Opus 2024-414: Traditions

What is it that makes a piece of music a tradition?  What transforms an attempt at expressing yourself, poetically and musically, into a traditional Christmas Carol?  I think there are probably a number of different factors.

First of all, time.  When I say “traditional”, I am using the actual meaning of the word, not just a marketing technique.  I think of the way the word classical has become totally meaningless, as in classical rock, or classical rap.  Something doesn’t become classical or traditional in just a few years.  It takes time.  Of course the time is in addition to all the other qualities that make it significant.

You need quality.  This is partly individual preference and partly objective.  I have heard ‘Christmas” music that obviously has first rate musicians involved and was still worthless in my world-view.  It might be powerful to someone else.  I am open to that concept but there are certain songs that appeal across whatever cultural lines you want to draw.  As I write I have an album called “Christmas Jazz” playing in the background.  I am a low level fan of Jazz.  It can be interesting but it is not what I would pick if I had one style to take on a long trip.  At the same time, I recognize all of the songs because they are traditional, not just filler to complete the disc.  When they are playing “Silent Night” I know it is “Silent Night.”  If it was “Grandma God Run-Over by a Raindeer” I would ask, “What was that.”

You need exposure.  It’s no accident that many of the songs that we consider to be traditional Christmas music come from an era when the country watched the same movies and TV programs.  We sang hymns that went across denominational and cultural lines.  There is a chance that the song “White Christmas” might have become a classic and a part of our traditional Christmas season without the input of Bing Crosby and the movie industry.  It is possible, but it would have been a much tougher row to hoe.  I have Christmas albums from individuals and groups that I enjoy, and they have songs which have become a part of my Christmas tradition but I have a feeling that most of the people have never heard them.  It is a lack of exposure.  Maybe time will make a difference.

I think message is also important.  As I build a Christmas play list I find that much of the secular category gets left out or has limited listings.  It is fun music.  It brings atmosphere.  What it is missing is something worth saying.  I can tap my foot to “Baby, It’s Cold Outside” but I don’t know that I want to hear it more than once a season.  

And there is the ultimate trump, personal preference.  “The Twelve Days of Christmas” and “Ava Maria” are shunned anywhere they are found.  Personal preference is the ultimate test.  That is why I embrace the modern technology that makes it possible to assemble my own program.  

What a time to be alive.


homo unius libri

Opus 2024-413: Another Raging Battle

I always marvel at the way God designed our bodies.  Currently on my mind is the way in which the immune system takes on all comers and doesn’t wait until the last minute to get involved.

Disease is a very familiar result of the fall and the coming of sin into the world.  

(Rom 8:22 KJV)  For we know that the whole creation groaneth and travaileth in pain together until now.

It gets personal when these miniature vectors of evil attack our bodies with enough force to generate a noticeable response.  I can feel the opening skirmishing going on.  Coughing and sneezing are indications that irritation is invading the airways.  Sometimes they are repulsed but if they are persistent they may overwhelmed the first lines of defense.  Runny noses, vocal congestion, aches and pains are all indications.

For me the attack is on.  Each day I marvel that the invaders have not won any big battles.  I am grateful to the white blood cells and different micro-organisms that lead the defense.  I am mindful that God provided for all of this.

My part is to get enough rest, exercise and eat properly.  If it were WWII I would be selling war bonds and rationing sugar.

The battle will continue as long as I am alive to celebrate victories.

homo unius libri

Opus 2024-412: The Real Reason

One of the recurring themes that I see on YouTube videos and blog posts is “The real reason why Trump won the election,” sometimes expressed as a question, “How did Trump win?”  As a general rule, I’ll put them in the category of nonsense.

I’m sure that each and everyone of them has a horn to blow.  Each one of them has some points.  Each idea has something to recommend it and probably did have an effect.  However, the thought that any one factor brought about his election is just tooting infatuation with the sound of your own voice.

Having said that, let me give my input.  The one reason why Donald Trump won the presidential election was, ...drum roll..., Donald Trump.  He had a lot of help.  There were a number of key people like Elon Musk.  There were miracles, like turning his head at the key moment when the bullet went by.  These are all very real but the key ingredient was Donald Trump himself.

I hope that you join me in continuing to pray for him because the other key ingredient, the only one bigger than him, was Providence itself.  God worked miracles we saw and many more we did not.  Keep praying for Trump, the country, the political process, world peace and confusion to our enemies.  We need more miracles.  We may have made it across the Jordan but the Promised Land is still to be conquered.  

homo unius libri

Opus 2024-411: You Gotta Start Somewhere

Sunday we attended a presentation of Handel’s Messiah.  It has been about 50 years since I have let my cultural side predominated.  The audience was respectful and classy.  I enjoyed the orchestra going through the ritual of tuning and the pageantry of the conductor and soloists entering from stage left and knowing it was the opposite of my left.  No wonder my son still gets them confused.  Standing for the Hallelujah Chorus with a group that knows the tradition is different from being the only one in the audience to rise.  It was an enjoyable time.  

The venue was the University Methodist Church in San Antonio.  It was a beautiful church with good acoustics.  One of the pastors brought greetings before the music began.  He rambled on for about two minutes and by listening closely I did hear him mention the name of Jesus once.  He talked a lot about light, hope and other popular topics but under his breath he did mention the name of the reason for the season.

When the kids were young we tried to do one big event each Christmas season.  That was all we could afford but it created a lot of good memories.  Maybe as the grandchildren mature we can start that again.  

It was a blessed way to start the Advent season.

Merry Christmas.

homo unius libri

Opus 2024-410: The Recycling of Joy

I believe that today marks the official beginning of our anticipation of Christmas.  This is the first Sunday of Advent.  It tends to sneak up on us, but it is finally here.  I started with the Christmas music after dinner on Thanksgiving.  I will play it until midnight on Christmas day.

Do you need something to do over the next few weeks?  Drive to an area where a lot of shopping is going on.  Make sure you take a big dose of patience before you leave.  Park as far away from the stores as you can.  The exercise will do you good.  Walk slowly toward the crowds.  You don’t actually need to shop.  All you can expect to do is share the joy.  Look for opportunities to say, “Merry Christmas!” in response to half-hearted expressions of “Happy Holidays.”

You might prepare a few snappy, thought provoking comebacks.  You might ask, “What holiday is that?” or “What season is it?”  Always accompany your question with a big smile.  Hold doors open for people.  Pick up packages they drop.  Pray for the miserable heathen that you see swamping the marketplace.  Pray that the other bits of salt and light in the mix will have a chance to remind people of what we are celebrating.

(Gal 4:4 KJV)  But when the fulness of the time was come, God sent forth his Son, made of a woman, made under the law,

(Joh 1:14 KJV)  And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth.

I could go on but that will whet your appetite for all the glory that is involved in the incarnation.

Merry Christmas!  Inspiring Incarnation!

homo unius libri

Opus 2024-409: New Laws: Save a Cow

I think we need to have the federal government step in with some new regulations to try and strengthen the dairy industry.  I’m speaking of course of the need to regulate coffee drinkers and require them to include creamer in their drinks.

We would start off with a requirement of quantity.  The question is how much creamer is necessary in order to make coffee safe for the population to drink.  In my opinion it is zero but that would not go well with the beta male administrators needing to control the lives of other people.  I know that I used to make it more like a coffee flavored malt but as my taste buds died and I became calorie conscious I weaned myself.  How anti-social.  How filled with hatred for the dairy farmers of America.

Then we need to look at the quality.  What would be the butterfat level required?  What would be necessary to label it as organic?  Could we have a vegan version?  Would we allow the product to be imported?

We might require non-dairy creamers to either include a small amount of the real deal or pay a fee for their opting out.

This, of course would require a whole new bureaucracy to regulate.  We would need millions of dollars in government funds, possibly billions of dollars, to do research in order to come up with the correct amount of creamer required.

You thought they had taxed and regulated everything.  You just lack imagination.

homo unius libri

Opus 2024-408: The Proliferation of Heathens

Have you ever wondered why there are so many heathens around?  Have you ever wondered why they seem to be so prosperous and live such long lives?  The thought came to mind today that it might be because they resemble kittens who never grow up.  Or perhaps it’s like having a perpetual supply of grandchildren.  One of the great joys of kittens is the stupid things they do.  Of all the cats we’ve had we only had a kitten once, and I remember how it would just suddenly, for no known reason, do a couple of flips in the air.  I remember how vigorously it would chase red dots.  There was something about kittens that generated a spontaneous joy in everything around them.  Of course they were also very destructive.  Their energy not only knew no bounds it seemed without awareness of consequences.  They would climb your expensive curtains just as readily as an old piece of canvas thrown over a board.  In fact, they might be more drawn to your expensive curtains simply because something in them knew it would generate problems.

Such is the nature of kittens.

The same could be said of grandchildren, except that there is a much greater long-term potential for good or evil and the grandchildren.  Keep in mind that the great satanic names that we’d like to throw around, like Hitler or Soros, belong to people who are once grandchildren.  They may have had a doting grandparents, allowing them to get away with all kinds of nefarious things not knowing that they were building the foundation for destructive personalities.

So why does God allow the heathens of the world to prosper so much?  Well, on one side, he knows that they are destined for an eternity in hell so they might as well get much as much joy as possible in this life.  While He is making that generous allowance, I think He also enjoys some of the nonsense they come up with.  He enjoys seeing how they don’t seem to be able to think or reason.  Maybe God has a streak of slapstick in His nature.

This comes to mind from a quote that I got from reading Durant’s book on the development of civilization.  He quotes a scholar who has the audacity to actually offer dates for the exodus from Egypt that would match with the Bible seems to be saying.  And notice his logic,

“He believes that the material found in these tombs confirms the story of the fall of Jericho (Joshua, vi); he dates this fall ca. 1400 B.C., and the Exodus ca. 1447 B.C.  As this chronology rest upon the precarious dating of scarabs and pottery, it must be received with respectful skepticism.” p. 302, footnote

Now I ask you, just what kind of data do archaeologists use to date things if it’s not obscure markings and figurines?  I don’t know about the sculpture, but I know that they will date things based on the shape and style of pottery.

Here is a heathen writer who is very talented except for the fact that he didn’t do much homework.  He makes a pontifical announcement about some thing and acts like it’s great wisdom when actually, it’s kind of foolish.

Somehow I think God finds it entertaining.  Again, I may be on the border of heresy, but the idea came to me.

Durant, Will.  The Story of Civilization:  Part 1, Our Oriental Heritage.  New York:  Simon and Schuster, 1954.

homo unius libri