Signs of the Times

Signs of the Times  •  1 April 2016  •  No. 66

Abbreviated issue

This edition of “Signs of the Times,” (and next week’s) is abbreviated to clear space for hiking in Arches National Park in Utah. (You’ll be jealous when you view these National Geographic’s photos of the park.)

Signs of the Times  •  21 March 2016  •  No. 65

Special "Good Friday" edition

¶ Recommended music for Good Friday. Henryk Górecki’s Third Symphony, Opus 36 (“Symphony of Sorrowful Songs”), second movement (“Lento e Largo,” 9:10).
        “No, Mother, do not weep, / Most chaste Queen of Heaven / Support me always.”
        This is the opening line to the Polish prayer to the Virgin Mary. The prayer was inscribed on wall 3 of cell no. 3 in the basement of the "Palace," the Nazi German Gestapo's headquarters in Zadopane, Poland. Beneath is the signature of Helena Wanda Blazusiakówna, and the words "18 years old, imprisoned since 26 September 1944."
        You can listen to the entire symphony here. (56:13)

Signs of the Times  •  21 March 2016  •  No. 64

Early and abbreviated issue

This edition of “Signs of the Times” is both early and abbreviated—to clear space for another major writing assignment followed by hiking in Arches National Park in Utah. (You’ll be jealous when you view these National Geographic’s photos of the park.)
        This week’s edition, and those of the next two weeks, will be brief.

¶ Call to worship. “Easter resurrection is never as assured / as the arrival of Easter bunnies. / Clothiers and chocolate-makers alike yearn / for the season no less than every cleric. / And yet, in my experience, the Spirit / rarely blows according to the calendar, / much less on demand.” —continue reading Ken Sehested’s “Easter’s aftermath”

Signs of the Times  •  16 March 2016  •  No. 63

Holy Week and unholy economies
A primer on economic inequality

¶ Processional. “Khen Ephran,” Coptic Orthodox hymn for Holy Week. 

¶ Invocation. “Do not say to yourself, ‘My power and the might of my hand have gotten me this wealth.’” —Deuteronomy 8:17

Signs of the Times  •  10 March 2016  •  No. 62

¶ Processional. St. Mary’s Academy (New Orleans) Marching Band.

¶ Invocation. “Pleni sunt caeli et terra gloria tua. Osanna, Osanna in excelsis” (“Heaven and earth are full of thy glory. Hosanna, hosanna in the highest”), “The Ground,” by Ola Gjeilo, performed by the Heritage Concert Choir at Western Washington University.

Signs of the Times  •  3 March 2016  •  No. 61

¶ Processional. “I Want Jesus to Walk With Me,” Fannie Lou Hamer.

Right: This lavender labyrinth, in Germany, was developed by Christa Wendling in 2005. It is a replica of the one laid in the floor of the Chartres Cathedral in France in 1220.

¶ Invocation. “We know the road to freedom has always been stalked by death.” —Angela Y. Davis

Signs of the Times  •  25 February 2016  •  No. 60

¶ Processional (and celebrating the rising of the women). The ceremony marks the first aboriginal women—Melanie Mark—elected to British Columbia (Canada) legislature.  (Thanks, Lee.)

¶ Photo at right. Colima Volcano in Mexico shows a powerful night explosion with lightning and incandescent rockfalls. This photo, by Velasco Garcia, took second place in the 2016 World Press Photo Contest.

Signs of the Times  •  18 February 2016  •  No. 59

Special themed issue: “In God We Trust”
God as national mascot
Divine patronage asserted

¶ Processional. “Star Spangled Banner,” Jimi Hendrix.

Signs of the Times  •  11 February 2016  •  No. 58

¶ Processional. “They have blessings – those who ask / Jesus himself said so / Hallelujah /  Jesus himself said so. . . . / They have life. . . . / They have joy. . . . / They have faith.” —“Wana Baraka” (They have blessings), traditional Swahili hymn from Kenya, arranged by Shawn L. Kirchner.

Right: Hamilton Pool Preserve is a natural pool that was created when the dome of an underground river collapsed due to massive erosion thousands of years ago. The pool is located about 23 miles west of Austin, Texas. Photo by Dave Wilson.

¶ Invocation. “The world is God’s and it will not fall apart. The church need not live out of fear as though the gospel were not true. Instead, we are destined to live toward freedom, toward the pain of the world, toward the hurt of the world, toward the joy of the world: The hurt and pain the world does not understand and the joy the world does not anticipate.”  —continue reading “The world is God’s,” a litany for worship adapting text from Walter Brueggemann’s Living Toward a Vision

Signs of the Times  •  4 February 2016  •  No. 57

¶ Processional.  Street percussion and dance in New York City, from “To the Culture” (2:28 minutes).

Right: Shelf cloud over Sydney, Australia, photo by Richard Hirst.

¶ Invocation. “Miserere Mei, Deus" (Psalm 51),  by 17th century Italian composer Gregorio Allegri (5:44 minutes).