Signs of the Times

Signs of the Times  •  11 April 2018 •  No. 158

¶ Processional. “For the Love of God” by Steve Vai, performed by Tina S.

Signs of the Times  •  31 March 2018 •  No. 157

¶ Processional. “The Angel Cried, Christ Has Risen,” Russian Orthodox Chant for Easter.

Above: Memphis, Tennessee sanitation workers on strike, 1968.

¶ Invocation. “Shake out your qualms. / Shake up your dreams. / Deepen your roots. / Extend your branches. / Trust deep water / and head for the open, / even if your vision / shipwrecks you. / Quit your addiction / to sneer and complain. / Open a lookout. / Dance on a brink. / Run with your wildfire. / You are closer to glory / leaping an abyss / than upholstering a rut.” —excerpt from James Broughton’s “Easter Exultet”

Signs of the Times  •  22 March 2018 •  No. 156

¶ Processional. “All Glory, Laud and Honor,” Palm Sunday procession, Church of St. Mary the Virgin, New York City.

Signs of the Times  •  13 March 2018 •  No. 155

¶ Processional. “All my life I've been waiting for / I've been praying for / For the people to say / That we don't wanna fight no more / They'll be no more wars / And our children will play / One day.” —Koolulam leading 3000 people in Haifa singing “One Day” (Thanks Marnie.)

Signs of the Times  •  1 March 2018 •  No. 154

¶ Processional. “Adiemus,” composed by Karl Jenkins and performed by the Angel City Chorale. (There are no lyrics as such, instead the vocalists sing syllables and "words" invented by Jenkins.)

Signs of the Times  •  21 February 2018 •  No. 153

¶ Processional. Thousands of students and faculty from the Catholic-run St. Scholastica’s College dance en masse to protest violence against women and children on 14 February 2018, in Manila, Philippines. The annual dance, dubbed One Billion Rising, is held every Valentine’s Day. (1:15 video.)

Signs of the Times  •  15 February 2018  •  No. 152

by Ken Sehested

“A child of God is dead. Can not we acknowledge
in this country that we cannot accept this?”

—former FBI agent and counterterrorism expert Philip Mudd, breaking into tears when talking about the 15 February 2018 school shooting in Broward County, Florida. Who could predict that a terror expert could be anointed as the Spirit’s agent in prophetic protest against the spirit of the age?

nothing says ash wednesday
or valentine’s day
like murdered children

Signs of the Times  •  7 February 2018 •  No. 151

¶ Processional."La Danse de Mardi-Gras," Steve Riley.

Signs of the Times  •  31 January 2018 •  No. 150

¶ Processional. “I’m an ordinary man / from the place where the palms grow / and before I die I want / to sing out the verses of my soul.” —English translation of the first verse of “Guantanamera,” Playing for Change, performed by 75 Cubans from around the world collaborate on this historic recording of the Cuban unofficial national hymn.  The song’s lyrics, by Cuban singer-songwriter, Joseíto Fernandez, were adapted from José Martí’s “Versos Sencillos”  poem. Pete Seeger made the song popular in the US after the Cuban missile crisis in an attempt to affirm US-Cuban cultural ties in the face of growing diplomatic hostility.

¶ More background to the song’s repeated mention of guajira Guantanamera. “Another interesting part of the song’s story is the etymology of the word guajira. In the War of Independence, when the US came in at the 11th hour to ‘save the day,’ US soldiers saw some of the peasant militiamen on horseback, without uniform, rustic looking, and the soldiers greeted them, ‘Look at the war heroes.’ The Cuba ears, not accustomed to English, heard ‘war heroes’ as guajiros and thought they were being complimented, so the word stuck. Guajira is the feminine form, and the word now is used to identify country people, peasant people, much like we would say ‘bumpkin’ or ‘redneck.’” —Stan Dotson

Signs of the Times  •  3 January 2018 •  No. 149

¶ Processional. “What a Wonderful World.” —Choir, Choir, Choir, where hundreds gathered for the unveiling of the tallest Christmas tree in Toronto and a massive sing-along. (Thanks Tom.)

Above: Horseshoe Falls in Niagara Falls, Ontario, photo by Aaron Lynett, Canadian Press

¶ Invocation. “Bravo! Bravo to the One who comes from the unknown and unseen place to rattle the landscape and roust the pretenders! / This One, and this One alone, is worthy of devotion. / The Majestic One thunders into the silence of tyranny. At the sound of this Voice, all creation shudders in remembrance of forgotten promises. / This One, and this One alone, is worthy of ovation.” —continue reading “Worthy,” a litany for worship inspired by Psalm 29 and the Pentecost story of Acts 2