Johann Sebastian Bach, born on March 21, 1685, died July 28 1750 Johann Sebastian Bach was admired by his contemporaries for his skill as an organist, which was part of his job. Now he’s probably best known as the greatest composer of the Baroque era, and other eras as well. He had a musical heritage; his father played a string instrument at the court of the Duke of Eisenach. He was the baby of the family; by the time he was ten, both of his parents were dead, and his older brother raised him. At eighteen, he was appointed organist at New Church in Arnstadt. In 1707 he got a new job, which he left after a year. He also married his cousin, Maria Barbara Bach, with whom he had seven children. In 1720, Maria died. Bach married Anna Magdalena Wilcken about 18 months later. They had thirteen children together. In 1723, he moved with his family to Leipzig. As director of church music for the city of Leipzig, from 1723 until his death in 1750, where he taught, conducted, sang, played, and composed. His total output included nearly two hundred cantatas, including at least two for each Sunday and holy day in the Lutheran church year. Nine of his 20 children survived him; four of them were also composers. In the 1982 Hymnal, the Lutheran Bach has composed or provided harmony for 20 hymns. By my count, he’s the third most noted composer/arranger/harmonizer in the hymnal, following Ralph Vaughan Williams and William Henry Monk. He harmonized one of the hymns we hear in Holy Week, O Sacred Head Now Wounded. After Bach’s music fell out of fashion, later composers, such as Felix Mendelssohn, renewed interest in him. Johannes Brahms advised, “Study Bach: there you will find everything.” If you want to see (in tri-color!) as well as hear the Little Fugue in G minor, one of my favorite short (3.45 min.) pieces, try this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ddbxFi3-UO4 PRAYER Sound out your majesty, O God, and call us to your work; that, like thy servant Johann Sebastian Bach, we might present our lives and our works to your glory alone; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.
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July 22 is the feast day for Mary Magdalene, an often misunderstood figure. You’ve doubtless noticed the number of women named Mary in the Bible. This has caused no end of confusion, going back to the early Church Fathers. The fifth century Pope Gregory The Great declared that Mary Magdalene was also the unnamed woman who was a sinner and anointed Jesus and Mary of Bethany, sister to Martha and Lazarus. That conflation became the official word of the Western Church, although in the Eastern Church (think Greek, Russian, Syrian, Macedonian Orthodox) they are regarded as three different women. Other writers during the early church era regarded Mary Magdalene as “the apostle to the apostles,” because she was sent (the meaning of the word apostle in Greek) to tell the remaining eleven men that Jesus had indeed been raised from the dead. She was among the women who followed Jesus and present at the crucifixion. The artistic upshot of Gregory’s pronouncement has been to show Mary of Magdala as a penitent sinner, often with red hair down to her waist and alone at a cave or in the wilderness, her eyes red from weeping, as she wept on the morning of the resurrection. It also gave painters the chance to portray her disheveled, possibly with a breast showing. Gregory’s idea is the source of Mary Magdalene being the patron saint of penitents, among several other fields, such as hairdressers and perfumers. (If Jesus cast out seven demons, surely at least one of them was a lustful demon.) And it explains the idea of Magdalene laundries, where “fallen” women in Ireland, under the auspices of first the Protestant and later the Catholic church and the Irish government, worked and were abused. PRAYER Almighty God, whose blessed Son restored Mary Magdalene to health of body and of mind, and called her to be a witness of his resurrection: Mercifully grant that by your grace we may be healed of all our infirmities and know you in the power of his unending life; Through the same Jesus Christ our Lord, who with you and the Holy Spirit lives and reigns, one God, now and for ever. Amen. Benedict was born in Nursia, Italy, in 480. He died in 543 or 547 at Monte Cassia, Italy. July 11 is his feast day. In between, he founded a branch of monastic orders and wrote a Rule, or set of regulations, for them. My copy of its 73 short chapters is only 67 pages long, with two sections. The spiritual part focuses on how to live a Christian life on earth. The second part is an administrator’s section, with instructions on how to guide a monastic community. Benedict says, “In drawing up these regulations, we hope to set down nothing harsh, nothing burdensome.” He divides the day into work and prayer, with a focus on Scripture. He sets aside about four hours to be spent in liturgical prayer (known as the Divine Office), five hours in spiritual reading and study, six hours of labor, one hour for eating, and about eight hours for sleep. Small wonder that the monasteries become centers for learning and scholarship, preserving many ancient manuscripts. During these times of communal prayer, the monks recited the entire book of Psalms each week. In the eighth century, Charlemagne thought the order was a great thing, and so chapters of it spread throughout the Holy Roman Empire. Today, it survives; probably Sister Joan Chiddister, who writes about the Benedictines, is the most famous in this country. She’s the person to read if you want a contemporary, accessible account of living under the Benedictine Rule and how to apply Benedict’s ideas to one’s own life. We all have a Rule by which we live; we just don’t often set it down or bring it to our conscious mind. You may want to write it down, just to see what it is, and if it is what you intend to do. For instance, do you need a cup of caffeine to begin the day? Is reading a newspaper, in print or online, a must-do? Is there practice of an art or craft? The Church’s prayer for this saint: Gracious God, whose service is perfect freedom and in whose commandments there is nothing harsh nor burdensome: Grant that we, with your servant Benedict, may listen with attentive minds, pray with fervent hearts, and serve you with willing hands, so that we live at peace with one another and in obedience to thy Word, Jesus Christ our Lord, who with you and the Holy Spirit lives and reigns, one God, now and for ever. Amen. Paul's associates in his ministry included Aquila and Prisca (Priscilla is a pet name, a diminutive, little Prisca). Like Paul, they were tentmakers, creating a second bond.
The three met in Corinth, probably around 50 CE. Emperor Claudius had expelled Jews from Rome. We do not know if Paul was instrumental in converting the couple, or if they were already Christians when they arrived in Corinth. Eighteen months later, all three went to Ephesus. Jointly, the couple worked to bring Apollos, a powerful preacher, into a better understanding of Christianity. The New Testament has six mentions of Priscilla and Aquila: Acts 18:2,18,26; Romans 16:3; 1 Corinthians 16:19; 2 Timothy 4:19. Aquila's name comes first in the odd-numbered mentions, while Priscilla's comes first in the even-numbered mentions. Flipping the order of their names may emphasize that they are being mentioned on equal terms. The Church's Prayer for Prisca and Aquila: God of grace and might, who gave to your servants Aquila and Priscilla gifts of zeal and eloquence to make known the truth of the Gospel: Raise up, we pray, in every country, heralds and evangelists of your kingdom, so that the world may know the immeasurable riches of our Savior Jesus Christ; who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen. |
Saints Alive!
I have been privileged to offer Noonday Prayer at my church, usually on Thursdays, which doesn’t matter because it’s on Youtube forever. [It’s amazing what can be done with a smartphone and a smart, helpful parish administrator!] The service is brief, with a place for a meditation. We usually look at the Episcopal calendar of saints, who are nearly always honored on their death dates, not their birth dates. Here is a hymn by medieval saint Hildegard of Bingen to set the mood.
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