘people to pay’. This notion that penitence is linked to the past, that it is someone’ getting his /her just deserts’, is found in every society. Indeed, paying up for the past with suffer­ing is often seen as the essence of justice. The people who come out of a court when a criminal who has hurt them has been sentenced to a long sentence often say ‘we have finally got justice!’

2. This is certainly the human perspective, but is it something that we as Christians who believe in a God of love can accept as just a ‘fact of life’? Certainly, many Christians in the past, and indeed today, imagine God as the great score-settler: if people don’t pay in this life, then ‘divine justice’ will get them in the end. Hell, then, is imagined as God’s final reck­oner. Indeed, many contemporary Christians are schizo­phrenic about hell: they find it repulsive to believe in hell for themselves, but are quite happy that it should be there so that God can finally grind out his justice – on others. But is this view, however common, an adequate expression of what Christians hold as their story of God’s dealing with humanity?

3. The prophets – we have the examples of Isaiah and John the Baptist in today’s readings — were in no doubt that people sinned and that the people of God had fallen into sin. Yet, when they call the people ‘to repent’ they start looking for­ward not backwards. To repent is to start anew, to make sure that the former ways disappear, that a new way of living ap­pears. The repentance is the act of preparing the way for the Lord to Come along. Repentance is change so that in the future all can see the salvation of God.

4. Christians have never been in doubt that humanity had fallen into sin and needed a redeemer. But to say it needed a re­deemer is to look forward. God’s justice was not the destruc­tion of the sinful people, but to send his Son. When Jesus came he was not here to punish for the past, but to be the re­deemer who would open up the future after sin and its effects. Jesus called us to a new way of living, he did not come ‘to call to account’ for the past.

5. When the church has preached penitence, it is as a medicine to train the person in a new way of living. We come as sick people to the source of healing (St lhomas). ‘God the Father of mercies, through the death and resurrection of his Son has reconciled the world to himself and sent the Holy Spirit among us for the forgiveness of sins’ (Formula of Absolution). God is love, not vengeance – but.this is a very hard notion for us to grasp and to believe. lhe problem is as old as Ezekiel: ‘Have I any pleasure in the death of the wicked, says the Lord God, and not rather that he should turn from his way and live?’ (18:23); ‘For I have no pleasure in the death of any one, says the Lord God; so turn, and live’ (18:32); ‘Say to them, As I live, says the Lord God, I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but that the wicked turn from his way and live; turn back, turn back from your evil ways; for why will you die, 0 house of Israel?’ (33:11). And we, two millen­nia after seeing how God deals with his people – he sent them the Christ whose coming we are preparing to celebrate – seem to have as much difficulty in looking forward and seeing repentance as starting afresh with God’s love.

6. But believing that God gives a new future to those who turn to a new way of thinking, living, acting, loving is just part of the task. We are called not merely to follow the Christ who brought the Father’s love in his coming among us. We are called to become like him in our lives. As there is no place for vengeance, and no place for getting a ‘pay back’ for the past in God dealing with us; then there must be a similar desire to let people start over again among us. 1his is what we pray: ‘forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us.’

7. Christmas recalls God’s great new start with humanity: Jesus the New Adam. We hear that proclaimed today in the call to repent and to prepare the way. But if we want Jesus to come within our own lives today as he once came in Bethlehem, then we must be prepared to turn from notions of vengeance and become people of forgiveness who look forward. Looking forward is far more difficult than looking backwards – we should honestly admit that as a fact about the human condition, most of us both as individuals and as groups are better at raking over old hurts than at looking for new ways to co-operate with one another. Yet it is only when we adopt this habit of looking forward that we can truly become Christ-like. We see Jesus’s way of looking forward in what he said to the woman they wanted to stone as payment for her past: ‘Go your way, and from now on do not sin again’ an 8:11). The task was to set out into the future: ‘Go’; and start a new way of living: ‘do not sin again’.

8. We are looking forward to Christmas: the Christ we seek to welcome calls us to look forward in the way we live – this is repentance and preparing the way; and he calls us to look forward to his own coming in glory.

*********************************

Sean Goan Let the reader understand www.columba.ie

Gospel

Luke begins his account of the ministry of Jesus by putting it in its historical context. He tells us about who was in charge in the worlds of politics and religion and then introduces us to some­one who was something of a threat to them both. John the Baptist is presented as inviting the people to repent, to turn again to God and to show their desire to do this by being bap­tised – a symbolic washing. In so doing John is seen as fulfilling the prophecy of Isaiah in which there is a call to remove every obstacle that might stand in the way of God showing his salva­tion to his people. This gospel reminds us of one of the key themes of Advent: repentance.

  Reflection

Repentance and its associated colour purple remind many peo­ple of the season of  Lent rather than Advent but it is not difficult to see why it is so central to our preparation for the coming of Jesus. Without it, the season of Christmas can simply slide into an excuse for over-indulgence, an opportunity to party in an ef­fort to get over the darkness of winter. These readings show the true meaning of repentance, for they speak about leaving aside anything that might blind us to what God wants for us, and opening ourselves to something new and wonderful and be­yond our wildest dreams: God coining in the person of his Son.

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Donal Neary SJ Gospel Reflections

www.messenger.ie/bookshop/

All reminds us God is near

A poet wrote: ”when I am an old woman I shall wear purple’, to remind her that life can be different day by day or that she might be personally noticed and change her life. This time of the year the Church wears purple and we remind ourselves that Jesus is near, that life can be different and that we can change our lives.

The gospel from John the Baptist encourages a change in our lives. We would look on ourselves and regret what we should regret – our sins, our meanness, our minor faults and failings, our injustices and hurt of others. In his time the people would immerse themselves in the river and be forgiven. We can immerse ourselves in the healing and forgiving love of God in many ways, including the sacrament of reconciliation (penance, confession). We can immerse ourselves in the mood of waiting for Christmas, and take this on the spiritual level and well as the ordinary.

All of the weeks of Advent can be a preparation for the way of the Lord, which we will hear of during the readings of the coming year. This is a time of joyful waiting, knowing we cannot be let down. The purple of Advent is not the purple of mourning but of joyful anticipation – like when we dress in the football team’s colours early in the morning to look forward to a match.

If we take time for the spiritual preparation with some prayer, sacraments (maybe go to Mass once or twice a week, or daily for Advent), and if we help our neighbour a bit more than usual, then nothing of all the preparations can be just secular. Everything of this month can remind us of God… trees, lights, carols, parties, Santa hats, cards, gift-buying – big reminders that God is near.

Give us this day our daily bread and daily truth, Lord God.

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[bomethius]

INADIQUIT: A STORY

Bomethius, inadiquit (2020) A full-length collaboration between Jonathan Hodges and his uncle, Dave Hodges 

My uncle Dave and I have been close for most of my life. He used to dip my pacifier in Jack Daniels — to “strengthen my immune system” — and he taught me to eat ants in my Mormor’s (grandmother’s) pantry, play chess, shoot pool, and debate my Sunday school teachers.

Our relationship has always been equal parts silly and serious, and we’ve always seemed to understand each other. The distance that frequently separates adults and children never seemed to come between us. We often sat at the piano and plunked about until we were sufficiently bored with our ideas and then listened to Paganini or Chopin, mutually cringing at our ineptitude and mediocrity. We debated over philosophers, history, and theology. Above all, we laughed.

Things changed around my 14th birthday, though, when my family moved from Atlanta to Austin, Texas. My dad was diagnosed with cancer shortly after the move, and I started writing music to cope. After Dad made a full recovery, we took a road trip to Atlanta to see our extended family. On that trip, I listened to Chopin’s entire catalogue. The drive is about 17 hours, and Chopin wrote about 17 hours of music.

I sat down at the piano as soon as we arrived at Mormor’s house. It was Sunday, and Dave was over. After lunch, I showed him my ideas for a piece. We messed around and ended up finishing a draft together. About a week later, my friend dropped by and recorded it. The result was my first professional recording, “Improvisation No. 1,” which is the fourth track on inadiquit. Dave and I had ironed out the song’s structure, but the performance was mostly improvised — I had never played it that way before, and I’ll never play like that again. As it was last played and recorded seven years ago, “Improvisation No. 1” represents the first time I had something to say with my music.

Years went by, and I left for college. I only got to see Dave whenever we were in the same town. We exchanged emails and texts now and then, but we could never talk the way we needed to. It’s impossible to spend all the time you have with only the people you want to see, so we just accepted that and moved along. Each of us became a story for the other: I’d do impressions of my ridiculous uncle for my friends, and he’d tell his friends about his semiserious violinist nephew.

Before college, I released an album called The Dressing to My Salad with my good friend Nate Zivin. We wrote and recorded the whole thing on a whim in about a week and a half, but Dave really took to it. He showed it to friends and family, and a few people actually listened to it, which was pretty neat. Nothing serious came of the record, though; it was just a fun little thing that happened.

A couple years later, when I was halfway through undergrad, I released a self-recorded album called Gender is a Fluid and sent it to Dave. He was confused.

“What are you doing?” he asked me. “You’re a violinist, right?”

I told him I wanted to do more than violin. It was a short conversation, and Dave left scratching his head. Regardless, he kept up with my releases and periodically sent me listening suggestions. We started talking over the phone a lot more frequently — often about music that made us cry. Our conversations became a monthly event.

After I released Sweet Nothings and the reviews started to come in, I began to feel stuck. While the record did really well, considering I’m nobody, I wondered if I’d written Bomethius into a corner. The music was all so serious, and the laughter I’d always tried to maintain didn’t come through as much. I remember telling Dave I hadn’t had a new or decent idea in a while, to which he responded, “Here’s a stack of things you need to listen to.” I needed the next Bomethius album to be different. I needed to stave off all the Elliott Smith and Andrew Bird comparisons and prove to myself that I wasn’t just another sad minimalist.

As I was finishing my last semester of college, Dave called me to see if I had any interest in setting an old poem of his to music. It was called “A Mazing Tonic,” which he described as an initialistic acrostic that touched on his experiences with an hallucinogen called AMT. I jumped at the opportunity, and we hung up. (Here's that poem!)

I heard nothing from Dave for several days, which meant he was probably having second thoughts about showing it to me, so I badgered him until he gave in and sent me the poem. I spent three days reading the poem aloud — and wondering if it even needed music — before I began to set it.

A few weeks later, Dave called again to tell me he’d be coming out to Dallas for a business project and that he’d like to stay at my place. So, he came over, and three bottles of wine later, we’d unpacked our adolescence, early frustrations with the church, drug experiences, regrets, love for Kierkegaard, and discovery of a God who’s completely different from what we were told to believe in as children. It was an amazing night. I woke up the next day with a terrible hangover and the beginnings of what would become the worst case of laryngitis I’d ever had, but I was beyond excited.

About a week later, I finished a demo for his “A Mazing Tonic” poem and emailed it to him. I heard nothing for a few days, and then he called me to say that he couldn’t stop crying the first time he heard the demo. We were both ecstatic. He shared some ideas for making the song better, and we hung up. After I finished a second draft of the song, I showed it to my roommate Travis. He asked me what we were planning to do with the song, and I said I’d probably just release it as a single. Over Christmas, I told him, I happened upon some old photographs of Dave and me hanging out when I was about 3 years old, and we could probably use those as cover art. Travis thought about this for a moment and then remarked that we should do an entire album together.

I got so excited I called Dave right then to suggest it to him. There was complete silence on the other end, and then he inhaled deeply — the way he does when he’s unsure about something — and finally replied with some hesitation. “Ok, I’m not going to say anything about this yet. Give me some time to think about it. My gut reaction is absolutely not, but I might just be scared. Let me call you back.”

He called me back fifteen minutes later. “All right, I’m in. Might just be an EP. I’d be surprised if we’re able to put enough material together for a full album, but I have to tell you that I’m in. Hold me to it. I know tomorrow I’ll hate myself for this. Tomorrow, I won’t want to do this.” As soon as we hung up, I immediately opened a Google Doc so we could start writing and discussing our album.

Dave has spent much of his life ashamed of his creativity. He might spend a few hours composing a piano piece, stop to take a break, and then come back to the piece only to be so completely disgusted with his efforts that he prints it off, sets it on fire, deletes the file, and reformats his hard drive. As hilarious as this sounds — and it is funny — it’s also terribly sad. A big part of this project came from the need to show Dave his ideas don’t have to stay buried and hidden — that he doesn’t have to be ashamed of what he can create.

As the project unfolded, Dave steadily grew to be more confident, and his ideas became stronger. It was a beautiful progression. Dave came into this project with some experience as a poet but not as a lyricist, so working with his lyrics was often challenging. The difference between good poetry and good lyrics is difficult to pin down, but I think it has something to do with the fact that, like a screenplay, you actually have to sing a song — whereas a poem is sustained by the words alone. I’ve never needed to hear Robert Frost read one of his poems. They’re already complete on paper. A good reading might add something, but it isn’t essential. Good lyrics only come alive when set to the right tune and sung. And that’s what I had to do on this album: I had to wring the music out of the poetry.

Neither of us can take 100 percent credit for any of the songs on this album. This album is a true, complete collaboration from beginning to end, and it was a joy to create something with Dave that captures our relationship, our personalities, and our experiences.

#newmusic #bomethius #theknewslyweakletter #inadiquit #context

[musicgoon]

Book Review: 30 Days to Understanding the Bible

This book did not only help me understand my Bible - it helped me cherish my Bible.

A while ago I determined to read through the Bible every year. I have kept my promise for the past several years, but I have always been longing for more. I wanted a deeper understanding, the ability to grasp the big picture, and the mental capacity to keep it at the front of my mind. When I saw the opportunity to join the launch team for Max Ander’s newly revised book, 30 Days to Understanding the Bible, I saw it as a way for me to learn more about God and His Word.

Learning Bible Basics

The first half of the book is filled with quick summaries, memory devices, and key passages to tell the grand story of the Old and New Testaments. As a high school Sunday School teacher, I found these sections to be the most helpful. Understanding the narrative of God’s story is a crucial component of Bible study.

The latter half of the book included nano summaries of the Bible, a study on the ten great doctrines of the Bible, and many bonus chapters dealing with a variety of topics. As a worship leader, I found these sections valuable to broaden my vocabulary and center my theology. 

Help At Home 

More important than my teaching and music leading roles, I am more confident in my role as husband and soon-to-be father knowing that I have a resource that can help me explain God’s Word to my family. My personal devotions were enriched after having a better understanding of the geography and culture of the Biblical world.

Loving the Lord

Reading through the Bible every year is going to be much easier due to the comprehensive knowledge this book had to offer. But this book did not only help me understand my Bible - it helped me cherish my Bible. It helped me to treasure God’s Word. And it helped me to love its Author.

Features:

The “Arc of Bible History” to help you visualize the Bible’s overarching themes

The “Story of the Bible” summarizing Genesis through Revelation in just a few pages

The core beliefs of the Christian faith, focusing on the teachings that have united Christians for the last 2,000 years

13-week plan that provides teacher’s every creative and effective tool for teaching the Bible in 30 days

Fan-favorite bonus content, previously removed, now restored from the original edition

From the publisher:

If you’ve ever confused the ark of the covenant with the ark of Noah, or Jericho with Jeroboam, Max Anders’ classic book, 30 Days to Understanding the Bible, is for you. In just fifteen minutes a day, you’ll learn the Bible’s key people, events, and doctrines to get more out of God’s Word. This simple-to-use, straightforward guide has been recommended by Bible teachers and pastors for thirty years, and now it’s available in an expanded thirtieth anniversary edition—with the most requested topics from the original edition restored and updated for today’s readers.

Visit BibleIn30Days.com to learn more and buy the book.

#review #recommendation #book #30 days to understanding the bible #max anders #christianity #theology #bible #worship