What do you think?

Kids songs have their place, and some of them can be quite cute. They remember the challenges, though, and meeting challenges does wonders for their self-esteem and makes them hungry for more.

Sometimes I hear that some hymns are too hard for adults. Maybe, if someone saw “Behold a Host, Arrayed in White,” out of the TLH, or “Thy Strong Word,” for the first time, they might have a point. I would be careful not to sell short our musical intellect. We seem to do well with our national anthem, and that doesn’t come from the kiddie pool of singing.

Here is a snippet of the Time Out hymn coming in eight days.  One 37-year-old and 2 eight-year-old girls take on octave jumps, dotted-eighths and sixteenths, melismas, and other fun stuff in this classic by Martin Luther. You can’t knock the sheer amount of theological content, either.

I guess I should put up a picture, but I’m not quite done losing weight yet. First world problems.

Last week I played with the Antares Auto-Tune plugin for Audacity. One thing Auto-Tune does is that it takes an audio track, finds the pitch frequency, and bends that frequency to the standard set of frequencies. If one is on pitch, there isn’t much change; if one is off, the effects can be quite humorous.

To see how well I stayed on pitch, I ran the plugin against some of my Time Out tracks, and it was eye-opening in a good way. Here was a way I could get some immediate feedback on my singing. There’s room for improvement, but it’s improvement that could be achieved. Instead of doctoring the audio, I could improve the singing so that the audio would not need to be doctored up. Tomorrow’s Time Out, Episode 80, will show the results. I think you’ll like it.

Now that my trial for the Antares Auto-Tune is up, I’ve switched to a free plugin, KeroVee by g200kg. There is another plugin called GSnap that has similar functionality.

There is enough of a singing element in some speech to make auto-tuning quite entertaining. YouTube has an Auto-Tune-The-News Channel, but I think you’ll like the attached auto-tuning of a great Lutheran podcast, the God Whisperers. Enjoy.

Thank you to Cheryl Magness, Norm Fisher, Pr. Jonathan Fisk, Pr. Bryan Wolfmueller, Jon Townsend, and everyone else who helped. Thanks especially to Jon Townsend for supplying the background music and getting them on the air.  Nicely done.

Be sure to catch these and the others on Issues, Etc.!

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Thanks, guys!

Thanks, guys!

I’m just thankful the kids stayed asleep.

The interview took up the first half-hour while I talked about what we do on Time Out, from picking Bible readings and collects to recording hymns and explaining why and how Kretzmann’s Commentary got added. I’m glad they didn’t pick one of our hymns for their “Audacious Audible Atrocities” segment.

Upon further review, the Joshua reference is Joshua 27, not 5, and Williston, ND is further north than Traverse City, MI. The church I visited in Corpus Christi was Messiah Lutheran.

I had fun, no animals were harmed, and Ty and David were gracious hosts.

Spencer

Michael Spencer, author of the insanely popular Internet Monk blog and co-founder of the Boar’s Head Tavern team blog, has been given six months to a year to live by his oncologist. He is 53.

I first came upon his writings at the Boar’s Head Tavern and later subscribed to his Internet Monk podcast. I was always a “lurker”, letting John H and the Fearsome Pirate/Comrade/Tycoon represent Lutheranism at the BHT. Spencer, a “post-evangelical,” treated the “This is most certainly true!” crowd with class and dignity. He wrote a positive review for The Lutheran Study Bible, including a profound critique of Lutheranism as he sees it:

It is ironic then, that I have to say at the outset that outside of existing Lutheranism, it’s doubtful that large numbers of evangelicals will ever seen these resources without asking for them on special order. I am sure that large bookstores will have the occasional volume here and there, but unless one is within Lutheranism, on a Lutheran campus, visits a Concordia store, listens to Lutheran radio or friendly confessional internet programming, these resources will never be known.

…

Which goes to the heart of a growing frustration I have (sic) Lutheranism: With the dominance of the reformed camp in the Christian blogosphere and much of conservative evangelicalism public voice, there has never been a time the Gospel-centric, church-formed-around-the-Gospel/Sacraments, focused, classical, catholic, reformational, law and Gospel voice of Lutheranism was needed more.

The imbalances of the current versions of resurgent Calvinism are more and more obvious all the time. The beating heart of our life and message is Jesus and justification, not sovereignty and election. It is the free offer to all, not the efficient offer to the elect, that needs to be clearly heard now. It is all of scripture as law and Gospel that needs to be filling the church. Reformed Baptists are ascending at just the time that Lutheranism’s view of the Christian life is most needed. If you do not know the difference, then make that a project.

Michael recently published a book, Mere Churchianity: Finding Your Way Back to Jesus-Shaped Spirituality. He appeared on the Issues, Etc. show, and he was nominated for Sound Bite of the Week:

There are other bloggers who know Michael Spencer much more personally and can write more about him. His podcasts convey the passion of someone whose conscience is telling him things Christians do that looked good but were getting in the way of the preached Christ. I have enjoyed the episodes immensely. They are still on iTunes; look for Internet Monk.

Thank you, Michael, for making ecumenism an amicable discussion about reliance on the truth of the Gospel rather than about borrowing each other’s business tactics and attractional theology to lure “the unchurched.” You will be sorely missed.

Thanks, Pastor Wilken!

Welcome, everyone who visited from the Issues, Etc., site! Be sure to also check out the Time Out podcast for favorite hymns and Bible readings.

I got the opportunity to read yesterday’s blog post on the air and across the world on Issues, Etc.’s live celebration of their anniversary. For two-thirds of the reading, things were going reasonably well, when Twin #2 came downstairs and wanted to swing. I excused myself from the broadcast, guided her back upstairs, and finished the reading. Such is live radio. This is why Time Out is pre-recorded.

I discussed the incident with a couple of others who had been on the show before. Frank suggested that next time that happens, I should shout, “Go back upstairs, and study your catechism!”

Thanks, Pr. Wilken and Jeff, for having me on. It was a hoot.

The reading came after the first break, at 14:31.

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Jeff read the post on the air and added:

I agree 100%. It’s why I like high school basketball. There’s still some finesse in the game; however, it’s all trickling down. The game of basketball is becoming so physical, the Superintendent of the school board of the greatest school district in America, Edwardsville School District 7, Dr. Ed Hightower, who’s probably the most well-known college basketball official, I talked to him a couple of months ago at a basketball game. He said eventually high school and everybody’s going to have to go to international lanes because the players are getting too big and the game is getting too physical. He said he could call a foul in the paint virtually every possession at the NCAA Division I level.

Thanks, Jeff! It’s an honor! It’s also an honor that Dr. Hightower had the same feeling I do about the frequency of fouls in the big leagues.

A long time ago, on the shores of the Lake of the Ozarks near Osceola, MO, I was a camper and later a summer camp counselor. One of the things that was very cool, was the time between 9:45 and 10 at night. Between Call to Quarters and Taps, relaxing classical or patriotic music would play, setting the mood for a quiet night.

Martin Luther advises in his Small Catechism to say a prayer of thanksgiving, and then, “go to sleep promptly and cheerfully.” Personally I find that difficult to do, for a host of reasons.

The intent of this podcast is to play performances, some by me alone, some by good musicians of the Lutheran Church, and some by both.  Like the time before Taps, I promise not to run over 15 minutes. In future podcasts I hope not to talk so much, but some recordings come with great memories.

This evening’s performance is from July 1, 2007. Trinity Lutheran Church in Rock Springs, WY, was dedicating their new and beautiful sanctuary. Kantor Steven Hoffman was in charge of the music, and he was nice enough to let me record a duet with him. What you are about to hear are the first two verses of Hymn 656 out of The Lutheran Hymnal, “Behold a Host, Arrayed in White.” Enjoy.

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That was fun to do.  I need to work the introduction a little more, and I need to record more performances. It definitely helps to read the script aloud beforehand.

The use of Formula Missae brought an interesting twist. OSLC usually speaks the Introit and Gradual, then sings through the communion liturgy out of the hymnal. This time, we chanted through the Introit, Gradual, Verse, and Alleluias while speaking the Service of the Sacrament.

For the Introit, Pastor Gau would sing the first half, while I sang the second half. The congregation jumped in as it picked up the melody.

For the Gradual and Verse, there was a triple alleluia, the Gradual, another triple alleluia, the Verse, and another triple alleluia. I soloed the Gradual and Verse, and the congregation joined me on the alleluias. There was a scoring error in our music on the second two alleluias which would have thrown the congregation, so we fixed that. It was a little chaotic because the Psalm tone wasn’t chosen until 15 minutes before the service, but we managed.

For the sermon Pastor Gau read an excerpt from Luther’s sermons on John 8:31-36. It was a tribute to the Word that the sermon text was as applicable today as it was nearly 500 years ago.

Again be advised on the audio, this may be a little loud. I’ve already turned it down about 40%.

The first triple alleluia. The second and third didn’t have the lead-in.

A portion of Psalm 48, the Gradual, which was spared from wrestling with sheet music.

Secondly, Pastor Lehmann preached a must-read sermon on Luke 15:1-10, found on his LiveJournal blog. My favorite part:

At this point you might be thinking, so what about the one? I’m here. I’m not starving. I’ve heard the Word of God read. I’m listening to this sermon. I’m being fed. I’m in the green pasture. I’m by the still water. I’m one of the ninety-nine. That may be so. But if you are one of the ninety-nine, it’s only because you were once the one.

Both services were done according to the LSB Service of Prayer and Preaching. The congregation took the refrains on the OT and NT Canticles, while I joined some pieces of the choir in singing the verses. The NT Canticle without the organ almost doesn’t sound like it should sound good, but the organ makes the vocals make sense.

As previously noted, Pr. Lehmann asked me to take a verse out of LSB 709, “The King of Love My Shepherd Is.” I chose verse 4. The first time sounded good, but when I listened to it on the recorder, the “short a” vowel sound of “Thy rod and staff, my comfort still,” was too nasal for my liking. I fixed it in the second service, and the result is decent. I left the latter half of verse 3 by the congregation in, because it sounded good and made a nice introduction.

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Music and lyrics: Public domain.

I also had a duet and a solo in the morning service. After everyone was seated, Kantor Steven Hoffman and I did a duet on TLH 656, “Behold a Host, Arrayed in White.” I took melody first and second verses and projected the tenor line for verse three, while Kantor took tenor on the first verse, bass on the second verse, and melody on the third verse to accompany what ended up being a tenor descant.

I should have brought my digital voice recorder to the rehearsal, because that’s was when it sounded the best. I tried to record the morning performance, but the batteries decided to give up. Sunday afternoon, we had one more try to record the song. My voice had cooled back down, so I butchered the E-flat in the tenor line in the third verse. You don’t get to hear that.

Here are the first two verses of “Behold a Host, Arrayed in White,” to give you an idea of how it sounded. It sounded much better in rehearsal and at the top of the morning service.

For the offertory, I soloed “How Clear is Our Vocation, Lord,” which turned out well.

The church was nearly fully for the dedication service. I actually did not get to see half of it, as the times we were sitting down I was tucked in a corner and did not see what was going on. The balcony was quite crowded with choir, two trumpets, a flute, and a snare drum.

A dedication service is a cool thing to watch — they don’t happen very often. The pastor draws the cross on the approach to the front door, then everyone processes into the sanctuary. The pastor then prays for God to bless the baptismal font, the windows, the organ, and the altar. The gathered pastors, about 15 of them, sang “God’s Word is Our Great Heritage,” LSB 582, and sang the first verse of “All Who Believe and Are Baptized,” LSB 601.

Dinner was held after the service. I got to meet Rev. Marcus Zill, pastor of St. Andrews Lutheran Church and Campus Center in Laramie, WY. Pastor Zill like Pastor Borghardt and Sandra Ostapowich is involved with Higher Things. Small world.

Seeing a new church built is reassuring in a world where Christianity is under constant struggle those outside the church and those who say they are inside the church but preach a different gospel.

The Old Testament Canticle from the Service of Prayer and Preaching (LSB 261) is taken from Isaiah 12. This was performed on February 28 at Memorial Lutheran Church in Houston, TX.

Prepare to adjust your volume before you hit play.

Old Testament Canticle © 2006 Concordia Publishing House. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Cantor Muth wrote the music to this phrase, from Zechariah 13:7. I led, then the congregation followed. The congregational phrase was also sung three more times during and after the psalmody.

As always, I suggest to keep your volume control at the ready.

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“I will strike the shepherd and the sheep of the flock will be scattered.”

I would like to thank Cantor Janet Muth of MLC for the opportunity to sing. She was very helpful in providing a rehearsal CD and some additional coaching. She accompanied on the pipe organ.

I would also like to thank Pastor Murray, Pastor Day, Vicar Janssen and then-Vicar-now-Seminarian Habermas for their service during my stay in Houston. MLC has been a terrific church home away from home.

Feedback is appreciated, either by email or comment, though if you plan on doing a Piers Morgan impersonation, please be objective and specific. I haven’t had much solo coaching. There are some things I can still hear, but I don’t want to bias your ear. I do not plan on quitting my day job.

Again, fingers on your volume controls.

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“How Clear is Our Vocation, Lord”
Words: Fred Pratt Green
Words © 1982 Hope Publishing Co., Carol Stream, IL 60188. All rights reserved. Used by permission.
To obtain permission to use or copy this hymn please visit www.hopepublishing.com.

How clear is our vocation, Lord,
when once we heed your call:
to live according to your word,
and daily learn, refreshed, restored,
that you are Lord of all,
and will not let us fall.

But if, forgetful, we should find
your yoke is hard to bear;
if worldly pressures fray the mind
and love itself cannot unwind
its tangled skein of care:
our inward life repair.

We mark your saints, how they became
in hindrances more sure,
whose joyful virtues put to shame
the casual way we wear your name,
and by our faults obscure
your power to cleanse and cure.

In what you give us, Lord, to do,
together or alone,
in old routines or ventures new,
may we not cease to look for you,
the cross you hung upon,
all you endeavored done.

The solos went pretty well. I recorded them on my digital video recorder, but Memorial has much better recording equipment. I will check back to see if they recorded the service and I can get better recordings.

I’m told I can’t put one of the solos on NR because of copyright issues, and I need to check to see if I can post the other. I can, though, publish the Verse. The verse is bracketed on each side by a TLH Triple Hallelujah, but I had to leave the Hallelujahs out because the organ overwhelmed my recorder. If the church recording is better, I’ll replace this and note an update. The tune was written by the Cantor, and the text is as public domain as you get, based on Deuteronomy 30:14, NIV:

“The word is very near to you; it is in your mouth and in your heart so you may obey it.”

Have your finger near your volume button before you play this.

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Pastor Day gave the sermon, from Mark 8:1-9.

The sermon is transcribed as follows:

In the name of Jesus, Amen.

The word of God to which we give our attention this day is St. Mark’s Gospel, the eighth chapter. It is the appointed reading this Sunday in the historic one year series.

In those days, when again a great crowd had gathered, and they had nothing to eat, he called his disciples to him and said to them, “I have compassion on the crowd, because they have been with me now three days and have nothing to eat. And if I send them away hungry to their homes, they will faint on the way. And some of them have come from far away.” And his disciples answered him, “How can one feed these people with bread here in this desolate place?” And he asked them, “How many loaves do you have?” They said, “Seven.” And he directed the crowd to sit down on the ground. And he took the seven loaves, and having given thanks, he broke them and gave them to his disciples to set before the people; and they set them before the crowd. And they had a few small fish. And having blessed them, he said that these also should be set before them. And they ate and were satisfied. And they took up the broken pieces left over, seven baskets full. And there were about four thousand people.

So far our text.

So exactly how is it: how is it that the multitudes who came to hear Jesus found themselves to be so utterly and completely unprepared for their most bodily needs? How is it that this crowd can be drawn out three days without food and then suddenly unable to return home, lest they perish along the way? They seem to be a bit like a boat out on the high seas that never bothered to fuel up. They drive out into the center of the ocean until all their fuel is nearly gone, then not close enough to land, they find themselves without any relief or refuge. They’re stranded, helpless.

The world, of course, would call a boat and its crew fools, and so how did it happen in our text? How is it that the multitudes who follow Jesus suddenly found themselves here? Jesus was certainly well aware of exactly what was happening, and yet he did absolutely nothing for them. He gave them no lectures that day on earthly wisdom or on worldly preparation. It’s not as if Jesus stopped along the way to say to someone, “Perhaps you might buy a generator. Stock up on dry goods. Pack a few bottles of water. Make sure you look out for yourselves.”

Oh, no. It was not simple pride nor was it self-reliance that caused this situation at all. These people were caught, caught because he feeds the birds of the air and the fish of the sea. He, Jesus, had purposely drawn them out in the wilderness. It was his word. It was his teaching that caused them to forget about such worldly things.

It is his word and his teaching which were responsible for that now (unintelligible), seem to be completely helpless. So it is into that very context, being the responsible party, our Lord Jesus did speak these words to his disciples, “I have compassion on the both of you.”

“Well, how so, O Lord Jesus? Why, Jesus, did you not tell us before it was too late? For even now a hundred denarii could not begin to buy enough bread for all those who are here. O, Jesus, how could such a crowd ever be satisfied now?”

Yes, but the wisdom of God often times turns the wisdom of the world on its head. Jesus’s compassion is not a sappy bleeding-heart sympathy for his children. No, Jesus’s compassion is a sincere everlasting love. His compassion is real concern for the ongoing reality and even the eternal welfare of his children. As so it was this very compassion that caused our Lord Jesus to place the hearers in such dire straits. Now Jesus has them right where he wants them, but, the truth be told, they would be just as helpless if they were at home snuggled, tucked away safely in their beds with food in their bellies and food in their cupboards. But then they might not know it. They might even think that they were in control of their lives, but out there in the wilderness with nowhere to go, with growling bellies, too far to make it to the next town, they know the meaning of helplessness.

And make no mistake about it the hunger that gnaws deep inside the belly of the four thousand is the mark of death. They must eat, or they will die. Now there is no place left for them to turn. They suddenly realized that they cannot provide for themselves. They are utterly helpless.

So it is ironic that these words of Jesus that just moments before had so lifted them out of their mundane existence that they had forgotten completely about all of the bodily necessities of life in this world, those words now seem to turn upon them. Now more than ever the crowd seems to realize their own frailty, their inability, their weakness. In stark contrast of the serenity of Jesus and his perfect obedience in all things, their guilt begins to shine forth like a beacon in the dark world. And yet, our Lord Jesus provides. He does that as he always does, by his grace and in his mercy, and they begin to realize it. They begin to give thanks to God for it.

But the reality is this: we are the frailest and weakest of all God’s creation. We cannot eat raw meat or the grass in the field in order to survive. We are the only animals on the earth that require clothing in order to survive, and despite all those weaknesses and frailties we are without doubt the proudest of all his creation. All too often we rebel against the goodness of God. We like to think ourselves to be wise and true, good and decent, but we are really nothing of the sort. We boast in our supposed street smarts and our extra measure of common sense. Just like the Pharisee that day in the temple, we quickly scan the room and think that I am more than equal to anyone here. I am smarter. I am stronger. I am better, and all should honor me and see me for the great person that I am. I am faithful.

But you know how it goes. Our street smarts quickly evaporate in the middle of the night when our car breaks down on the wrong side of town, and suddenly the cell phone battery is dead. Our common sense we’ve shown to all the world in our failed marriages, our disobedient children, our large indebtedness, and our pettiness. What if your neighbors could hear you yelling at your children, fighting with your spouse, lusting after their children, coveting their possessions? It is a very thin veil of respectability that we hide behind. None of us has kept the law. None of us can stand before God on our own.

Repent. Repent, O pompous fools and arrogant braggarts, sinners one and all. Repent. On this day be emptied of yourselves and feel the hunger pains that food and drink can never fulfill. Turn instead to the God of compassion, the God who provides the ram in the thicket that takes away our sins, the spotless lamb who burns in our stead on the spit of God the Father’s holy wrath. Find in him alone satisfaction that the world can never give. Find in him the peace that passes all understanding and rest in the forgiveness of sins in the justification of your soul, because you are precious and adorable in the Father’s eyes for the sake of his son. O, you should never feast upon trinkets or the dirt of this world that will be offered to you by Satan. Nor should you feast upon your feeble (unintelligible).

But this day you should feast instead on the true bread of heaven, his body, his blood, given and shed for you for the forgiveness of sins. For your savior comes to you this day as he always comes, meek and lowly, riding in our sanctuary on ordinary bread and wine. His reward is with him, and he freely bestows that reward on you, his dear children. That reward, of course, is himself, the Bread of Life, the living water. His righteousness, innocence, and blessedness, it is now become yours.

So what do you do? Well, you do absolutely nothing. We simply now bask in his presence. In his compassion you are served by him who is the servant king. And so perhaps the only thing that you can do is let go of the wheel and enjoy the ride of life. Feast in the desert on bread that you could never provide, nor could you ever earn. Lose yourself time and time again in his holy word, in his promises and be drawn outside of yourselves. It is only there, O Christian, that you will find a true calling as the Bride of Christ, the bride on whom he ceaselessly dotes and fusses, because for his bride there is absolutely nothing that isn’t good.

We are here this day the Holy Supper and his own body and his own blood, his true bread to eat. Let this be your sustenance and your joy all the days of your life. For this is his glorious compassion.

In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.