Thoughts Before The Alarm Sounds

It has been over 150 years since Biblical scholars have begun examining certain writings in the New Testament. The basis of this activity has been the way the gospels of Matthew, Mark and Luke overlap. Most scholars agree that Mark was written first, and that Matthew and Luke used his writings as a common reference. About 45% of the writings of both Gospels repeat stories from Mark, using the same order and even the same words in many cases. But in addition, approximately 25% of Matthew’s and Luke’s Gospels contain writings that agree with each other, but are not found in Mark. The implication is that there is some other document to which they referred. That document is simply called Q after the German word Quelle , or “source.” First things first – why is it assumed that Mark’s Gospel precedes the other two? There are several reasons: 1.)                        ...

This past Sunday evening Barbara and I, along with another couple, attended the Lovefeast and Candle Service at the Moravian church in Lititz. This beautiful old church was built in 1787. Music has always been important to the Moravian congregation; in colonial America the best place to hear Bach, Mozart and Haydn was not New York or Philadelphia , but at a Moravian church. The musical tradition continues today. The Lovefeast follows the practice of the early Christians, who shared a meal together whenever they gathered for worship. In the modern version, the meal consists of a sweet bun and decaffeinated coffee or chocolate milk. As the bulletin described it, "The lovefeast is an opportunity to signify our unity in the love of Christ as a family of sisters and brothers in the Lord." A small but excellent Chamber Orchestra and a fine chancel choir performed classical selections as a prelude to the service. A large, unlighted Moravian Star was suspended from the ceili...

To paraphrase Duke Ellington, “There are two kinds of music, good music and all the rest. Don’t spend any time on the latter.” Actually Duke was speaking about worries, but for my purpose today, “music” is a better fit. There is no doubt that religion has spawned some of the world’s greatest music. Bach cantatas and masses, and Handel’s Messiah spring to mind. I have sung and heard some beautiful choir settings, and there are a few hymns, e.g. Angels We Have Heard On High and Silent Night among others, that are beautiful. For some reason Eternal Father, Strong To Save always makes me puddle up. And I always love to hear a good soloist sing O Holy Night . But aside from 10% to 15% of church music, the rest, at least to me, is bad poetry set to mediocre music. I am a little more lenient than the Duke, so replacing his binary scale (0-1) with the decimal scale (1-10), I would rate much of it between 0 and 4. Now a new practice, alternative worship, has become popular in many ch...