Signs of the Times

Signs of the Times  •  7 February 2019 •  No. 185

¶ Processional. School principal Zhang Pengfei and students at Xi Guan Primary School in Shanxi Province, China.

Signs of the Times  •  25 January 2019 •  No. 184

¶ Processional. “Hark, the Song of Jubilee,” Maungaturoto Congregational Church, Ralph Cullen, organist.

Signs of the Times  •  17 January 2019 •  No. 183

¶ Processional. “Precious Lord,” performed by R&B singer Ledisi Anibade Young. Minutes before the assassin’s bullet found him, King called out, from the Lorraine Motel second floor balcony, to the music leader for that night’s rally, “I want us to sing ‘Precious Lord’ tonight.'”

Signs of the Times  •  9 January 2019 •  No. 182

¶ Processional. “Woke Up This Morning,” Resistance Revival Chorus (rehearsal). (Thanks Amanda.)

Signs of the Times  •  4 January 2019 •  No. 181

¶ Processional. “We Three Kings,” violin and orchestra, featuring Erika Blanco.

Signs of the Times  •  20 December 2018 •  No. 179

¶ Processional. “Flash Flash – Jerusalem during the Christmas Tree Lighting party.” (Thanks Dick.)

Signs of the Times  •  7 December 2018  •  No. 178

IN THIS ISSUE: a poem, and a litany for worship, focused on John the Baptist. Below that, a large collection of Advent and Christmas resources for personal reflection and public worship. —Ken Sehested

The baptizer’s bargain
A poem based on John the Baptist

John.
Such a tame name for a man
     born to inhabit the wild side
    of heaven’s incursion.
    You startle children with
    your leather-girdled, camel-haired attire,
    hot breath bidding the devout
    into Jordan’s penitential wake,
    the same waters that marked
    the boundary of beneficence: of the Hebrew
    slaves’ long march from Pharaoh’s provision
        (the latter hard, to be sure, but also secure)
    to Providence of another, riskier kind,
    though laced with promise of milk and honey.
What drove you to this scorched abode,
    abounding in wild beasts, hostile foes
    and scarce sustenance?
—continue reading “The baptizer’s bargain”

Signs of the Times  •  15 November 2018 •  No. 177

¶ Processional. "Pie Jesu" (“Merciful Jesus”) by Sarah Brightman, Paul Miles-Kingston. The music accompanies actual film footage (3:34) from World War I’s “Battle of The Somme,” when French and British allies took the offensive against German troops in France, 1 July-18 November 1916. The British suffered 57,000 casualties on the first day of the offensive. All totaled, more than 1 million men were wounded or killed, making it one of the bloodiest battles in history. 

Signs of the Times  •  23 November 2016  •  No. 98

¶ Processional. “Now Thank We All Our God,” arr. by John Rutter, performed by The Cambridge Singers and the City of London Sinfonia.

Above: “Farm Scene” painting by Walt Curlee.

¶ Invocation. “Of the things God has shown me,  / I can speak but a little word;  / not more than a honeybee  / can take away on its foot /  from an overflowing jar.’ —Mechthild of Magdeburg, 13th century mystic  

Signs of the Times  •  18 November 2016  •  No. 97

¶ Processional. “Lift Us Up: A Song for America,” by Peter Yarrow, performed by Bethany Yarrow & friends.