Soul Music

As we approach Thanksgiving, I continue to be amazed at how early we see signs of Christmas.  The Halloween jack-o-lanterns are like bright orange gifts under the artificial Christmas trees at Home Depot.  The broadcast Christmas music is right behind with multiple XM stations to choose from including Traditional, Holiday Pop and Christmas Soul.   

Music has always been a big part of my life.  I sang in the children’s choir at First Presbyterian Church in Columbus.  I participated in musical theater at the Springer Opera House, with my role as Winthrop in The Music Man being my largest role.  It was in that show that I was presented with a trumpet that we only pretended to play during performances.  That was enough for me to want to learn to play it “for real” in the sixth grade.  My wife and I were in  school band together, and I have always loved church music – from the traditional hymns to contemporary worship music. 

In trying to connect my soul to music, I couldn’t find a better way to do it than with Morten Lauridsen’s choral arrangement of O Magnum Mysterium performed by the Kings College Choir in the Cambridge Chapel.  The translated Latin is simple and perfect for the season approaching: 

O great mystery and wondrous sacrament, that animals should see the new-born Lord lying in their Manger!

Blessed is the Virgin whose womb was worthy to bear the Lord Jesus Christ. Alleluia! 

Please don’t be in a hurry.  Find a time when you can be still for six and a half minutes, then click here. 

For more about how the text and visual art inspired Lauridsen to arrange this composition, read more here.

Soul Provider

Our small group at The Vine is about half way through our study of Soul Keeping by John Ortberg.  I can’t say that I am tracking 100% with the way that the book is organized, but the combination of the book and our talented leader, Dan, has allowed for some great discussion.   This is a lot more interesting to me than sitting around watching everyone nod their head “yes” and repeat what they read in the book.  So while I’m not sure I have come to any revelations about my soul yet, Caroline and I did have the opportunity to attend Buckhead Church with my daughter and son-in-law Sunday evening.  This is one of my favorite things to do, and our decision to drive downtown was blessed by an amazing service.  My soul seemed content.  My soul seemed full.

Waterfall

At the very north end of Lake Hartwell, in Westminster, SC, you can branch off from the main channel into a narrow stream in a kayak or small boat.  It kind of reminds me of the Okefenoke swamp ride at Six Flags where the trees and bushes create a canopy over the water.  After rounding several bends you start to hear the sound of rushing water.  That sounds get louder and louder until you see a large waterfall feeding the stream.  On a hot humid day, I can remember the feeling of climbing over the rocks until I could get to a place where the water would pound on my head and shoulders and completely engulf me.   

My good friend, Richard, has been faithfully following my posts on the soul the last couple of weeks.  He sent me a link to a video with Chris Tomlin talking about one of the songs on his new album “Love Ran Red”, and I found this acoustic version from the recording session. The name of the song is “Waterfall”.   The lyrics are simple, but true.  “Your love is like a waterfall, running wild and free.  Your love is like a waterfall, raining down on me. You’re an ocean to my soul.”  No doubt, Chris borrowed those ideas from an ancient text:  “Deep calls to deep in the roar of your waterfalls; all your waves and breakers have swept over me.”  Psalm 42:7.  No matter how much the world presses its needs on me, no matter how much I think I know what I need - and am wrong, I can’t escape his presence.  My soul is only at peace with Him.

 

 

Soul Train

Last week, I posted some thoughts on how I try to understand the word “soul” and my own soul.  This week, I thought I would let you know how John Ortberg describes it in his book Soul Keeping.  He uses several word pictures to describe the soul, but there is one actual diagram that shows the soul as the thing that connects or integrates our body, mind and will.  I took that a step further and envisioned a geographically large European country that only has three major cities and no small towns.  The only connection between the cities is a high-speed train (Hunger Games style).  There are no roads and no navigable lakes or rivers in the country.  In one city, there is a renowned university, in another, a large stadium for sporting and cultural events and in the third the only church in the country.  Living in any of the individual cities is ok, but the only way to experience the country fully is to take the train.  The train system was financed and built by the government, but due to the complexity, maintenance is time-consuming and expensive.  Also, while the train is free to ride, citizens have to take the time to get on it to get to the other cities.   I think any of these analogies break down when you are trying to describe something as complex and elusive as the soul, but I think God is pleased when we think about it for more than a second.  I am interested to know what you think.

Soul Searching

Last week I challenged you to tell me about your soul.  Thanks to those of you who responded.  When I began thinking about this, I struggled with how is the soul different from the Holy Spirit.  Even though there is no way for me to fully understand God, I am taught that He is three in one: the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirt.  The Father is God, the creator.  Jesus is the Son, and the Holy Spirit is the part of God that takes up residence in me when I declare Jesus as forgiver of my sins and the Lord of my life.   So if the Holy Spirit is in me, is that kind of like my Soul?

The other thing that I wondered about is, “is the soul always good, or can the soul be bad?”  I have heard of “lost souls” and of “wretched souls”, so if those descriptions are true, then I assume the soul can be good or bad. 

These two things made me wonder if the soul might be a place inside me.  That place is where the Holy Spirit resides if I have accepted Jesus.  If you think of the place like a house where the Holy Spirit lives, then I don’t think that is big enough or rich enough to describe the Soul.  But if you think of the place more as a house with a family when a new baby is born, like a home, then you pick up the idea that the Soul is responsible for caring for and nurturing the baby (Holy Spirit).  By thinking of the Soul as a place, that also allows for the possibility that the place can be empty or filled with evil.  These are my thoughts.  As I am reading the book, the author’s ideas are quite different.  Stay tuned.

Soul Food

We have just begun a new season of our Connect Group through The Vine Church.  In case you aren’t aware, Connect Groups are small groups of people that meet weekly in one of the member’s homes.  Our group has 9 members and is led by my good friend, Dan Kniffen.  I have mentioned Dan in a couple of earlier posts and am very pleased he agreed to lead.  We are reading and discussing Soul Keeping by John Ortberg.  Our first assignment was to define what “Soul” means to us and to come up with three words that describe our soul.  I will report later but feel free to reply publicly or privately if you would like to participate.  Oh yeah, we eat dinner every week, too.  Soul food is welcome but not required.

Non-Disposable

Caroline and I just returned from a bicycle trip in the Loire Valley of France.  We stayed in three small towns with bicycle trips each day.  This was a once in a lifetime trip that I will remember forever.   Each day we had scheduled stops at points of interest.  One day we stopped at this beautiful cathedral.  The sunlight cascading through the stained glass window was amazing.  This church had been there for hundreds of years.  I can hardly imagine the care that was taken with the design and build of this one window, and there were over a hundred windows like this in this one church.  In our world of mobile phones that get discarded and replaced every 6 months, I was struck by the permanence of something this beautiful.  I want a little more of that in my life.